U.S. Secret Service Declines To Honor Journalist’s FOIA Request For White House Cocaine Documents
"We regret to inform you that we cannot comply," stated the letter sent to a Bloomberg reporter.
Jason Leopold, an investigative reporter for Bloomberg Business, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for information related to the cocaine found in the West Wing of the White House last week.
Leopold was thorough in his request — he wanted to see any emails, text messages, photographs, memos, letters, directives, intelligence bulletins, threat assessments, after action reports, suspicious activity reporting, and open-source intelligence/social media monitoring reports related to the discovery of the cocaine.
The FOIA request was received by the U.S. Secret Service on Monday, July 10.
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On Tuesday, Kevin Tyrrell, a Freedom of Information Act Officer from the Office of Intergovernmental and Legislative Affairs sent a letter responding to Leopold’s request. The letter, which is on Department of Homeland Security letterhead, says that the Secret Service would not honor Leopold’s FOIA request explaining that the investigation is ongoing. It stated that “disclosure could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings” and laid out options for appeal.
NEW: In response to my #FOIA request, Secret Service says it cannot release any records about the cocaine found in the White House because it would interfere enforcement proceedings. pic.twitter.com/28ErB3oWkL
— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) July 11, 2023
Leopold admits that this is standard for an on-going investigation, but says that he plans to appeal the decision all the same. He says that
Absolutely. Nothing unusual with that response. I'm still going to appeal though because agencies cannot issue a blanket b7a denial without conducting a document by document search and segregating records that would not interfere with enforcement proceedings, if any exist
— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) July 11, 2023
The White House has largely refused to address despite the obvious concern of illicit substances bypassing security in the West Wing.
While there is no direct evidence to tie the President’s son Hunter to the cocaine, the stonewalling by the White House and the constantly changing reports of the location of the cocaine has fuelled speculation in some circles that the drugs belonged to him or some other prominent person in the West Wing who could bypass some of the more rigorous security measures.
