If the Biden administration is “the most transparent administration EVER,” then why is it taking lawsuits by Judicial Watch to get requested information about the number of “incidents” involving Commander the dog?

Yet another batch of documents was dumped on Judicial Watch in response to their February 2024 lawsuit, which came after the first FOIA request for documents was given to journalist John Greenewald. This new batch contains even more details of incidents – including ones that were not previously disclosed, and where Joe Biden himself was present.

The number of dog attacks involving Commander, who the White House said in February was given away after more than two years terrorizing professionals assigned to protect Biden; and former first dog Major, who was rehomed in 2021 after also attacking personnel; could top three dozen, the new records suggest.

The 81-year-old president, who reportedly accused a Secret Service member of lying about being attacked by Major during his first year in office, was present for at least three separate attacks involving Commander, records released to Judicial Watch under Freedom of Information Act litigation show.

Remember that first Commander was accused of eleven attacks, and then 24 attacks in the first document release. Major, the first dog rehomed by the Bidens before Commander came on the scene, was also responsible for attacking Secret Service agents and White House staff. One of the FOIA’d emails comes from a request to Anthony Guglielmi, the Chief of Communications for the Secret Service, from Meryl Kornfield from the Washington Post, who tells him (page 93 of the documents):

I wanted to let you know that I just submitted a FOIA for a memo that I understand was written by an agent about 37 biting incidents combined between Commander and Major. I’m not sure if that is something you have and could share with me, in which case I could retract my request for the record, but I wanted to let you know either way.

THIRTY-SEVEN INCIDENTS. We know that at least 24 of those are Commander, so how many bites did Major get in before he was permanently removed?

We know that Commander was with the Bidens for two years, and came to them as a puppy.

Meet the newest Biden. pic.twitter.com/JHAbH53iRk

— President Biden (@POTUS) December 20, 2021

He lasted just over two years with them.

This again highlights what an incredibly bad dog owner Joe Biden was. Also, look at how Joe Biden is moving and interacting with the dog in 2021, compared to how he moves now. The change in his body language just accentuates how much Biden is aging right before our eyes.

Reporter: "Did you all have a chance to discuss a possible ceasefire?"

Biden: "Yes."

Reporter: "Are you confident it is going to be done soon?"

Biden: "No." pic.twitter.com/4iM0BOfe1y

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 13, 2024

Which raises the question – just how much physical control could Joe Biden have over Commander? One of the new attacks that we are now learning about comes from September 12, 2023, when a biting attack happened while Joe had the dog on a leash, but then apparently took the dog off the leash at some point.

A previously unreported incident on Sept. 12, 2023, featured a pair of bites in which Commander tore holes in a Secret Service member’s suit as Biden took him for a walk in the Kennedy Garden along the South Lawn of the White House.

The president “took Commander (on a leash) to the Kennedy Garden this evening for a walk,” the special agent assigned to the Presidential Protective Division wrote in a report.

“While [Biden] and Commander were in the Kennedy Garden I was standing half way from the Book-Sellers [foyer] and the Family Theater,” the agent wrote, referring to the area where the main White House connects to the East Wing.

“POTUS opened the Book-Seller door and said [redacted]. As I started to walk toward him to see if he needed help, Commander ran through his legs and bit my left arm through the front of my jacket. I pulled my arm away and yelled no,” the victim wrote.

“POTUS also yelled [redacted] to Commander. POTUS then [redacted]. I obliged and Commander let me pet him.”

“When turning to close the door,” the special agent went on, “Commander jumped again and bit my left arm for the second time. POTUS again yelled at Commander and attached the leash to him. My suit coat has 3 holes, 1 being all the way through. No skin was broken.”

The email from the Secret Service agent can be seen on page 4 of the documents, and I for one would really like to know what, exactly, Joe Biden said or did in those redacted lines. Interestingly, one of the redacted lines may have been revealed by the New York Post, who says that “POTUS again yelled at Commander” in their article (quoted above). The actual email has two instances of redacted words or actions by Biden that are both filled in by the Post as “yelled.” And there is a very long line that is redacted at one point, indicating action by Biden to control Commander. Was Joe striking the dog and yelling at him? Judicial Watch seems to think that is a strong possibility, and they are pointing the finger at Biden directly for the dog’s behavior.

“These documents show Joe Biden is personally responsible for attacks by his dog Commander on Secret Service personnel,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “No wonder the Biden White House forced us to go to federal court for these records.”

According to a Judicial Watch source, President Biden mistreated his dogs. The source disclosed Biden punched and kicked his dogs.

Several pages of the document release involve images, screenshots, and receipts involving holes in suits, replacement suit options, and professional cleaning services. But eventually, we get to emails again, where the Secret Service is both asking that the dog be muzzled, and wondering how TMZ got the information that an agent had been bitten.

Other emails shared by staff suggested that the First Family purchase a muzzle for the German Shepherd.

“TMZ just reported a dog bite at the White House! Can we please find a way to get this dog muzzled?” personnel from the U.S. Secret Service Safety, Health & Environment Division wrote in an email.

That email (on page 114) was followed by several replies, including “How does TMZ know before we do????” (page 116), reflecting the sheer frustration by the Secret Service, even as their communications guy, Guglielmi, kept replying that everything was fine, nothing to see here, and he didn’t have any numbers on “workplace injuries” inflicted by the dog (page 100), and he assumed Judicial Watch was getting their numbers anecdotally (page 112) -and at this point, eleven attacks was the number being asked about by most media outlets, aside from the Washington Post asking about 37 reported incidents.

This document release again emphasizes how much the Secret Service was trying to keep a lid on just how bad the job of dealing with the dog was becoming, while also pointing out that the Bidens are simply terrible dog owners. And the more unresponsive the administration is to the FOIA requests and lawsuits, the longer this story stays in the headlines, proclaiming to all the world that these dogs were not treated well. And Judicial Watch still has an outstanding lawsuit from May of this year, regarding yet another FOIA request: “regarding the submission of CA-1 Forms (“Notice of Traumatic Injury and Claim for Continuation of Pay or Compensation”) in connection with bites by Biden family dogs.” This story is not over yet.

Featured image: stock image of German Shepherd via Ralphs_Fotos on Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license