Book Claims Biden Has Trust Issues with Some Secret Service Agents

As the first family's German shepherd rescue dog Major made headlines in 2021 due to a "biting incident" involving a member of White House security, the president was allegedly unconvinced that Secret Service agents told the truth about what happened.

That's according to a new book by Chris Whipple, The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden's White House, which claims that Biden "wasn't buying the details" of the incident, according to The Hill, which obtained a copy of the book.

"Somebody was lying, Biden thought, about the way the incident had gone down," Whipple writes in the book, per The Hill. One of the reasons for Biden's skepticism, Whipple says, is that the area of the White House where Major reportedly injured an agent is somewhere that Secret Service rarely goes.

The Bidens adopted Major from the Delaware Humane Association in 2018, and temporarily relocated the dog back to their home in Delaware in 2021 after CNN published an article about the so-called biting incident.

According to the network, Major had exhibited additional aggressive behavior, such as "charging" at the White House security and staff.

Shortly after Major's behavior became a nationwide topic of conversation, Biden told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that "Major did not bite someone and penetrate the skin."

"What happens is ... what surprised me is the White House itself, living there: Every door you turn to, there's a guy there in a black jacket," the president said. "You turn a corner and there's two people I don't know at all. And they move — and he moves to protect. But he's a sweet dog," Biden said of Major.

"The dog's being trained now [with] our trainer at home in Delaware," the president said.

Former press secretary Jen Psaki touched on the incident at a March 2021 briefing, saying: "Major was surprised by an unfamiliar person and reacted in a way that resulted in a minor injury to the individual, which was handled by the White House Medical Unit with no further treatment needed."

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden (right) with dogs Champ and Major. White House/News Pictures/Shutterstock

By December 2021, though, the family announced they had re-homed Major and welcomed a new dog — the German shepherd puppy Commander — to the White House.

Michael LaRosa, a spokesman for first lady Dr. Jill Biden, previously said in a statement that Major would not be returning to live at the White House, as that is what the first family believed was best for the pet.

"After consulting with dog trainers, animal behaviorists, and veterinarians, the First Family has decided to follow the experts' collective recommendation that it would be safest for Major to live in a quieter environment with family friends," LaRosa said. "This is not in reaction to any new or specific incident, but rather a decision reached after several months of deliberation as a family and discussions with experts."

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Elsewhere in Whipple's book, the author claims that Biden has some general "discomfort with his Secret Service detail," due to some agents being "MAGA sympathizers."

"Surrounded by a new phalanx of strangers, Biden couldn't help but wonder, Do these people really want me here?" Whipple writes in the book, due to be released Jan. 17, according to The Hill. "He didn't trust them."