Records show Biden dog, Commander, attacked Secret Service members at least 24 times
President Biden’s dog, Commander, reportedly bit and attacked numerous U.S. Secret Service (USSS) personnel in at least 24 incidents between October 2022 and July 2023, before he was ultimately removed from the White House campus. Newly released internal USSS documents posted publicly by The Black Vault and obtained by Fox News Digital, reveal at least 24 incidents in which the German shepherd bit or attempted to bite Secret Service staff members or others. In the first incident documented, the USSS member reported holding a door open to the Palm Room on the West Colonnade side, when Biden took Commander out to the South Grounds. “Commander and POTUS were entering the Palm Room through the West Colonnade. Commander came in first, circled back and grabbed my left arm,” the report read. “He then stood up and back down. He is literally my height, standing.” BIDEN’S DOG, COMMANDER, REMOVED FROM WHITE HOUSE AFTER SERIES OF BITING INCIDENTS The president entered shortly after the dog grabbed the agent’s arm, which was not punctured. Incidents with the dog began to stack up, documents show, with family pet altercations taking place in locations such as the White House, Wilmington, Delaware, Camp David, and Biden’s beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. On Dec. 23, 2022, the first family was returning from the tennis pavilion, when Commander attacked a staff member on the left forearm, though fortunately, the person was wearing multiple layers of clothing, and the dog did not leave any marks. Then, on June 11, 2023, an agent was bitten by the family pet when first lady Jill Biden moved from the Cabana to the Oval Dining Room. Documents show the agent held the door to the dining room for the first lady, when Commander jumped onto the agent and bit his chest, tearing the agent’s shirt and leaving two small lacerations. BIDEN’S DOG, COMMANDER, TERRORIZED SECRET SERVICE IN ‘EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE’ RAMPAGE: EMAILS Three days later, the USSS emailed staff seeking to document all incidents pertaining to altercations with the first dog. On June 15, 2023, another agent was attacked, this time on the left arm, and requiring stitches. The injury was so bad that tours of the East Wing were stopped for 20 minutes to allow staff members time to clean up blood from the floor. The USSS then sent another email out to team members about dealing with Commander. BIDEN’S DOG MAJOR BITES ANOTHER WHITE HOUSE EMPLOYEE “The recent dog bites have challenged us to adjust our operational tactics when Commander is present — please give lots of room (staying a terrain feature away if possible),” the email from June 29, 2023 read. “We will continue to keep [redaction] in our sight but must be creative to ensure our own personal safety.” A month later, on July 29, 2023, Commander attacked an agent working on a temporary assignment in Rehoboth Beach, at the Biden’s beach house. Commander was running loose on the backyard patio of the property at the time of the attack when he started barking. The agent reported hearing who he believed was the first lady, when Commander ran toward the agent and bit the agent in the left forearm. The bite created a “severe deep open wound,” resulting in significant blood loss. After the incident, the agent was treated and received six stitches in the left forearm and antibiotics for the wound. BIDEN’S DOG, MAJOR, BIT SECRET SERVICE MEMBERS FOR 8 DAYS IN A ROW, EMAIL SAYS By September 2023, the German shepherd had been removed from the White House campus. “The U.S. Secret Service takes the safety and well-being of our employees extremely seriously, and has been navigating how best to operate in an environment that includes family pets for many Presidential administrations,” Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the Secret Service, told Fox News Digital. “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.” The White House did not immediately respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital regarding the dog’s reported behavior. Commander’s arrival at the White House came after the Biden’s got rid of their prior dog, Major, who also behaved aggressively, including biting Secret Service and White House staff. They eventually sent the dog, also a German shepherd, to live with friends in Delaware. Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
Haley accuses Trump of siding with a ‘dictator and a tyrant’ as she blasts him over lack of Putin criticism
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. – Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is turning up the volume in her attacks on rival Donald Trump over the former president’s hesitance to criticize Russian leader Vladimir Putin. “Trump sided with an evil man over our allies who stood with us at 9/11,” the former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration charged at a rally on Wednesday, as she pointed towards Putin. And minutes later, in a Fox News Digital interview outside of her campaign bus in North Augusta, South Carolina, Haley stressed “I can’t comprehend in any world where a candidate for president would side with a dictator and a tyrant who kills his political opponents. Who arrests American journalists and holds them hostage. And who’s made no bones about the fact that he wants to destroy America.” TRUMP ACKNOWLEDGES HIS SHORT LIST FOR RUNNING MATE “That’s a total lack of moral clarity. And that’s what happens whenever he looks away from the teleprompter,” Haley claimed as she took verbal shots at Trump. Haley started sharpening her blows against Trump last month, when she became the final rival standing against the former president – who is the commanding frontrunner in the GOP nomination race as he bids a third straight time for the White House. TRUMP CALLS NAVALNY’S DEATH ‘HORRIBLE THING’ BEFORE COMPARING IT TO HIS OWN LEGAL SITUATION For over a week, Haley’s been blasting Trump over the former president’s controversial comments that he would not stand in the way of Moscow if Putin attacked a NATO member country that failed to pay its full share of dues. And following the death of a high-profile Russian opposition leader and political prisoner Alexi Navalny last week in a Siberian prison – which many across the globe are blaming on Putin – Haley slammed Trump for not speaking out. Trump did bemoan Navalny’s death when asked about it by host Laura Ingraham during a Fox News town hall Tuesday in Greenville, South Carolina. “Navalny — a very sad situation,” Trump said. “It’s a horrible thing.” But Trump doubled down on comparing his criminal indictments to the circumstances surrounding Navalny. “It’s happening in our country, too,” Trump argued, as he pointed to his slew of court cases, including two stemming from his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss to President Biden. Trump charged that the U.S. is “turning into a communist country in many ways.” But the former president didn’t mention Putin in connection with Navalny’s death. Asked about those comments, Haley told Fox News Digital that, “You talk about Navalny, you should be talking about what a hero he is. You should be talking about what a thug Putin is. But the thing, what does Donald Trump do – he goes and compares himself to Navalny, based on his court cases. Everything becomes about Trump. Everything. He’s obsessed with himself. I need a president who’s going to be obsessed with the American people. He seems incapable of doing that.” Trump, touting his tough stance against the Russian leader, reiterated at the town hall that “Putin took land from every president of our last five except the one – me.” But Trump has a history dating back to his years in the White House of occasionally complimenting Putin. And his latest comments come as Republicans in the House of Representatives have refused to provide more military funding to Ukraine in its two-year-long war with Russia. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Democrat in crucial Senate race under fire for past amnesty, sanctuary city ‘support’ as border crisis spirals
The likely Democrat nominee — in what is expected to be one of the most consequential Senate races this year — is taking heat over his past “support” for illegal immigrant amnesty and sanctuary cities as the migrant crisis continues to spiral. Since taking office in 2015, Arizona Senate candidate Ruben Gallego, a congressman who represents a deep-blue district in the Phoenix area, has co-sponsored and voted for various pieces of legislation that many critics, including his top Republican opponent, have said are evidence of his support for “open border policies,” something his campaign denies. “Ruben Gallego has been in Congress for over a decade and Arizona has become less safe and secure because of it,” Kari Lake, the Republican front-runner in the race, told Fox News Digital. BIDEN FACING ABYSMAL APPROVAL RATING ON IMMIGRATION AS AMERICANS REACT TO SPIRALING BORDER CRISIS “He repeatedly voted against finishing the border wall, supported ending Title 42, which allowed the border patrol to quickly expel migrants, has done nothing to stop the cartels from bringing crime and drugs into our communities,” Lake added. “Arizonans know Ruben has rubber-stamped all of Joe Biden’s open border policies. I will work to secure the border and bring safety to our communities.” The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the group tasked with winning a Senate majority for the GOP, has also taken aim at Gallego, placing blame on him and his Democrat colleagues for the current state of the border. “Ruben Gallego has spent his career in Congress backing the radical open-border policies that created the crisis on our southern border today. Ruben might have just noticed that the border is out of control, but he shouldn’t be surprised; he’s responsible for it,” NRSC spokesman Tate Mitchell told Fox. GOP SENATOR FUMES OVER BIDEN ADMIN PROVIDING VETERAN MEDICAL RESOURCES TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS Some of the legislation driving the criticism of Gallego includes H.R. 748, a 2017 bill he co-sponsored that would have banned the withholding of federal funds from sanctuary cities and states that refuse to comply with detainer requests from homeland security officials, or notifying officials when an individual being held on a detainer is released. In 2018, Gallego co-sponsored H.R. 6193, a bill that would have required the federal government to establish an office dedicated to the study of crimes committed against illegal immigrants in the year following their removal from the U.S., and in 2021, he voted for the failed Build Back Better Act, which, in its original form, would have granted temporary amnesty to roughly 6.5 million people non-citizens, many of whom were in the country illegally, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Also in 2021, Gallego introduced H.R. 4815, a bill that would have made DACA recipients, also known as “Dreamers,” eligible for federal financial college aide, and required schools to offer them in-state tuition rates if they qualified as a citizen of that state. BIDEN’S $200K PAYMENT FROM BROTHER RECEIVES RENEWED SCRUTINY AFTER REPORT DETAILING FAILED HOSPITAL VENTURE Additionally, Gallego has supported due process for illegal immigrants in opposition to border policies under the Trump administration, and has been a sharp critic of Title 42, a policy ended by the Biden administration that allowed U.S. officials to turn away migrants attempting to enter the country because of health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Rep. Gallego has a long record of supporting additional resources to the border to keep Arizonans safe, and he supports the bipartisan border bill to secure the border and stop the flow of fentanyl into our country,” Gallego campaign spokeswoman Hannah Goss told Fox News Digital, referencing the controversial bipartisan Senate border deal being largely opposed by Republicans in both houses of Congress. “Kari Lake rejected a bipartisan border deal — backed by border patrol agents and called the ‘most conservative border bill in decades’ — because she puts scoring political points ahead of standing up for Arizonans every single time,” Goss added. Despite his support of the previously mentioned legislation, Gallego has also voted in favor of a number of bills, including the Biden administration’s massive 2021 infrastructure bill, that provided funds to construct and modernize land ports of entry and other equipment at the border, as well as provided funding to hire more Border Patrol agents and officers to handle skyrocketing asylum claims — something he has strongly supported. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for comment. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Indiana lawmakers advance tenure reform bill for public universities
Legislators in Indiana advanced a bill Wednesday that would limit tenure at public colleges and universities, joining conservative lawmakers across the country creating state laws to influence operations on campuses they view as unfriendly or hostile to conservative students and professors. The Indiana House committee on education approved the bill along party lines, giving it a chance of a full floor vote in the Republican-controlled chamber. The state Senate approved the bill earlier this month on party lines. Conservative criticism of higher education has led to dozens of attempts in recent years to limit tenure and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, commonly referred to as DEI. Bills introduced in Nebraska this year, for instance, would ban DEI programs at state colleges and universities and eliminate tenure. INDIANA LAWMAKERS VOTE TO LIFT NEARLY 40-YEAR BAN ON RESTAURANT HAPPY HOURS Indiana’s measure is less definitive. But it would establish a post-tenure review process to be conducted every five years and create a policy preventing faculty from gaining tenure or promotions if they are “unlikely to foster a culture of free inquiry, free expression and intellectual diversity within the institution.” Opponents at colleges around the state say it would effectively do away with tenure, a coveted status ensuring employment that can only be terminated under specific circumstances. The practice has traditionally been considered as a way to protect faculty from being terminated over what they teach and research. Indiana campuses would struggle to recruit faculty if the proposal becomes law, professors who testified against it in legislative committees have said. “It would have a very chilling effect on teaching and research at all levels,” said Moira Marsh, a librarian at Indiana University and president of the Indiana Conference of the American Association of University Professors. Under the bill, faculty cannot, at the threat of their tenure, “subject students to political or ideological views and opinions that are unrelated to the faculty member’s academic discipline or assigned course of instruction.” The board of trustees, some of whom are appointed by the governor, would review professors’ tenure every five years to ensure they have promoted “intellectual diversity” and introduced students to a “variety of political or ideological frameworks.” The bill defines “intellectual diversity” as varied scholarly perspectives on “an extensive range of public policy issues.” Republican state Sen. Spencer Deery, the bill’s author, said he wants to make college campuses more welcoming for conservative students and professors who avoid expressing their political beliefs due to a dominating liberal culture on campuses. Deery told lawmakers earlier this month that the bill does not mandate that professors promote a specific perspective but show they have made an effort to expose students to “a variety of scholarly views.” Deery said the bill gives trustees the power to ensure how taxpayer dollars are used and called tenure a controversial subject. “It is certainly a third rail of higher education issues,” he said. The Indiana proposal follows a path laid by other Republicans, urged on by voters who have an increasingly negative view of colleges and universities. Pew Research polling found the share of Republicans and independent-leaning Republicans who said higher education was having a negative effect on the country grew from 37% to 59% from 2015 to 2019. Beyond the tenure changes, Deery’s proposal would broaden diversity efforts to include differences in political opinions. The bill would add “cultural and intellectual diversity issues” to the purview of diversity committees, offices or individuals who work on such efforts. The bill would also prohibit institutions from making promotions or admissions based on statements regarding DEI or “related topics.” Indiana’s bill also would require that public colleges and universities establish a process to take complaints against professors accused of violating the new standards. Marsh said that could stifle academic discussion among professors and students for fear they will be reported. She said the form would give students “an out” to complain about their professors, rather than discussing their disagreements. “Part of an education is being exposed to things that may make you uncomfortable or that you disagree with,” she said.
PM Modi to inaugurate development projects worth over Rs 48,000 crore in Gujarat today
While Modi will inaugurate, lay the foundation stone and initiate work commencement of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 48,000 crore in Gujarat, he will also launch and inaugurate projects worth over Rs 13,000 crore for transforming Varanasi and its adjoining areas.
Workaround to FAFSA glitch allows Texas students from immigrant families to apply for college aid
The workaround is meant to help students meet schools’ application deadlines. College counselors say it will lead to more work and confusion.
Child welfare officials move to reduce Texas judge’s oversight of embattled foster system
The request to remove several court orders marks the first time the state has made any major attempt to get out from under an injunction issued in the 13-year-old case.
Bill letting trained teachers carry guns passes West Virginia House
West Virginia’s Republican-controlled House of Delegates voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to allow teachers and other school staff who undergo training to carry guns in K-12 public schools. The bill, which now heads to the Senate, would allow teachers, administrators and support personnel with concealed carry permits to volunteer to bring a firearm into school with the intention of using it to defend the school in case of an active shooter event. Designated a “school protection officer,” the staffer wouldn’t receive any additional compensation for doing so. Supporters say not every school system in West Virginia can afford to hire a full-time school resource officer. This program would provide another option. WEST VIRGINIA OFFICIAL NOT CITED BY POLICE FOR ERRATIC DRIVING; INCIDENT UNDER INVESTIGATION Before the vote, Republican Del. Dave Foggin of Wood County, a physics teacher, said he can’t think of anything worse than shooting someone in his classroom. But he said if that person came into his school trying to hurt his students, he would do it. “Evil is a problem. Hate is a problem. I would like to be able to combat hate with love, but unfortunately, it will take a firearm if someone else has one,” Foggin said, before lawmakers greenlit the bill 89-11. Only Democrats voted “no.” The Senate passed a different piece of legislation, now in the House, last month that would allow county education boards to contract with military veterans and retired law enforcement officers to provide armed security at schools. It’s unclear what chance either bill has of passing in each chamber. The bill passed by the House is similar to a proposal last year that was approved by one House committee but never made it to the floor. It allowed school districts to opt into the protection officer program after a public hearing where local citizens could weigh in. This year’s bill also made the program optional until lawmakers approved a last-minute change during debate Wednesday requiring school districts to participate if a staffer wants to take on the protection officer role and completes training — something that rankled Democrats and a handful of Republicans who worried local control was being threatened. Democratic Del. Joey Garcia said school board members should be able to make up their own minds instead of having the Legislature “force-feeding a solution to them.” Republican Del. Dana Ferrell of Kanawha County, an experienced educator, also urged caution: “If people aren’t happy, they can vote them out,” Ferrell said, of school board members. Republican Del. Todd Kirby said if the Legislature allows the program to be optional, school boards wouldn’t implement it. Lawmakers voted down a proposed amendment from a Democrat that would have given school protection officers a one-time payment of $25,000 after completing training. Although no money has been designated for the program — that would come when lawmakers finalize the budget before the session’s close in March, if the Senate approves the bill — it contains a fiscal note estimating a cost of $275,000 for training. The bill requires that firearms be concealed on campus and that educators have a concealed carry permit. Staffers could also choose to carry a stun gun or a Taser instead of a gun. The bill requires that staff carrying weapons at school undergo annual behavioral health assessments and training designed by the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security. The bill lays out a list of at least 15 different topics that should be addressed in the training, including crisis intervention, trauma and first aid. It states that any teacher approved to carry firearms who lets a gun or ammunition out of their “personal control” while on school property may be “removed immediately from the classroom and subject to employment termination proceedings.” The designation of school protection officer can be revoked by the school at any time, according to the bill. Appeals can be made to the director of the state Department of Homeland Security. The identities of staff members approved to carry a gun would be kept private — and that information would be exempt from public records requests for student safety reasons, according to the bill. The information would be shared with the homeland security department and local law enforcement agencies, however. Democratic Del. Kayla Young spoke against the bill, saying it scares her to think there may be guns in her children’s school and that she wouldn’t know where they are and who has them. “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” Young said, citing an argument used by the bill’s supporters. “I’m not sure if I agree with that specifically because if that were the case, the United States would probably be the safest place on earth,” she said. “But we have more gun violence than anywhere else.” Lead Sponsor Republican Del. Doug Smith of Mercer County said lawmakers have worked hard to craft a carefully thought-out program with safeguards so that only teachers with the experience and training will be carrying weapons at school. “It’s crucial that we understand that this bill doesn’t advocate for arming every teacher,” he said. “It’s not the single answer, it’s one important tool.”
Hawaii officials request $1B in short-term Maui wildfire recovery funds
Hawaii state and county officials have requested about $1 billion from the Legislature to help cover Maui wildfire recovery expenses in the near term. Gov. Josh Green’s administration had budgeted $199 million for such expenses but are now expecting they may need $561 million under a “worst-case” scenario, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Wednesday. The budget discussions come more than six months after the Aug. 8 wildfire killed 101 people, destroyed the historic town of Lahaina and rendered thousands of people homeless. MAUI POLICE CONFIRM IDENTITY OF 101ST WILDFIRE VICTIM, A 76-YEAR-OLD WHO BOATED FROM CALIFORNIA IN THE 1970S One major reason for the jump in expenses is the greater-than-expected costs for fire survivors deemed ineligible for federal assistance by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA pays 90% of the cost to house eligible survivors in hotels, and the state pays the remaining 10%. FEMA doesn’t share costs for ineligible survivor households, of which there are 820. People not eligible for FEMA assistance include undocumented immigrants, migrants from Compacts of Free Association states and some condominium owners. The state has agreed to FEMA’s ineligibility determination for only 29 households and is contesting the remainder. At $1,000 day per household, 820 households are costing the state $820,000 a day, or $24.6 million a month. Luis Salaveria, the director of the state Department of Budget and Finance, said actual expenses may be less because the state is challenging FEMA eligibility determinations. “This situation has been extremely in flux from the beginning,” he told the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday. Senators are considering asking state agencies to cut spending by up to 15% to balance the budget as a result. The state has a rainy day fund with a balance of about $1.5 billion. But officials are reluctant to draw on it because it helps secure a good credit rating that keeps down long-term financing costs for capital improvement projects. Maui County estimates its costs for wildfire recovery will be about $600 million over the next three years. On Monday, it told Green’s administration it wants the state to cover $402 million of that total. The money would go toward infrastructure, housing and emergency response costs.
Dallas’ city manager resigns, leaving one more major Texas city without a chief executive
City Manager T.C. Broadnax resigned amid tensions with city leaders, including Mayor Eric Johnson. Three of Texas’ major cities — Dallas, Austin and El Paso — now have vacancies at the top of their local governments.