Deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates appears not to have gotten the memo in re the cocaine baggie found in the White House. The correct answer to all related questions — as we learned from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre earlier this week — is that the matter is within the “purview” of the Secret Service, which is conducting an investigation of this apparently impenetrable crime.

Referring to President Trump’s claim that “the cocaine found in the White House had belonged to either the president or his son,” a reporter asked Bates if he was “willing to say that that’s not the case[.]” Bates responded: “I don’t have a response to that because we have to be careful about the Hatch Act.”

Bates then proceeded to criticize the putative motive of Trump’s speculation on political grounds. I’m not sure how that works under the Hatch Act, but I give the advantage to KJP on her approach. The secret word is “purview.”

Jonathan Turley adds this point of information via Twitter “FYI: Eric Clapton wasn’t referring to politics when he sang ‘When your day is done, and you want to run, cocaine.'”