Andrea Mitchell Bizarrely Asks Reporter If a Magnetometer Could Have Detected Cocaine Coming Into White House
Shortly after reporting the breaking news that white powder found in the West Wing did, in fact, test positive for cocaine, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell wanted to know why the controlled substance wasn’t detected by a magnetometer when the perpetrator entered the White House.
Mitchell’s question was an odd one — since the very word “magnetometer” implies a machine that detects items made of metal.
“Everybody who goes through magnetometers, so this would not have been picked up by the magnetometers? I don’t know if somebody’s pocket or bag?” Mitchell asked reporter Mike Memoli. Mitchell also wanted to know if the coke was found “in the reception area, immediately in, where there’s a receptionist and people sit and wait for their appointments inside the West Wing proper?”
“The way this has been described to us, Andrea, it certainly suggests that is likely where this happened,” Memoli answered. “It’s an area — again, a common space, highly trafficked — where individuals are coming and going. And you may know this from your experience, you are asked at times to leave things like a cell phone device — other items that may have been in your pockets — behind before you travel into whatever is the official business or the tourist business that is bringing you into this location. Depending on which entrance these individuals came into, yes there are certainly magnetometers, which are mainly, of course, looking for metallic objects, things that might trigger as a weapon that wouldn’t necessarily pick up controlled substance like this — an illegal substance, which ultimately was discovered and proven here.”
On Sunday, the Secret Service reported discovering a suspicious powder believed to be cocaine. A lab test confirmed Wednesday that it was the illegal substance. President Joe Biden‘s critics were quick to suggest his son, Hunter, a recovering addict, had brought the drugs into the White House. However, the entire Biden family was at Camp David for the July 4 holiday. Authorities are continuing to investigate where the drugs came from.
Watch the MSNBC clip above.
