WASHINGTON — The first canine leads a canine’s life, even within the White House.
That’s the Biden administration’s rationalization for why the president’s German shepherd Commander bit no less than seven Secret Service members in latest months — sending one protecting officer to the hospital.
“The White House advanced is a singular and infrequently traumatic surroundings for household pets, and the First Family is working via methods to make this case higher for everybody,” first girl Jill Biden’s spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander stated in a press release.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to provide extra data when confronted with questions at her common press briefing Tuesday — declining to say if Commander bit anybody other than Secret Service members or if he attacked anybody exterior a four-month interval chronicled in paperwork acquired by Judicial Watch via Freedom of Information Act litigation.
Commander, roughly 23 months previous, changed former first canine Major — one other German shepherd who additionally bit many Secret Service members.
Commander’s bites, first reported by The Post Tuesday morning, have been hid from the general public regardless of assaults on a wide range of presidential safety personnel, each on the White House grounds and likewise on the 80-year-old Biden’s house in Wilmington, Del., the place the household typically spends weekends.
Alexander stated that the primary household “have been partnering with the Secret Service and Executive Residence employees on extra leashing protocols and coaching, in addition to establishing designated areas for Commander to run and train.
“According to the Secret Service, every incident referenced was handled equally to comparable office accidents, with related notifications and reporting procedures adopted,” she went on. “The President and First Lady are extremely grateful to the Secret Service and Executive Residence employees for all they do to maintain them, their household, and the nation secure.”
Some critics weren’t shopping for the White House rationalization.
“There aren’t any dangerous canine, solely dangerous individuals who have canine,” legal professional Gabriel Malor wrote on Twitter. “It’s time for the Bidens to cease attempting to make the canine factor occur. They’re clearly not up for it.”
“This is the second Biden canine that’s carried out this. Maybe the issue isn’t the canine,” added conservative commentator Jim Treacher.
“Biden household thanks Secret Service for serving as Commander’s chew toy,” cracked reporter Charlie Spiering.
In addition to serving as Biden’s first canine, well-trained German shepherds are the most typical breed utilized by the Secret Service to patrol the White House grounds.
The working canine have perpetrated few if any recognized assaults.
The first household additionally has a cat, Willow, who has lived within the White House since early final 12 months and about whom no equally aggressive conduct has been reported.
In probably the most critical documented incident, the White House doctor’s workplace on Nov. 3, 2022, referred a bitten Secret Service uniformed officer to a hospital for remedy after Commander attacked them close to a stairway — biting them on their arm and thigh, in line with emails.
A fellow Secret Service member emailed the sufferer days later: “What a joke … if it wasn’t their canine he would have already got been put down — freaking clown wants a muzzle.”
On Nov. 10, a Secret Service Uniformed Division officer was bitten on the left thigh by Commander whereas first girl Jill Biden walked the canine within the Kennedy Garden close to the East Wing and reported “bruising, tenderness, and ache within the chew space,” in line with an inner company doc.
“I noticed Commander exit the Kennedy Garden and dash in the direction of me. I instantly stopped and put my palms up. Commander then bit me on left [thigh] after which ran again in the direction of the First Lady,” the officer wrote in an e mail.
On Dec. 11, a Secret Service particular agent reported being bitten after the president took Commander off his leash after watching a film — writing that he had a half-inch reduce and bruising on his arm and a 0.4-inch reduce attributable to a second chew on his hand and thumb.
On Jan. 2, a technical safety investigator was attacked when investigating an alarm at Biden’s Wilmington house.
“Commander squeezed his manner via the door and instantly bit/latched onto the decrease proper aspect of my again,” that sufferer wrote in an e mail.
“After checking my decrease again, there’s a 1×1 scratched, a bruised spot the place Commander grabbed onto and was bleeding constant [with] a scratch like a rug burn,” the technician added.
The incidents have been made public at some point earlier than Biden’s son Hunter, 53, seems in Delaware federal court docket Wednesday to plead responsible to 2 misdemeanor counts of tax fraud and a gun possession felony, in one other embarrassing story for the primary household.
President Biden has reportedly expressed doubts concerning the honesty of a Secret Service agent who claimed to have been bitten on the leg by Major — and people incidents precipitated stress throughout the presidential safety company, with an agent demanding that the president personally pay for a torn coat and one venting concerning the White House’s public spin.
