Overview
- Capitol Police detained Matthew Christopher Wingate after routine X-ray screening in the Russell Senate Office Building showed what officers say was a pistol magazine, officials said.
- A secondary search produced a 9 mm pistol magazine loaded with 10 rounds and a small bag with four capsules and three blue-pressed tablets that field-tested presumptive positive for cocaine and fentanyl.
- Officers ran a check that showed Wingate holds a valid D.C. carry permit and he told investigators he had forgotten the magazine was in his briefcase and that the pills were prescribed to him.
- Wingate, the Heritage Foundation’s government-relations director for defense and foreign policy and a former Senate aide, was released after being charged with a misdemeanor and given an Aug. 27 court date.
- The case leaves open key questions for Capitol security and oversight because on-scene drug tests are only presumptive pending lab confirmation and Senate buildings generally prohibit firearms and ammunition regardless of outside carry permits.