White House reporters spent more time at the Tuesday briefing asking about President Joe Biden’s dog Commander’s biting spree than about the newest Hunter Biden revelations.
Commander, a German Shepherd, sent a Secret Service officer to the hospital and bit six other individuals in the White House. A 194-page Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) document detailed the dog’s aggression and how it bit people on several occasions.
Reporters asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about the dog’s biting spree at least four times. That is more time spent asking about the dog than about the criminal investigations into Hunter Biden. Monday, Business Insider reported Hunter sold his art to a Democratic Party donor who his father appointed to the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.
Jean-Pierre said the dog bites were because of the “stressful” White House environment and the Biden family is working with the U.S. Secret Service to get Commander proper training.
“As you all know, the White House complex can be unique and very stressful,” Jean-Pierre said while addressing Commander’s biting incidents. “That is something I’m sure you all can understand and it is, as I just said, it is unique and it is stressful for all of us, so you can imagine what it’s like for a family pet and family pets more broadly.”
A second reporter asked how many biting incidents have occurred since January. The press secretary referred him to the Secret Service. (RELATED: KJP Says Biden’s Dog Commander Bites Because White House Is Too Stressful)
Another reporter questioned if residents or other White House staff have been bitten by Commander. She also compared these incidents to Biden’s other German Shepherd, Major, who had been the subject of biting incidents. Jean-Pierre again referred her to the Secret Service.
Gray Television White House correspondent Jon Decker asked about both the dog and Hunter Biden. He first recollected how former President George W. Bush’s dog bit him right after the 2008 election and was likely disappointed about leaving the White House. Decker pointed to a rule that a presidential dog must be quarantined for ten days after a biting incident, and questioned if Commander was quarantined.
“You know, my team and I kinda did a bet to see how many times I would get questions about Commander,” Jean-Pierre said, refusing to answer the question on quarantining.
Decker then asked about Hunter’s first court appearance Wednesday since pleading guilty to gun charges and tax violations from 2017 and 2018. He wondered if Biden or First Lady Jill Biden will “be by his side” at the court.
The press secretary said the president will be at the White House and the First Lady is currently abroad, but assured Biden and Jill love their son and will continue to support him.
Hunter has recently been the subject of various allegations.
Two whistleblowers with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) testified before the House Ways and Means Committee about the Department of Justice (DOJ) allegedly withholding evidence from an investigation into Hunter’s tax violations in an effort to let him off the hook in Washington D.C. and California.
His business dealings in Ukraine, China and Romania have come into question since the media confirmed the authenticity of his laptop in 2022. The computer was abandoned at a Delaware repair shop and contained details, caches and receipts of apparent overseas business dealings with business oligarchs abroad.
Hunter, the Biden family and associates allegedly took $17 million from foreign interests in Ukraine, Romania and China. The White House has continued to deny the President’s involvement in his son’s business dealings.