‘This Is So Wild!’ MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Stunned As She Breaks News That White House Cocaine Has Been Confirmed As Cocaine

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell was stunned by the breaking news that a “formal lab test” has confirmed that the suspected cocaine found at the White House was, in fact, cocaine.

The Secret Service discovered a suspicious powder Sunday night, initial testing of which indicated the substance was cocaine. Critics of President Joe Biden immediately pounced on the news to suggest his son was to blame and to mock his struggle with addiction.

On Tuesday’s edition of MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, Mitchell reported the breaking news that a full lab panel confirmed the preliminary test that identified the substance as cocaine, noting to NBC News White House correspondent Mike Memoli “This is so wild!”:

ANDREA MITCHELL: A formal lab has confirmed the suspicion that that white powdery substance found in the West Wing on Sunday was, in fact, positive for cocaine. The discovery led to a brief evacuation of the White House Sunday night. Joining us now is NBC White House correspondent Mike Memoli. So, Mike, where do things stand now? This is so unusual. You and I have covered the White House for years. I can’t even fathom anything like this having been found before in the West Wing. And I go back to the 70s at the White House! So this is pretty, pretty wild!

MIKE MEMOLI: It’s absolutely extraordinary, Andrea! And this new conclusive test confirms what had been the preliminary field test conducted by D.C. fire personnel who were called in on Sunday night after the discovery of this suspicious substance by a uniformed officer in the Secret Service that was conducting a routine patrol of the White House. And so to recap on the developments from, that we’ve been reporting on yesterday, this was found, we understand, in a highly-trafficked common area of the West Wing. It’s an area where individuals, especially visitors, individuals who may be coming for, for instance, say private tour, might have been asked to leave some of their personal belongings before heading into more sensitive areas of the West Wing, which, of course, includes the president’ss, the vice president’s office, some of the most senior officials offices, as well as the press team and a number of deputies.

And so this is an extraordinary discovery here. What we also understand is that the Secret Service is conducting now, leading this investigation into how this substance came into the West Wing in the first place. This is something that will include the review of security footage as well as visitor logs.

The big question, Andrea, is for how long had this item, which was described as a small dime-sized bag, been in this location, given the regularity, the rigorousness of these reviews, it could have been something that was found rather quickly, which would significantly narrow the universe of individuals who might have been able to bring this in.

This happened on Sunday night. This was a weekend in which the president, the first lady and his son, Hunter, and his family were at Camp David, not in the White House. So the number of staff in the building would have been significantly reduced.

But it was a holiday weekend when many staff might have had friends and family coming to visit and might have wanted to give them tours. And so the real question again is how long this item had been there. And that will help to determine just what kind of investigation into the individual brought it into the West Wing and how quickly that might be resolved, Andrea.

Watch above via MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports.