Jean-Pierre on the White House Cocaine: 'They Were at Camp David' (July 7, 2023)

On the evening of Sunday, July 2, 2023, Secret Service officers found a small bag of white powder inside a vestibule at the West Executive Avenue entrance to the White House; tests later confirmed it was cocaine [4]. For days the discovery dominated the White House briefings. On July 7, near the end of a briefing, a reporter asked Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to “just say once and for all whether or not the cocaine belonged to the Biden family.” This video shows her answer. Quotes are from the official transcripts published by the American Presidency Project [1][2][3].

Key Moments

”Can you just say once and for all”

“Sorry to bring up cocaine again,” the reporter began, to laughter. The reporter noted that at a press gaggle the day before, Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates had cited the Hatch Act in declining to answer a related question. “I’m just asking again: Can you just say once and for all whether or not the cocaine belonged to the Biden family?” Jean-Pierre said Bates had mentioned the Hatch Act “because the question was posed to him … using Donald Trump. And so, he was trying to be very mindful” [1].

”They were at Camp David”

“So we’re not avoiding the question; that is not true. We’ve answered this question, litigated this question for the last two days exhaustively,” Jean-Pierre said. “You know, there has been some irresponsible reporting about the family, and — and so I got to call that out here.” She went on: “the Biden family was not here. They were not here. They were at Camp David. They were not here Friday. They were not here Saturday. They were not here Sunday. They were not even here Monday. They came back on Tuesday. So to ask that question is actually incredibly irresponsible” [1].

Two days earlier: “A heavily traveled area”

At her July 5 briefing, Jean-Pierre had said the matter was “under the purview of the Secret Service” and that the family “left on Friday and returned just yesterday.” She described the location as “a heavily traveled area where many White House — West Wing — I should be even more specific — West Wing visitors come through.” “We have confidence that the Secret Service will get to the bottom of this,” she said [2].

Background: The Discovery and the Briefings

According to the Secret Service, the bag was “located inside a receptacle used to temporarily store electronic and personal devices prior to entering the West Wing.” Safety closures followed while the substance was field tested, and the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department’s testing “indicated that the found powder tested preliminarily positive for the presence of cocaine” [4].

The question to Jean-Pierre followed one at a July 6 press gaggle, where a reporter asked Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates whether he would rule out former President Trump’s claim that the cocaine belonged to the president or his son. “I don’t have a response to that because we have to be careful about the Hatch Act,” Bates said, before turning to the administration’s economic record [7]. At the July 7 briefing, before Jean-Pierre took that question, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was asked about the discovery. “We have rigorous drug testing policies at the White House,” he said. “If it involves someone from the White House, the appropriate consequences will ensue. If it involves some visitor who came in and left it, then that’s a different matter” [1].

Fact Check

“They were at Camp David.” Accurate for the weekend. NPR reported that “President Biden and his family were away at Camp David at the time” the cocaine was found [5].
“They were not here Friday.” Wrong. The White House press pool reported on Friday, June 30, that “Poolers saw Jill Biden, Baby Beau and Hunter Biden climb into presidential SUV. President Biden followed a few minutes later. Motorcade rolling to Fort McNair as of 6:34p,” and that Marine One lifted off for Camp David at 6:50 p.m. [8]. The president had also spoken in the Roosevelt Room that afternoon [9]. Her July 5 account, that the family “left on Friday,” was the accurate one [2]. Nothing in the Secret Service’s findings connected the cocaine to the family or to anyone else [4].
“A heavily traveled area.” Supported by the Secret Service’s own account. Its investigators “developed an index of several hundred individuals who may have accessed the area where the substance was found,” and NPR reported that the West Wing “is often frequented by visitors on staff-led tours on evenings and weekends” [4][5].
“The Secret Service will get to the bottom of this.” It did not. On July 13, the agency said the FBI’s laboratory tests “did not develop latent fingerprints and insufficient DNA was present for investigative comparisons,” and that “without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to single out a person of interest from the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule.” The investigation was “closed due to a lack of physical evidence” [4].
“Irresponsible reporting about the family.” Jean-Pierre did not identify the reporting she meant.

For other statements by Jean-Pierre that the record contradicted, see our article on her “$70 per gallon” mistake and other statements of hers that proved wrong.

What Happened Next

“I don’t have any updates”: Four days later, at a briefing in Vilnius, Lithuania, a reporter asked: “And do you have any update on the investigation into the cocaine at the White House? Has Secret Service indicated if they’re closer to (inaudible) —” Jean-Pierre answered: “Yeah, I don’t have any updates. As you know — as you just mentioned, Secret Service — it’s under their purview. They’re certainly investigating the situation.” [10]
“A thorough investigation”: At her July 17 briefing, asked whether she was surprised that the Secret Service had not identified anyone, Jean-Pierre said: “we believe that, you know, that Secret Service did a thorough investigation,” and noted that “hundreds of visitors” had passed through the area that weekend [3].
Trump’s view: In a March 2025 interview, President Trump was asked who left the cocaine. “Well, either Joe or Hunter,” he said, Fox News reported. “Could be Joe, too” [6]. The Secret Service investigation had not identified anyone [4].