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WASHINGTON — President Biden’s 2-year-old German shepherd Commander has departed the White House as even more biting incidents have emerged — contradicting anonymous administration spin that the first dog only bites Secret Service personnel.
The first dog’s exit was first reported by CNN late Wednesday as the outlet reported that Commander had bitten White House residence staff and other executive mansion workers, in addition to the 11 known incidents involving members of the protective agency.
On Wednesday morning, DailyMail.com published a tourist’s image of Commander placing his teeth on the arm of White House grounds superintendent Dale Haney, 71, on Sept. 13 — though the White House hours later insisted the dog was just playing and not attacking.
Commander also bit a Secret Service agent on Sept. 25, it emerged last week, and Axios reported Wednesday evening that first lady Jill Biden was warned by residence staff that the first family could face a lawsuit over former first dog Major’s own aggressiveness.
The latest reports come after Biden allies attempted to pin the blame for Commander’s aggression on the Secret Service.
Anonymous White House staffers told Politico Monday that Commander is “always so friendly” and that they had “never seen him like that” around non-security staff.
A former Biden aide blamed the biting incidents on “enormous men with guns acting suspiciously hostile.”
The Post exclusively revealed in July that Commander had bitten seven Secret Service employees and shown aggression toward three others between October 2022 and January of this year.
In the most serious incident, a uniformed officer was referred by the White House medical team to a local hospital for evaluation last November after suffering wounds to their arm and thigh, according to emails released under the Freedom of Information Act to watchdog group Judicial Watch.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment Wednesday on the new photograph.
“I would refer you to the Secret Service and also the first lady’s office,” Jean-Pierre said at her regular briefing.
Jill Biden’s spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander insisted later in the day that Commander had not bitten the groundskeeper in the widely circulated image of him appearing to do so.
“We spoke to Dale about the picture, and he said that Commander was being playful, and there was no bite, no pressure of teeth on his skin, no mark — just some dog slobber,” Alexander said.
In an earlier comment, Alexander told the Daily Mail, “The First Family continues to work on ways to help Commander handle the often-unpredictable nature of the White House grounds.”
There may be many additional biting incidents that have not yet been reported, since those chronicled in internal emails span a short window of the dog’s time at the White House — omitting his initial nine months and his most recent eight months, during which incidents only emerged publicly through leaks.
Judicial Watch is seeking additional internal Secret Service communications that would give a fuller accounting.
The organization on Thursday filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit demanding all records pertaining to dog bites.
“It is beyond belief that, even after Judicial Watch exposed their attacking 10 Secret Service personnel, Joe and Jill Biden have continued to let their dog menace and attack Secret Service and White House staff. Let’s be blunt: the dangerous dog could kill someone,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
“The ongoing Biden administration cover-up of the Biden dog attacks on Secret Service agents is dangerous corruption.”
Biden parted ways with former first dog Major during his first year in office after that German shepherd repeatedly attacked Secret Service employees and at least one White House visitor.
The White House said that Major was sent to live with family friends.
The White House has not proactively disclosed biting incidents involving either dog.
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