washington – Governor of South Dakota. Kristi Noem He said on Sunday that he is “not holding back on anything” after facing a backlash over stories about him killing his young dog and a false claim about meeting Kim Jong Un, although he said the latter story was 'will adapt to his book.
“I'm very proud of this book and what it's going to bring to people,” Noem told “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “I hold nothing back.”
The Republican governor, who had been considered among a list of possible running mates of former President Donald Trump in her latest candidacy for the White House, she has been heavily criticized after writing in her new book about killing his dog decades ago, a story that went viral in recent days.
She writes in her book that the 14-month-old wirehaired pointer named Cricket had displayed aggressive behavior while training the dog to hunt pheasants. On Sunday, she said she decided to protect her children from a “dangerous animal.”
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“I would ask everybody in the country to put themselves in that situation,” he said. “As a mother, I chose between protecting my children and protecting them from a dangerous animal that was killing livestock and attacking people.”
But the anecdote has raised questions about his political future. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told Politico that Noem's writing about killing her dog “ended any chance that she would ever be elected vice president.”
Noem defended the anecdote and the book more broadly, saying it is “full of painful vulnerable moments in my life”.
“I want the truth to be out there and understand that these animals were attacking my children, that we live on a farm and a ranch and that hard decisions are made a lot of times and it's to protect people,” Noem said.
He added that the reason the story is in the book is because “people need to understand who I am” and some of the “difficult decisions” he's made. He said the story is “well known in South Dakota” and that his “political opponents have been trying to use it against me for years.”
In the book, Noem writes that the first thing he would do if he came to the White House other than President Biden is make sure Mr. Biden's dog, Commander, was nowhere to be found on the grounds. The Commander has since been moved to an undisclosed location after biting several Secret Service agents, but Noem writes that she would say “The Commander salutes Cricket.”
“Well, No. 1, Joe Biden's dog has attacked 24 Secret Service people,” Noem said. “So how many people does it take to be attacked and dangerously injured before you make a decision about a dog?”
When “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan asked if that meant the commander should be shot, Noem replied “it's the president who should be held accountable.”
South Dakota's governor has also faced scrutiny for details in the book about mentioning a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his time in Congress, this appeared to be a mistake. Noem said the anecdote should not have been included in the book and has been adjusted.
“This is an anecdote that I asked to be removed because I think it's appropriate at this time,” he said.
