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Tom Fitton's Judicial Watch Weekly Update

Biden Dog Terrorizes Secret Service

Records Reveal 10 Attacks on Secret Service by Biden German Shepherd
Judicial Watch Sues Justice Department for Hunter Biden IRS Investigation Documents
Mexican Drug Cartels ‘Seize Unprecedented Control’ of Southwest Border

 

Records Reveal 10 Attacks on Secret Service by Biden German Shepherd

In April 2022, we released records detailing multiple attacks on Secret Service members by President Biden’s dog, Major, at both the White House and Biden’s lake home in Wilmington, DE.

It’s happening again with Major’s replacement, Commander.

We received 194 pages of records from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealing 10 attacks by President Joe Biden’s German Shepherd, Commander, on officers and agents of the Secret Service between October 2022 and January 2023. In several cases the agents required medical care, including at a hospital. The records do not include any possible recent events.

We forced the release of the records through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed after the Secret Service failed to respond adequately to a December 2022 request for “records related to incidents of aggression and bites involving the Biden family dog, ‘Commander.’” Judicial Watch filed the request after receiving a tip about the dog’s behavior.

Acquired in December 2021, Commander, a purebred German Shepherd, replaced Major, which was reportedly “given to family friends” following a series of attacks on Secret Service and White House staff.

On November 3, 2022, a Secret Service official at “JOCATDESK” [Joint Operations Center Assistant to the Special Agent in Charge] emails colleagues in the Presidential Protective Division:

Commander bite [sic] UD [Uniform Division] officer [redacted] at post [redacted] two times, one time in the upper right arm and a second bite on the officer’s thigh. WH [White House] medical treated the officer and made the decision to have [redacted] transported to [redacted] Hospital.

An email later that day from a captain of the Uniform Division, whose name is redacted, states that he was advised that the dog was up-to-date on all vaccines.

A November 4, 2022, email report adds details regarding the previous day’s attack. A Division officer, after being bitten in the arm and thigh, had to use a steel cart to shield himself from another attack:

Officer [redacted] advised that ‘Commander’ came down the stairs and walked toward [redacted]. Officer [redacted] advised [redacted] was sitting with [redacted] arms crossed and Commander bite [sic] [redacted] arm (tricep area) then when [redacted] stood up Commander bite [sic] in the leg (quad area). Officer [redacted] stated that the usher did not control the dog and was telling Officer [redacted] to not back up. Officer [redacted] advised that Commander came after [redacted] again and [redacted] had to use a steel cart to sheild [sic] [redacted] self from another attack. Officer [redacted] advised [redacted] was in a considerable amount of pain.

The officer subsequently was placed on “restricted duty status” for three days on doctors’ advice.

In a November 5, 2022, email exchange between a Uniformed Division officer and the November 3 attack victim, the first officer asks, “Doing alright [redacted]? That’s freaking crazy that stupid dog – rolling my eyes [redacted].” The victim replies, “My leg and arm still hurts. He bit me twice and ran at me twice.” The colleague replies, “What a joke [redacted] – if it wasn’t their dog he would already have been put down – freaking clown needs a muzzle – hope you get to feeling better [redacted].”

The new records contain an email dated October 3, 2022, from an assistant special agent in charge of the Presidential Protective Division with the subject line “Commander:”

FYSA [For Your Situational Awareness]: This evening [redacted] took Commander outside for his usual dog walk through the Rose Garden. As Commander moved through the Palm Room doors, he inflicted a “friendly soft bite” on SA [special agent] [redacted]’s forearm as [redacted] held the door open. Afterwards SA [redacted] told SA [redacted] (Whip) that no skin was broken from the bite and [redacted] business suit was not ripped in any way. [Redacted] was fine. SA [redacted] advised SA [redacted] to have the WH doc look at it, which [redacted] did….

The event seemed to be minor enough that [redacted] didn’t notice that Commander had even made contact with SA [redacted]….

In light of past incidents, I just wanted to keep you all in the loop. Thanks again to Whip for properly handling the situation.

Secret Service official Darryl Volpicelli responds that he would brief staff.

On October 5, 2022, a captain in the Uniformed Division of the White House Branch of the Secret Service emailed colleagues with the subject “Family Pet Incident” writes:

At approximately 0706 hours, ERT [Emergency Response Team] Officer-Tech [redacted] was involved in an incident involving the Family pet. While the Family pet was out for their morning walk, the dog jumped on Ofc.-Tech [redacted] and “bite” [sic] at [redacted] arm/wrist area. [Redacted] did not suffer any injuries. The incident was reported to me by Lt. [redacted] in the JOC [Joint Operations Center] and said that the ERT supervisor would be pushing notifications up as well.

In an email dated October 26, 2022, a Uniformed Division officer reports to colleagues:

Commander has been exhibiting extremely aggressive behavior. Today, while posted, he came charging at me. The First Lady couldn’t regain control of commander [sic] and he continued to circle me. I believe it’s only a matter of time before an agent/officer is attacked or bit.

He would have bit me today if I didn’t step towards him a couple different times. It was bad enough that the agent on the detail asked if I got bit – just so you’re aware.

A November 10, 2022, Secret Service memorandum describes an incident that occurred with Commander earlier in the day. While patrolling the White House grounds, a Uniformed Division Secret Service officer was attacked by Commander while First Lady Jill Biden was walking him in the Kennedy Garden. The officer was bitten on the left thigh, and subsequently experienced “bruising, tenderness and pain in the bite area.” He was tended to by the White House medical unit and filed a workplace injury report with OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration].

On November 14, 2022, a Uniformed Division Secret Service officer emails colleagues, with the subject line “Family Pet,” describing that while at his post in the White House he “heard the dog bark with a loud aggressive sound.” He then “looked up and saw him at the landing of the ushers staircase. I made eye contact with him and grabbed the black chair I was sitting on and held it in front of me while backing up.” A White House usher “stepped out of her office and climbed the staircase to him,” and took the dog up to the residence level.

On December 11, 2022, a USSS Special Agent in the Presidential Protective Division was attacked in the evening on the South Grounds by Commander after President Biden let the dog off the leash outside the White House. He writes:

The injuries included a bite to the left forearm resulting in bruising and approximately a 1 ½ cm cut and a bite to the right hand on the thumb resulting a 1 cm cut. I received treatment from White House Medical from LTC [redacted]. The injuries were [redacted] and I returned to work the rest of my shift.

An Assistant Special Agent in Charge who observed the incident also describes the incident:

It is to be noted, this occurred after departing the family movie theatre with [redacted] Commander and family members (total 6 participants). POTUS requested to take Commander (on the leash) to the Kennedy Garden. Once at the KG, POTUS took Commander off the leash to run free. I was present to observe [redacted] departing from the Kennedy Garden to move behind [redacted] toward the south ground drive via the internal garden gate when this occurred.

An OSHA Form 301, Injury and Illness Incident Report, shows another dog bite incident occurred on December 16, 2022, when a Secret Service officer was walking from one post to another on the White House Complex. He/she writes, “I was walking across the complex and a dog bit my left arm.” Asked to describe the injury, the officer wrote, “Dog bite, superficial laceration, contusion, soreness, and bruising.”

On December 24, 2022, a White House Branch USSS Uniformed Division officer emails a colleague, with the subject line “Dog Issue:”

Undersigned officer reports incident occurred on 12/23/2022 around 2030 hours at post [redacted]. While first family was coming back from tennis pavilion, [redacted] having her hands being full and no one else around I did try to open the closed door to the deep room for her; at that moment first family dog passed everyone towards the deep room. Having doors not being fully open yet he bit me in my left forearm. One of the SAs [Special Agents] and [redacted] witnessed that incident. Fortunately I was wearing multiple layers of clothing so it didn’t leave any marks.

In a heavily redacted December 24, 2022, email exchange with the subject line “Matters of extreme concern” a Secret Service Inspector reports to colleagues on the December 23 incident:

I attended officials roll call [redacted] this afternoon. The dog bite issue came up again today. Please see the attached email chain written last evening. Apparently, Officer [redacted] was bitten while posted at [redacted] yesterday. Nearly every official in the room with me today spoke about specific incidents surrounding the First Family’s dog.

The remainder of the email, and a response to it, is redacted. The inspector’s email is then forwarded by an official to Uniformed Division Chief Alfonso Dyson by one of the recipients, who writes, “FYSA [for your situational awareness] … PPD [Presidential Protection Division] is being notified of the latest incident, but we need to address this issue ASAP collectively.”

A January 2, 2023, email chain describes an incident with Commander involving a Technical Security Investigator who was looking into an alarm going off at the Bidens’ Wilmington, DE, lake house. He was attacked by the dog when the house sitter opened the front door to talk to the agent. The agent writes:

Commander squeezed his way through the door and immediately bit/latched onto the lower right side of my back. [Redacted] told Commander to get down and assisted in pulling him off. The total incident did not last more than about 10 seconds and Commander went back inside the residence. [Redacted] was apologetic after the incident. After checking my lower back, there’s a 1×1 scratched, bruised spot where Commander grabbed onto and was bleeding consistent of a scratch like rug burn.

These shocking records raise fundamental questions about President Biden and the Secret Service. This is a special sort of craziness and corruption where a President would allow his dog to repeatedly attack and bite Secret Service and White House personnel. And rather than protect its agents, the Secret Service tried to illegally hide documents about the abuse of its agents and officers by the Biden family.

 

Judicial Watch Sues Justice Department for Hunter Biden IRS Investigation Documents

We are second to none in pursuing the scandals surrounding “First Son” Hunter Biden, and we’re now digging into the collusion of the DOJ and the IRS regarding the Hunter tax “investigation.”

We filed a Freedom of Information (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Justice for records from the Office of the Attorney General and Office of the Deputy Attorney General regarding the Internal Revenue Service investigation of Hunter Biden (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Department of Justice (No. 1:23-cv-02075)).

We sued after the DOJ failed to respond to a May 21, 2023, FOIA request for:

Records and communications, including emails, email chains, email attachments, text messages, calendar invites, calendar meetings, voice recordings, charts, correspondence, briefings, letters, memoranda, reports, notes, of the Office of the Attorney General or the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, or any person acting on their behalf, regarding the Internal Revenue Service investigation of Hunter Biden.

Evidence shows that the Garland Justice Department obstructed an IRS criminal investigation implicating Joe Biden. And on top of this obstruction, Garland’s Justice Department is violating federal FOIA law to cover-up this serious scandal.

In recent testimony before the House Oversight Committee, IRS whistleblowers detailed how the Garland Justice Department obstructed their criminal investigation of Hunter Biden and other members of the Biden family, including President Joe Biden. According to the Committee:

The Department of Justice prevented investigators from following evidence that could have led to Joe Biden; divulged sensitive information to Hunter Biden’s attorneys; and allowed the clock to run out to prevent charging Hunter Biden with felonies. President Biden’s politically appointed U.S. Attorneys for D.C. and Central District of California denied the U.S. Attorney in Delaware’s request to bring charges, which [at that time] put Hunter Biden on the path to a sweetheart plea deal. Additionally, the IRS whistleblowers’ testimony confirms the Oversight Committee’s findings about the Biden family’s influence peddling schemes.

The IRS agents who provided testimony were Joseph Ziegler, a 13-year Special Agent with the IRS, and Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley.

Ziegler testified:

In the Criminal Tax Manual, Chapter 10, found on the Department of Justice website, Tax Division policy states, “Cases involving individuals who fail to fil tax returns or pat a tax but who also commit acts of evasion or obstruction should be charged as felonies to avoid inequitable treatment.” In early August of 2022, federal prosecutors from the Department of Justice Tax Division drafted a 99-page memorandum. This memorandum recommended approving felony and misdemeanor charges for the 2017m 2018, and 2019 tax years. If the Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss followed DOJ policy as he stated in his most recent letter, Hunter Biden should have been charged with a tax felony, and not only the tax misdemeanor charge. We need to treat each taxpayer equally under the law.

Shapley told the House Oversight Committee:

I am here to tell you that the Delaware USAO and Department of Justice handling of the Hunter Biden tax investigation was very different from any other case in my 14 years at the IRS. In this country, we believe in the rule of law, and that applies to everyone. There should not be a two-track justice system depending on who you are and who you’re connected to. Yet in this case, there was. At every stage decisions were made that benefited the subject of the investigation.

Shapley noted that “evidence, including the laptop, was concealed from investigators,” and that “the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s office also slow-walked interviews, serving document requests, and pursuing physical search warrants.” He also testified that an “electronic search warrant on Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud led us to WhatsApp messages with several CEFC China Energy executives where he claimed to be sitting and discussing business with his father Joe Biden, we sought permission to follow up on the information in the messages. Prosecutors would not allow it.”

We have filed multiple federal lawsuits focused on Biden family corruption:

In June 2023, we filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice for a copy of the FBI FD-1023 form that describes “an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.” Judicial Watch also asked for communications about the FD-1023.

In May 2023, we filed a FOIA lawsuit against the National Archives for Biden family records and communications regarding travel and finance transactions, as well as communications between the Bidens and several known business associates.

On October 14, 2022, we sued DOJ for all records in the possession of FBI Supervisory Intelligence Analyst Brian Auten regarding an August 6, 2020, briefing provided to members of the U.S. Senate. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) raised concerns that the briefing was intended to undermine the senators’ investigation of Hunter Biden.

We filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department on April 20, 2022, for messages sent through the SMART (State Messaging and Archive Retrieval Toolkit) system that mention Hunter Biden.

In December 2020, State Department records obtained through our FOIA lawsuit showed that former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie “Masha” Yovanovitch had specifically warned in 2017 about corruption allegations against Burisma Holdings.

In October 2020, we forced the release of State Department records that included a briefing checklist of a February 22, 2019, meeting in Kyiv between then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and Sally Painter, co-founder and chief operating officer of Blue Star Strategies, a Democratic lobbying firm which was hired by Burisma Holdings to combat corruption allegations. At the time of the meeting, Hunter Biden was serving on the board of directors for Burisma Holdings.

More to come …

 

Mexican Drug Cartels ‘Seize Unprecedented Control’ of Southwest Border

President Biden’s open border policy handed control of our southern border over to Transnational Criminal Organizations operating throughout our country. Our Corruption Chronicles blog explains.

While the Biden administration and its allies in the mainstream media highlight a reduction in illegal immigration since the termination of a Trump-era restriction known as Title 42, Mexican drug cartels have seized unprecedented control of the nation’s southwest border. The president’s reckless open border policies have greatly facilitated the business model of Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) operating in the region and throughout the United States, according to congressional testimony delivered recently by federal sources in counterterrorism, intelligence and drug enforcement.

The hearing, held last week by the House Committee on Homeland Security, exposed information that helps illustrate how the Biden administration has “threatened our national security and the safety of every American” with its negligent border policies. This includes ending a Trump measure known as Migrant Protection Protocols (“Remain in Mexico”) which made illegal immigrants wait in Mexico—rather than in the U.S.—for asylum hearings that could take years. Refusing to finish a border barrier system has also contributed to the crisis as has the implementation of mass catch and release of migrants and failing to properly vet Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) or their sponsors. TCOs have capitalized on the weaknesses, according to evidence provided at the hearing. “The cartels have essentially taken over,” said House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, a medical doctor and Republican congressman from Tennessee.

Green reminded the panel that Attorney General Merrick Garland has admitted to the Senate that the cartels’ strategy is to tie up the Border Patrol by flooding it because the agency is practicing a catch-and-release system, allowing drug cartels to slip people into the country. The foreign criminal enterprises operate in cities throughout nation with the help of U.S.-based street gangs that have overrun American communities with drugs, according to Jaeson Jones, a former captain of intelligence and counterterrorism at the Texas Department of Public Safety. Jones testified that cartels have highly effective systems that include pushing hundreds of migrants to one location as a distraction to open a route elsewhere after local, state and federal law enforcement resources are deployed to the location flooded by illegal immigrants. They also utilize a reliable network of scouts that operates like an organized law enforcement agency to document border activity and U.S. agents around the clock. The lookouts have eight, 10 and 12-hour shifts and are equipped with encrypted radios to communicate with cartel bosses. “I’ve seen them in South Texas as far as 30 miles into the United States,” Jones said. “I have seen them in Arizona as far as 70 miles.”

Days earlier at a separate and equally alarming congressional hearing largely ignored by the media, law enforcement sources confirmed that Mexican TCOs are successfully smuggling mass quantities of deadly illicit fentanyl past Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers into the U.S. The criminal enterprises are not just surreptitiously bringing loads in at land crossings, they are also using drones for smaller stashes that boost billions of dollars in profits. Though federal agents are seizing “unbelievable volumes of fentanyl,” huge amounts are still getting through and authorities cannot accurately track how much. “The challenge with something like fentanyl is it being synthetic—there’s no agriculture-based place to get an initial estimate,” said James Mandryck, a CBP deputy assistant intelligence commissioner. “So unlike cocaine or marijuana, where we can kind of do an oversight to see general cultivation estimates, we can’t do that with synthetics like fentanyl or methamphetamine.”

The recent congressional hearings documenting how Mexican TCOs have taken over the southwest border come on the heels of equally chilling news in the region, that a record number of suspected terrorists have been caught trying to enter the U.S. through Mexico. Last month Judicial Watch reported that an unprecedented number of foreigners who appear on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) terror watchlist known as the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) have been apprehended by Border Patrol agents this fiscal year. The TSDB contains thousands of records that are updated daily and shared with federal state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement as well as the intelligence community and international partners to “ensure that individuals with links to terrorism are appropriately screened,” according to the FBI. The latest available figure at the time of our report was more than the total terrorists caught in four previous years—2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 combined. The number has since increased, according to the latest government stats and will likely grow before the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

Circling back to Mexican TCOs, the U.S. government has long assessed that they are the greatest criminal threat to the country. Nine Mexican TCOs have the greatest drug trafficking impact on the U.S., according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Among them are the Sinaloa and Juárez cartels, Los Zetas, La Familia Michoacána, Los Rojos and Guerreros Unidos. The TCOs maintain drug distribution cells in cities across the U.S. that report to leaders in Mexico and dominate the nation’s drug market.

Until next week,


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