The Secret Service destroyed a film showing the Biden family dog, Commander, attacking an agent at the White House.
According to an email obtained by the Daily Mail through a Freedom of Information Act request, Commander was seen running at high speed toward a Secret Service agent in the East Wing’s Kennedy Garden, biting him hard enough to require stitches. The bite drew a serious amount of blood from the agent, requiring the White House to stop tours to clean it up.
“East Wing Tours were stopped for approximately 20 minutes due to blood from the incident being on the floors in the area of the Booksellers,” the message said.
FOIA Officer Kevin Tyrrell told the news outlet that the file was destroyed as part of standard Secret Service procedure.
“Due to Secret Service retention standards, the above mentioned file(s) has been destroyed,” he said.
The attack was the worst of about two dozen between October 2022 and July 2023, finally requiring Commander to be expelled from the White House.
Shortly before the attack, a Secret Service official warned others that Commander was “being left off leash.”
“Just for situational awareness. It seems that we’re back to the K9 being let off leash to roam the grounds freely,” the person wrote. “Tonight we had the team on the roadway for the evening sweep when [redacted] brought the dog out. K9 ran directly south and bounced between us techs.”
“Though no one was bitten it’s just a matter of time before it happens,” the official added.
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In a February statement to the Washington Examiner, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said that Commander’s attacks were being treated as workplace injuries.
“The U.S. Secret Service takes the safety and wellbeing of our employees extremely seriously, and has been navigating how to best operate in an environment that includes family pets for many Presidential administrations,” Guglielmi wrote in a statement at the time. “The incidents involving Commander were treated as workplace injuries, with events documented in accordance with Secret Service and US Department of Homeland Security guidelines. While Secret Service personnel neither handle nor care for the first family’s pets, we work continuously with all applicable entities in order to minimize any adverse impacts from family pets.”