South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem suggested Sunday that President Joe Biden’s dog should be put down — just like she put down her own dog. The new comments come days after it was reported that the Republican shared in her new memoir, “Not Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward,” that she shot and killed her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, on her family’s ranch after deciding the animal “was dangerous” and “unfit for training.” Now, Noem — who has been floated as a possible GOP vice presidential pick — suggested that Commander, a roughly 2-year-old German shepherd, should meet the same fate because of biting incidents at the White House. “Joe Biden’s dog has bitten 24 Secret Service agents. So how many people does it take to be attacked and dangerously injured before you make a decision about a dog and what to do with it?” she said in an interview with CBS News. “That’s the question that the president needs to answer,” she added.

Brennan to Noem: "At the very end of the book, you say the very first thing you'd do if you got to the White House is you'd make sure Biden's dog is nowhere on the grounds. 'Commander, say hello to cricket.'"

Noem responds by suggesting Commander should be put down pic.twitter.com/DNUCie5eWB

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 5, 2024

Confronted by the interviewer about her own decision to kill her dog, the politician defended her actions: “I made a tough choice. I think you’re a mom, too, and you have young kids. Would you choose between your child and a dangerous animal? And I think I would ask anybody in the country to put themselves in that situation.” Noem went on to explain that she decided to kill the dog rather than surrender it to an animal shelter because Cricket “was a working dog” and “had come from a family that had already had issues” with him. Biden welcomed Commander into his family in December 2021, receiving the dog as a gift from his brother. But the animal was removed from the White House in October of last year after it was involved in a series of biting incidents with Secret Service agents.

Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, with Commander

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Another of Biden’s dogs — Major, also a German shepherd — was also sent to live with friends in Delaware after similar incidents involving Secret Service members and White House staff. Read Also: Janja and Lula da Silva adopt dog rescued from floods in Brazil. And there are pictures (Portuguese version)