WASHINGTON — President Biden’s two-year-old German shepherd Commander bit a White House staffer on camera last month, his 12th documented act of aggression in the past year — further undermining anonymous administration spin that the first dog only bites Secret Service personnel.
A tourist photographed Commander sinking his teeth into the arm of White House grounds superintendent Dale Haney, 71, on Sept. 13.
DailyMail.com published the image Wednesday and reported that Haney, who has been photographed in the past walking Commander, had been playing with the dog when the animal turned on him.
Commander also bit a Secret Service agent on Sept. 25, CNN reported last week.
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.
A spokeswoman for first lady Jill Biden did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment, but 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 because 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.
Those records also do not document possible incidents impacting non-Secret Service employees.
Judicial Watch is seeking additional internal Secret Service communications.
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.