Joe Biden’s tension with his Secret Service detail dates back to his years as vice president, when he made female agents uncomfortable by diving in front of them, but worsened in his years in the White House after his German Shepherds bit several agents.
Biden’s new two-year-old dog Commander has bitten at least a dozen agents and people working at the White House residence, requiring some to get medical attention. And the first couple’s former dog, Major, was so aggressive and prone to biting that he was taken to friends in Delaware.
“It’s outrageous, just outrageous for those agents who risk their lives every day to protect the president,” Ronald Kessler, author of several books on the Secret Service, told DailyMail.com. “They never know when they’re going to get shot and have to endure the fear of being bitten by a dog. It’s just unthinkable that it could go on for so long.’
The Commander has moved off campus, living at an unknown location. Earlier, DailyMail.com published exclusive photos showing the dog biting the White House inspector on September 13.
President Joe Biden with his Secret Service details
Tensions have risen between Biden and his operatives after the Commander (above) bit members of the president’s detail
Biden’s relationship with the Secret Service is now “flammable,” a source told CNN, citing tensions with former pets, constant schedule changes and other issues.
The Secret Service denied there were any problems.
“On this I can say firsthand that it is categorically false. There is a tremendous amount of trust and respect between the Secret Service and the first family, and we know those feelings are mutual,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement to DailyMail.com.
The tensions are said to have started during Biden’s time as vice president and continued into his early days in the White House.
“Agents say that, whether at the vice president’s residence or at his home in Delaware, Biden has a habit of swimming naked in his pool,” Kessler wrote in his book The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents.
“Female Secret Service agents find it offensive,” he noted.
Kessler also described agents’ frustration with Biden’s ever-changing schedule and frequent trips to his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
“He would never give the agents any kind of warning of what his schedule would be,” Kessler told DailyMail.com. “It’s just that, currently, he would decide to go back to Wilmington, often, more than once a week. And so they could never plan their lives. They could never set up a social occasion.’
He noted that agents considered the Biden assignment the “second worst assignment.” First place went to Hillary Clinton’s detail.
Distrust goes both ways.
The Bidens were also said to be suspicious of their operatives, many of whom they suspected of supporting Donald Trump.
The level of confidence is important given the tight space. Agents shadow the first couple wherever they go, often listening in on private conversations and watching private moments.
“I think it’s critical,” Christopher Whipple, author of The Fight for His Life: Inside the Joe Biden White House, told DailyMail.com. “For the most obvious reasons that the President’s safety depends on it.”
“But I think he’s also entitled to assume that the Secret Service checks their policy at the door and that he can have confidential conversations without worrying about a MAGA accomplice reporting it to someone else.”
The swimming pool at the vice president’s residence – when Joe Biden lived there, it made his Secret Service detail uncomfortable when he was weak
Joe and Jill Biden with Commander, which they received as a gift in 2021
A White House staffer walks Commander Biden on the South Lawn
Joe and Jill Biden play Commander in Rehoboth Beach in December 2021
Commander Biden no longer lives in the White House after biting incidents
The Bidens are not the first presidential couple to be concerned about the political ties of agents. The Clintons worried that their details were still loyal to George W. Bush and his family.
Plus, adjusting to fish life in the White House — where agents and staff are around 24/7 — can be difficult for any first couple. Even Melania Trump, who had a large staff and private security when she lived in Trump Tower, is said to have found life in the White House stifling.
But the recent spate of dog bites has heightened the tension.
The Commander was a birthday gift to the president from James and Sarah Biden, his brother and sister-in-law, and made its first appearance at the White House on December 20, 2021.
The pet bite record came to light in July when a conservative group used a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain emails from Secret Service officials.
It has been revealed that the 2-year-old German Shepherd has bitten at least a dozen Secret Service agents. Later reports found that he also stalked staff at the residence.
And the Bidens’ previous dog, Major, was so aggressive that residence officials warned Jill Biden’s office that the Bidens could face an injury lawsuit unless changes were made, Axios reported.
Major was eventually given to friends of Biden in Delaware.
When in the White House, the Commander stays upstairs with the first couple. Jill Biden walks him in the mornings and when she’s at home. Otherwise, Dale Haney, the longtime security guard, takes him out, or the residence staff does.
German shepherds can be aggressive and are known to defend those they consider family.
The Biden administration defended the dog. Jill Biden’s office has noted that the White House “can be a stressful environment for family pets, and the First Family continues to work on ways to help the Commander handle the often unpredictable nature of the White House grounds.”
But a former White House official who regularly interacted with both the commander and the major told Axios, “The first family and their inner circle refuse to participate in any problem-solving discussions to protect agents and staff (Executive Residence).
“The ongoing Biden dog discipline issue is in no way a Secret Service problem. The agency is simply trying to protect its own agents from these violent animals.’
President Joe Biden had entered the White House with two German Shepherds, Chub — who died in 2021 — and Major, who was removed that year
A photo obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com shows the Commander biting yet another White House staffer last month
The incident, which was inadvertently caught on camera by a tourist taking pictures on September 13, shows the two-year-old German Shepherd sinking his teeth into the left arm of infielder Dale Haney.
The White House claimed that “everybody loves” the Commander.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that she never felt threatened by the dog.
“I’ve seen Commander many times. I never worried. And I’ve never been bitten by the Commander,” he said.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’ve never been wary of the Commander. I have seen him too many times. And so I can only speak for myself, and I can’t speak to anything other than that,” he added.
White House officials said the Bidens were working through new training for the Commander.
(tagsTo be translated)daily mail