Secret Service: Biden dog would be ‘put down’ if not president’s pet

Judicial Watch’s new release of Secret Service emails about attacks by the first dog Commander is in focus.

The Washington Examiner’s Jack Birle reported: “President Joe Biden's dog Commander has reportedly been causing just as much trouble as his previous dog, Major, in the White House. The dog reportedly had 10 attacks from September 2022 to January 2023, according to documents obtained by Judicial Watch via the Freedom of Information Act.”

As with many of its investigations, Judicial Watch is providing reporters with a huge cache of emails, over 194 pages, that it received via a Freedom of Information Act request.

In this case, the emails provide a gripping insider’s view of the danger agents face simply walking the apparently untrained German shepherd and the first family’s failure to take charge of the situation.

“If it wasn’t their dog he would already have been put down — freaking clown needs a muzzle,” one Secret Service agent’s email obtained by Judicial Watch said.

The emails detail the violence of the first pet and the president's lack of awareness about the bad habits of his dog. One email, for example, said Biden let his dog off the leash and it immediately bit a Secret Service officer. Another described how first lady Jill Biden couldn't control the dog.

Here’s a sampling of others in the Judicial Watch package:

• On Nov. 3, 2022, a Secret Service official at “JOCATDESK,” Joint Operations Center Assistant to the Special Agent in Charge, emailed colleagues in the Presidential Protective Division. “Commander bite [sic] UD [Uniform Division] officer [redacted] at post [redacted] two times, one time in the upper right arm and a second bite on the officer’s thigh. WH [White House] medical treated the officer and made the decision to have [redacted] transported to [redacted] Hospital.”
• In a Nov. 5, 2022, email exchange between a Uniformed Division officer and the Nov. 3 attack victim, the first officer asked, “Doing alright [redacted]? That’s freaking crazy that stupid dog — rolling my eyes [redacted].” The victim replies, “My leg and arm still hurts. He bit me twice and ran at me twice.” The colleague replies, “What a joke [redacted] — if it wasn’t their dog he would already have been put down — freaking clown needs a muzzle – hope you get to feeling better [redacted].”
• An email dated Oct. 3, 2022, from an assistant special agent in charge of the Presidential Protective Division with the subject line Commander: “FYSA [For Your Situational Awareness]: This evening [redacted] took Commander outside for his usual dog walk through the Rose Garden. As Commander moved through the Palm Room doors, he inflicted a ‘friendly soft bite’ on SA [special agent] [redacted]’s forearm as [redacted] held the door open. Afterwards SA [redacted] told SA [redacted] (Whip) that no skin was broken from the bite and [redacted] business suit was not ripped in any way. [Redacted] was fine. SA [redacted] advised SA [redacted] to have the WH doc look at it, which [redacted] did.”
• On Oct. 5, 2022, a captain in the Uniformed Division of the White House Branch of the Secret Service emailed colleagues with the subject “Family Pet Incident” and wrote: “At approximately 0706 hours, ERT [Emergency Response Team] Officer-Tech [redacted] was involved in an incident involving the Family pet. While the Family pet was out for their morning walk, the dog jumped on Ofc.-Tech [redacted] and ‘bite’ [sic] at [redacted] arm/wrist area. [Redacted] did not suffer any injuries. The incident was reported to me by Lt. [redacted] in the JOC [Joint Operations Center] and said that the ERT supervisor would be pushing notifications up as well.”
• On Oct. 26, 2022, a Uniformed Division officer reported to colleagues: “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.” Also: “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.”
• On Dec. 11, 2022, a special agent in the Presidential Protective Division was attacked in the evening on the South Grounds by Commander after Joe Biden let the dog off the leash outside the White House. He wrote: “The injuries included a bite to the left forearm resulting in bruising and approximately a 1 1/2 cm cut and a bite to the right hand on the thumb resulting a 1 cm cut. I received treatment from White House Medical from LTC [redacted]. The injuries were [redacted] and I returned to work the rest of my shift.”
• An assistant special agent in charge who observed the above incident also described the incident: “It is to be noted, this occurred after departing the family movie theatre with [redacted] Commander and family members (total 6 participants). POTUS 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 this occurred.”
• On Dec. 24, 2022, a White House Branch USSS Uniformed Division officer emailed a colleague, with the subject line Dog Issue: “Undersigned officer reports incident occurred on 12/23/2022 around 2030 hours at post [redacted]. While first family was coming back from tennis pavilion, [redacted] having her hands being full and no one else around I did try to open the closed door to the deep room for her; at that moment first family dog passed everyone towards the deep room. Having doors not being fully open yet he bit me in my left forearm. One of the SAs [Special Agents] and [redacted] witnessed that incident. Fortunately I was wearing multiple layers of clothing so it didn’t leave any marks.”
• In a heavily redacted Dec. 24, 2022, email exchange with the subject line “Matters of extreme concern,” a Secret Service inspector reported to colleagues on a Dec. 23 incident: “I attended officials roll call [redacted] this afternoon. The dog bite issue came up again today. Please see the attached email chain written last evening. Apparently, Officer [redacted] was bitten while posted at [redacted] yesterday. Nearly every official in the room with me today spoke about specific incidents surrounding the First Family’s dog.”
• A Jan. 2, 2023, email chain described an incident with Commander involving a technical security investigator who was looking into an alarm going off at the Bidens’ Wilmington lake house. He was attacked by the dog when the house sitter opened the front door to talk to the agent. The agent wrote: “Commander squeezed his way through the door and immediately bit/latched onto the lower right side of my back. [Redacted] told Commander to get down and assisted in pulling him off. The total incident did not last more than about 10 seconds and Commander went back inside the residence. [Redacted] was apologetic after the incident. After checking my lower back, there’s a 1x1 scratched, bruised spot where Commander grabbed onto and was bleeding consistent of a scratch like rug burn.”