President Donald Trump revealed the real reason he never got a dog while delivering a rollicking speech Friday night to a Palm Beach area crowd.
Trump was the special guest at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches' annual dinner, held in West Palm Beach, a short distance away from Mar-a-Lago.
The event marked his second speech in Florida on Friday, which was also the first time he had left the protection of the White House since the shooting incident Saturday night at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
In both instances, he was unrestrained, especially in front of an audience of longtime Palm Beach residents.
'This is a crowd where I know so many - many killers, very successful people. Some are nice, some are horrendous people,' Trump said at the top of his remarks. 'But I like the nice ones and the horrendous ones.'
He got on the topic of dogs by calling attention to the efforts of Florida state Representative Meg Weinberger, a key sponsor of the legislation to rename Southern Boulevard, the street in front of Mar-a-Lago, 'President Donald J. Trump Boulevard.'
'And she loves animals, right?' Trump said. 'That usually is very good for votes.'
He then recalled how he faced pressure to adopt a pet when he first entered the White House in 2017.
President Donald Trump told a crowd in West Palm Beach Friday night why he never got a dog when he first entered the White House
Commander, one of the dogs President Joe Biden owned while serving as President, had a record of biting Secret Service agents
'You know, they all wanted me to buy a dog,' he said. 'When I went to the White House, they said, "Sir, you'll be the first President in 68 years, or something, that doesn't have a dog."'
'I said, "It's not going to work for me."'
He then called attention to the photographs of former President Joe Biden, Trump's political nemesis, walking his dog.
'But his dog was a vicious dog. Biting our Secret Service people,' Trump continued. 'We have 28 bite problems. This was a violent dog.'
'That's not a dog I'd want,' the President remarked, garnering laughs from the audience.
Two of the three German Shepherds Biden had while serving as President had biting incidents with the Secret Service.
First was Major, the first rescue dog to ever live at the White House, who was rehomed in December 2021.
A Biden family friend named Steve Patterson revealed this week that he had adopted Major.
President Donald Trump recalled how former President Joe Biden (right) would be photographed walking his dog on the White House grounds. Biden poses with Commander (left), one of three German Shepherds he owned during his presidency
The Bidens then adopted a puppy named Commander, who is more famously known for chomping on Secret Service agents.
Commander also had to be rehomed, with the Bidens recently adopting two Lab mixes instead.
'But for 60 years, I guess even longer, every President has had a dog, because they do it for votes,' Trump continued. 'Some of them do it because they love the dog - probably most of them do it for votes.'
'And I thought it would be quite fake,' the President revealed.
He then asked the audience to picture what he would look like with a fluffy pooch.
'Can you imagine, Donald Trump has purchased a lovely, lovely little poodle,' he said. 'And he walks him religiously on the White House grounds.'
The President then used the opportunity to segue to his favorite topic.
'And he's inspecting the ballroom that's going up,' he said to laughter. 'They walk down into a foundation that's going down to China. There's a lot of stuff going on in that foundation, let me tell you.'