Biden dog Commander bit or threatened 10 people, sent one to hospital
WASHINGTON — President Biden’s nearly two-year-old German shepherd Commander bit seven people in a four-month period after former first dog Major was ousted from the White House over similar aggressive behavior, according to internal Secret Service communications reviewed by The Post.
The shocking spate of incidents involving Commander — none of them previously known — mirror attacks involving Major, who the White House says was given to family friends after biting many Secret Service members in 2021.
In the most serious documented incident involving Commander, the White House physician’s office on Nov. 3, 2022, referred a bitten Secret Service uniformed officer to a local hospital for treatment after the dog clamped down on their arm and thigh, according to emails released under the Freedom of Information Act to conservative legal group Judicial Watch.
Records show Commander broke the skin of a different Secret Service member’s hand and arm weeks later after the president unleashed him outside the White House following a family movie night — and the following month, Commander bit the back of a security technician at Biden’s Wilmington, Del., home.
President Biden’s nearly two-year-old German shepherd Commander bit seven people over a four-month period. EPA
The new first family headache comes as House Republicans intensify their focus on Joe Biden’s role in his son Hunter and brother James Biden’s international business dealings in countries such as Ukraine and China — with one of Hunter’s closest associates, Devon Archer, expected to testify next week that the first son often put his then-vice president dad on speaker phone while with his foreign partners.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the dog bites — after facing criticism for non-transparency for covering up incidents involving former first dog Major.
The documented attacks from September 2022 through January likely are an incomplete accounting of incidents involving Commander because the period of time doesn’t cover his initial nine months at the White House or the most recent six-month window of time.
“These shocking records raise fundamental questions about President Biden and the Secret Service,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
President Biden’s dog, Commander, bit and tore the skin of a different Secret Service officer’s hand — and the following month, the German Shepard bit the back of a security technician at Biden’s Wilmington, Del., home. AP
“This is a special sort of craziness and corruption where a president would allow his dog to repeatedly attack and bite Secret Service and White House personnel. And rather than protect its agents, the Secret Service tried to illegally hide documents about the abuse of its agents and officers by the Biden family.”
Biden, 80, has reportedly expressed doubts about the honesty of a Secret Service member who reported being bitten on the leg by his prior dog Major, also a German shepherd, and the White House has not disclosed any biting incidents involving Commander, who often can be heard barking on the executive mansion’s grounds.
Behind the scenes, agents described alarming series of incidents.
The most serious incident on Nov. 3 began as a Secret Service officer was seated at the bottom of a stairwell at the White House.
President Biden poses with his rescue dog, a German Shepard named Major. via REUTERS
Commander “came down the stairs and walked toward” them, according to an internal agency email.
The dog, unprovoked, reportedly bit the officer’s arm on the tricep area — and, when the officer stood up, chomped down on their quad muscle area on the leg.
Another officer reported that the attack victim reported “a considerable amount of pain” and said that they were forced to use a steel cart to shield against further attack.
An officer at the Secret Service Joint Operations Center wrote, “WH medical treated the officer and made the decision to have [the victim] transported to [redacted] Hospital.”
Two days after the incident, the attacked agent, whose doctor placed them on restricted duty for three days after their visit to the hospital, emailed to a colleague who asked about their recovery: “My leg and arm still hurts. He bit me twice and ran at me twice.”
The fellow Secret Service member wrote back: “What a joke… if it wasn’t their dog he would already have been put down – freaking clown needs a muzzle.”
Some of the incidents directly involved the first family, according to the email cache.
The German Shepard, Commander, sent the member of Secret Service to a local hospital after clamping down on their arm and thigh, according to emails released under the Freedom of Information Act to conservative legal group Judicial Watch. AP
On Nov. 10, a Secret Service Uniformed Division officer was bitten on the left thigh by Commander while first lady Jill Biden walked the dog in the Kennedy Garden near the East Wing and reported “bruising, tenderness and pain in the bite area,” a communication in the document production reveals.
On Nov. 14, another Secret Service officer described in an emailed report having to defend themselves with a chair to prevent being attacked.
The officer wrote that they “heard the dog bark with a loud aggressive sound” and “looked up and saw him at the landing of the ushers staircase. I made eye contact with him and grabbed the black chair I was sitting on and held it in front of me while backing up.”
On Dec. 11, a Secret Service special agent in the Presidential Protective Division reported being was bitten after the president took Commander off his leash after watching a movie — writing that he had a 1.5 cm cut and bruising to the attacked agent’s arm and a 1 cm cut due to a second bite on his hand and thumb.
One of the agent’s bosses wrote in an email also released to Judicial Watch that “this occurred after departing the family movie theatre” with “Commander and family members (total 6 participants).”
President Biden thinks the Secret Service agent who reported being bitten on the leg by Major lied about the incident. White House/Adam Schultz
President Biden “requested to take Commander (on the leash) to the Kennedy Garden. Once at the KG, POTUS took Commander off the leash to run free. I was present to observe [redacted] departing from the Kennedy Garden to move behind [redacted] toward the south ground drive via the internal garden gate when [the attack] occurred.”
A workplace injury form show that a Secret Service officer also was bitten on Dec. 16.
“I was walking across the complex and a dog bit my left arm,” the officer wrote, describing the injury as, “Dog bite, superficial laceration, contusion, soreness, and bruising.”
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On Christmas Eve, a Secret Service inspector wrote to colleagues that one day prior another officer “was bitten while posted at [redacted location] yesterday.”
“Nearly every official in the room with me today spoke about specific incidents surrounding the First Family’s dog,” the inspector’s email said.
On Jan. 2, an agency technical security investigator was attacked when investigating an alarm at the president’s Wilmington home, where he often spends the weekend.
“Commander squeezed his way through the door and immediately bit/latched onto the lower right side of my back,” the attack victim wrote in an email.
A person whose name was redacted from the email “told Commander to get down and assisted in pulling him off,” the technician wrote.
“The total incident did not last more than about 10 seconds and Commander went back inside the residence. [The person whose name was redacted] was apologetic after the incident. After checking my lower back, there’s a 1×1 scratched, bruised spot where Commander grabbed onto and was bleeding consistent of a scratch like rug burn.”
The incidents seemed to begin in October of last year.
In the first documented instance, on the morning of Oct. 5, Commander “jumped on” an emergency response technician on the White House grounds and bit at their “arm/wrist area”
On Oct 3 at a door leading to the garden near the East Wing, Commander “inflicted a ‘friendly soft bite’ on [a Secret Service agent’s] forearm as [he] held the door open,” though “no skin was broken from the bite.”
On Oct. 26, a uniformed division Secret Service officer wrote: “Commander has been exhibiting extremely aggressive behavior. Today, while posted, he came charging at me. The First Lady couldn’t regain control of commander [sic] and he continued to circle me. I believe it’s only a matter of time before an agent/officer is attacked or bit.”
“He would have bit me today if I didn’t step towards him a couple different times. It was bad enough that the agent on the detail asked if I got bit – just so you’re aware.”
Source: New York Post
