The White House exchanged accusations with Donald Trump’s team Thursday after the former president speculated about a lineup of suspects regarding cocaine discovered in the West Wing.
Trump floated three potential suspects Wednesday, including Joe Biden, Hunter Biden and Special Counsel Jack Smith, who he claimed looks “like a crackhead.” The Secret Service is currently conducting an investigation into how the illicit substance ended up on the grounds, and hasn’t named any suspects.
Deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates responded to the associations Thursday by touting the successes of Biden’s policies. He also charged that Trump’s claims may be due to “increasing frustration” about the Biden administration.
“I don’t have a response to that because we have to be careful about the Hatch Act. What I will say is that I have noticed there does seem to be some increasing frustration coming from that corner in general,” Bates told reporters on Air Force One.
“I think it is probably rooted in the contrast between their substantive policy records… There is a long list of areas where this administration succeeded for the middle class, where our predecessor did not,” he added, pointing to Biden’s policies on infrastructure, manufacturing jobs and lowering drug costs. (RELATED: With All Its Powers And Technology, The Federal Government Is Unlikely To Figure Out Who Brought Cocaine To Biden’s White House)
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung called Bates’ response “stupid.”
“Maybe Andrew Bates is outing himself as a suspect if he’s going to say stupid things like that,” Cheung told the Daily Caller.
The cocaine was discovered on the White House grounds Sunday evening, and conflicting reports have pointed to various locations of where it was found. The Secret Service is utilizing DNA testing and fingerprinting in their probe, CNN reported.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has stressed that the Biden family was away at Camp David when the cocaine was found and that it was found in a “heavily traveled” area open to West Wing tours.
Bates did not immediately respond to an inquiry from the Daily Caller.