The relationship between the Secret Service and Joe Biden is suffering from a “breach in trust”, is “combustible” and “stressed” over repeated attacks on agents by the Biden family’s German Shepherds Commander and Major, and by “unrealistic requests”, as well as the Bidens’ paranoia that agents remain loyal to President Trump, according to CNN which buried the blockbuster news in a report on the Bidens’ dog Commander being removed from the White House after yet another biting attack on an agent last week.
CNN led with news Commander has bitten White House staffers in addition to Secret Service agents, “President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden’s 2-year-old German shepherd, Commander, has been involved in more biting incidents than previously reported at the White House, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN.”
The CNN report followed a Daily Mail report that Commander had been seen by a tourist biting a White House staffer. On Monday, Politico reported that White House staffers blamed the ‘unfriendly’ faces of stern Secret Service agents for triggering the attacks by the Biden’s dogs, claiming that the dogs were playful with staff.
🚨 BREAKING: Joe Biden’s dog ‘Commander’ has been removed from the White House after multiple biting incidents, including one caught on camera pic.twitter.com/6l5l7lELq2
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 5, 2023
Axios followed CNN’s report Wednesday night with one that said staff in the White House residence had been attacked (excerpt):
The Biden family’s German shepherd dogs have repeatedly bitten or nipped members of the White House residence staff in addition to Secret Service agents, according to people familiar with the matter.
Biden’s dog Major — who eventually was banished to the family’s home in Delaware — was so aggressive that residence officials warned the first lady’s office the Biden’s could face a lawsuit for injuries unless there were changes.
Why it matters: The dogs’ attacks on Secret Service agents have been well documented, but the extent of the dogs’ aggressiveness toward the White House residence staff has not been reported previously.
Zoom in: Many members of the residence staff — the several dozen people who maintain the White House as housekeepers, curators, chefs, butlers, carpenters, and more — have been fearful of Major and Commander, the younger dog who remained at the residence until recently.
Elizabeth Alexander, spokeswoman for Jill Biden, issued a statement first to CNN and then to the rest of the media Wednesday night: “The President and First Lady care deeply about the safety of those who work at the White House and those who protect them every day. They remain grateful for the patience and support of the U.S. Secret Service and all involved, as they continue to work through solutions. Commander is not presently on the White House campus while next steps are evaluated.”
Earlier Wednesday, this writer posited the dog attacks on agents were the result of the dogs picking up that Joe and Jill Biden see Secret Service agents as a threat:
“The problem is obviously with the owners. Dogs take cues from their masters’ behavior. Any hostility to Secret Service agents by Joe and Jill Biden would be picked up by Commander (and Major). Perhaps the Bidens harbor hostility to agents because they know Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify against them in criminal and/or impeachment proceedings thanks to a precedent set in the Clinton-Lewinsky investigation in the 1990s.”
Excerpt from CNN’s lengthy report on the Biden’s dogs attacking Secret Service and staff:
One source familiar with the incidents pointed to efforts from their colleagues to adjust Secret Service workplace habits amid broader concerns about workplace safety as they work to support the first family at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The situation has also revealed broader tensions between the Bidens and the US Secret Service. Sources suggest the relationship between the first family and the US Secret Service was first strained when the family’s elder dog, Major, caused an injury to an unnamed Secret Service agent before ultimately being sent away more permanently to Delaware. That incident caused a breach in trust, a source familiar with the dynamic said.
Major also had biting incidents with an engineer, per a witness to the incident, and a National Park Service employee, previously reported by CNN in spring 2021.
While the Bidens enjoyed a good relationship with Secret Service during the vice presidency, the Major situation caused “stress” for the first couple in their early days at the White House. That laid the foundation for a “combustible” relationship with Secret Service, which has since been exacerbated by numerous “last minute changes” to schedules – including spending most weekends away from the White House at Camp David or one of their Delaware residences – and “unrealistic requests” that strain the agency’s resources, the source familiar with the relationship dynamic said.
There had also been questions of USSS agents’ political loyalty to former President Donald Trump, as detailed by Biden allies to The Washington Post during the presidential transition in late 2020.
…”We’re beyond the point of worrying about trust being broken. We have to speak up,” a source familiar with the president’s Secret Service detail said.
That source, who requested anonymity to speak freely, described a “hostile” and “dangerous” work environment, suggesting that some agents have been warned to go through certain entrances and avoid certain areas to evade an interaction with the dog. The Secret Service communicates to its agents by radio when the dog is outdoors, and officers avoid the area.
That source said a supervisor told them that there had been a large number of incidents of Commander biting this past summer “as a way to warn me of how concerning the situation was.”
CNN’s claim that Biden had good relations with Secret Service agents when he was vice president under Obama is belied by author Ronald Kessler’s 2014 book that reported Biden swam naked in front of female agents. The book also reports similar complaints about how Biden treats agents (U.S. News excerpt):
Vice President Joe Biden enjoys swimming without a bathing suit, a new book claims.
Biden, who’s flirting with a run for president in 2016, gives Secret Service agents an eyeful both at his Delaware home and at the vice president’s official residence in Washington, D.C., according to “The First Family Detail” by Ronald Kessler.
…“Agents say that, whether at the vice president’s residence or at his home in Delaware, Biden has a habit of swimming in his pool nude,” Kessler writes in the book – due for release Aug. 5.
“Female Secret Service agents find that offensive,” he writes.
“Biden likes to be revered as everyday Joe,” an unnamed agent told Kessler. “But the reality is no agents want to go on his detail because Biden makes agents’ lives so tough.”
In addition to the alleged skinny-dipping, agents are reportedly irritated by frequent last-minute trips to Delaware.