President Trump, First Lady Melania, and Vice President Mike Pence stepped out of the White House Monday near the Rose Garden, with hero dog Conan at their side.
While speaking to the press, the President and Vice President praised Conan for his ability to track down ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi into a dead-end tunnel in the ISIS compound.
“Cohen just arrived from the middle east with some of the people from the special forces. It was a flawless attack and al-Baghdadi is gone, and I guess they got quite a few of them. We just gave Cohan a medal and a plaque,” President Trump said. “And I actually think Conan knew exactly what was going on, but a dog that is very, very special.”
“The dog is incredible–actually spent some good time with it. And so brilliant, so smart, the way it was with the special forces, people that it works with, and for obvious reasons they can’t’ be out in front of the media. But they did a fantastic job, Conan did a fantastic job. And we’re very honored to have Conan here. We’ve given Conan a certificate and an award that we’re gonna put up in the White House,” the President added.
Vice President Mike Pence said: “It’s great to be here Mr. President. I know you just finished a meeting with some of the very same special forces, who completed a successful raid that took down the leader of ISIS. But I recall Mr. President when you made the decision right up there in the White House, the day before the raid. You had talked about measures that were available to protect our soldiers and it had been described to us that they had dogs that could go in– in the event that al-Baghdadi had an explosive vest. You put the premium on the safety of our special forces and this dog was there, suffered some injury.”
“We were able to complete the raid without any American casualty, and so, I think having the special forces here today, who obviously can’t come out in the public, but also having this extraordinary dog here today is a reflection of our armed forces and the great job that they do. Conan is really a hero. It’s a real joy to be able to welcome it here to the White House,” Vice President Pence added. (Continued Below)
“It’s true and Conan was very badly hurt as you know, they thought maybe was not to recover–recovered actually very quickly and has since gone on very important raids,” President Trump continued. “As you know, we’ve captured 100% of the ISIS caliphate. When I took office we had almost nothing. It was as though they were just forming, and now, it’s 100%.”
“This is a special time for Conan. I was told about the breed, I was told about Conan himself. Conan is a tough cookie. And nobody is going to mess with him,” the President added.
President Trump announced last month that Conan would be visiting the White House, but did not indicate when that visit would occur. (Video Below)
Before heading back into the White House, a reporter asked if the First Family is going to adopt Conan, to which they turned around and smiled, but did not say whether they would.
President Trump and Vice President Pence’s official remarks:
