President Biden’s pets have stirred controversy once more as one of the presidential pooches, Commander, has apparently bitten ten people within four months. The series of bites, which have previously gone unreported, were exposed by Judicial Watch after the activist group filed a Freedom of Information Act request after the Secret Service “failed to respond adequately” to a previous request for information.
The 194 pages of records detail the series of attacks, including an incident on November 3, 2022 in which Commander, a German Shepherd, sank his teeth into a Secret Service Agent’s arm and thigh, leading to the agent being treated at a hospital. Weeks later, Commander bit another Secret Service agent and “broke the skin.” One month later, Commander bit a security technician in the back at the Biden residence in Wilmington, Delaware.
Commander’s behavior bears striking similarities to one of Biden’s previous canine companions. In March, 2021, Major, another German Shepherd, attacked secret service personnel eight days in a row. The biting spree prompted the Bidens to ferry Major back to Delaware as a preventative measure. While the White House attempted to portray Major’s departure as part of a scheduled trip, emails from Secret Service personnel revealed that the move was specifically prompted by the dog’s behavior, and that the White House had covered up all but one of Major’s attacks.
The White House blamed the incidents on the “unique and often stressful” living situation of White House pets. Despite the fact that the biting incidents went unreported, the White House claimed that “relevant notifications and reporting procedures” were undertaken during each incident. These alleged reporting procedures do not seem to have done much to lessen the frustrations of Commander’s victims. One Secret Service agent dictated in an email to another agent who was bitten by the dog that, “if it wasn’t their dog he would have already been put down.”
No longer is the White House just covering for the behavior of the president and his son, Hunter. Now, it seems that even the non-human residents of the White House are having their misdeeds hidden from the public, as well.