President Biden brought out his new German Shepherd puppy, Commander, during a virtual call with US service members stationed around the word.
The 16-week-old pup squirmed and tussled between the president and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden as they used their first Christmas Day in office to express season’s greetings and to thank them for their service.
“As your commander in chief, I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you, thank you, thank you,” Biden said from the South Court Auditorium at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in DC. “We’re grateful for your courage, your sacrifice, not only your sacrifice but your family’s sacrifice.”
The Biden family was joined on the call by members of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force and Coast Guard who were stationed at military facilities in Bahrain, Romania, Qatar and the United States.
Dr. Biden said The First Family was also a military family and could empathize with those stationed aboard. Their son Beau — who died of brain cancer in 2015 — spent a year in Iraq and was a major in the Delaware Army National Guard.
“You’re the solid steel spine of the nation,” President Biden continued, adding that caring for US vets was a “sacred obligation.”
At the end of his remarks the president opened the floor to questions, at which point the broadcast was discontinued.
