It is noted that cocaine was found in the lobby of the West Wing of the White House, and the staffers in charge of controlling the story are finding brand new ways to do it.
During Thursday’s audio-only gaggle with Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates, a reporter asked about the White House’s response to the cocaine while mentioning former President Donald Trump.
Bates got the opportunity to provide a different answer than the boilerplate one we heard from Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre that directs all questions to the Secret Service, who are in charge of investigating the mystery cocaine. With Trump’s name invoked, Bates cited the Hatch Act to avoid answering the question:
Reporter: Former President Trump has made some wild posts recently on social media, one of them was that the cocaine found in the White House was, had belonged to either the president or his son. Are you willing to say that that’s not the case, that they don’t belong to them?
Bates: 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, and I think it probably rooted in the contrast between their substantive policy records.
It feels like a creative way to dodge the question, but it’s also likely that Bates is trying to be careful about the Hatch Act after KJP was warned about citing “MAGA Republicans” during a November press briefing.
