White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre fell back on humor to dodge a question about first pet Commander, the German Shepherd who has been involved in 12 biting incidents involving members of the Secret Service.
CBS News reporter Nancy Cordes asked KJP did she “ever have a troubling encounter with Commander,” who became the second dog to be removed from the Biden White House because of biting issues — it’s unclear where the pooch was relocated.
Jean-Pierre said she had no problems with the dog, telling the reporter that Commander never nipped at her and that she was not wary of being around him.
“I’ve seen Commander many times, I was never worried and I’ve never been bit by Commander,” the president’s spokesperson said.
Press sec. Karine Jean-Pierre says she was never bitten by Commander and was “not nervous” around the the first family’s German shepherd, who is no longer at the White House following a string of biting incidents. https://t.co/Uqh8WUo9tj pic.twitter.com/Pz8kB26Kl6
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 5, 2023
Pressing on the issue, Cordes then asked the press secretary if any members of her staff had any issues and Jean-Pierre skirted the question by reading a statement from first lady Jill Biden’s office.
“What I can say — I don’t have numbers of… you know, exact numbers of any incidents with Commander,” she said beforehand.
Staying on the topic, the reporter asked Jean-Pierre why she wasn’t “a little nervous” around the dog, given its history.
“I’m not sure why this has to do anything with me,” KJP replied with a laugh. “I was just not nervous at all. So that is not a concern for me. That is not something that, I can’t speak to anything else outside of what you have heard from the first lady’s office. And so I’ll just leave it there.”
Cordes then joked about making the dog available for questioning — perhaps to punctuate her skepticism over the answers she was just given.
“You want me to bring the dog into the briefing room? That should be fun. That should be fun,” Jean-Pierre replied.
Another question Jean-Pierre dodged came from Fox News reporter Peter Doocy: “There are some new pictures of Commander Biden biting a staffer again. How many times has that dog bitten the Bidens?”
Fox News’ Peter Doocy to WH Press Sec. Karine Jean-Pierre: “There are some new pictures of Commander Biden biting a staffer again. How many times has that dog bitten the Bidens?” pic.twitter.com/P7LGTAjjcN
— The Recount (@therecount) October 4, 2023
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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