Over the Fourth of July weekend, a baggie of cocaine was discovered in the White House near where visitor tours take place. While Fox News has breathlessly covered the story, the outlet has largely ignored the arrest on June 29 of a heavily armed man (also a January 6 defendant) near former President Barack Obama’s home. His arrest happened on the same day that former President Donald Trump posted Obama’s apparent address online.

Even though there’s a lack of evidence connecting the drugs to President Joe Biden or any of his family or staff, GOP politicians have demanded an investigation into the substance, while law enforcement has reportedly said it is unlikely the perpetrator will be found. Conservative media figures have been pointing fingers at common right-wing targets like the president’s son Hunter Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, repeatedly suggesting that the cocaine might be theirs.

On June 29, Taylor Taranto was arrested near Obama’s house with 400 rounds of ammunition and two guns following erratic behavior “that even some of the most ardent Jan. 6 defendants found distasteful, according to multiple people who said they recently interacted with the man.” The incident occurred after Trump posted images on Truth Social purporting to show Obama’s address, to which Taranto responded on Telegram: “We got these losers surrounded! See you in hell, Podesta’s and Obama’s!” Taranto reportedly “also allegedly live-streamed threats against Obama and other lawmakers, according to prosecutors.”

Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on Fox News Channel for any of the terms “White House,” “Biden,” “Secret Service,” or “Trump” within close proximity of any of the terms “cocaine,” “crack,” “hallucinogen,” “substance,” "illicit,” “drug,” or “powder” from July 3, 2023, when the White House cocaine story broke, through 11 a.m. ET July 7, 2023.

We also searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on Fox News Channel for any of the terms “Obama,” “former president,” or “Kalorama,” within close proximity to any of the terms “Taranto,” “home,” “extremist,” “Truth Social,” or any variation of the word “arrest,” from June 29, 2023, when the arrest took place, through 11 a.m. ET July 7, 2023. 

We timed segments, which we defined as instances when the cocaine found at the White House or the arrest outside Obama’s house was the stated topic of discussion or when we found “significant discussion” of either story. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed either story with one another.

We also timed mentions, which we defined as instances when a single speaker in a segment about another topic mentioned the cocaine story or the arrest outside Obama’s house without another speaker in the segment engaging with the comment, and teasers, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host promoted a segment about either story scheduled to air later in the broadcast. 

We rounded all times to the nearest minute.