Kristi Noem defends apparent threat to kill Biden’s dog Commander: ‘Say hello to Cricket’
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem stood by a passage in her upcoming book in which she appeared to say she would also kill President Biden’s troubled dog Commander and quipped that the president pup would “say hello to” Cricket, pup she famously boasted about shooting.
Noem, 52, stressed that Commander, who was removed from the White House last fall following dozens of reports that he bit people, had presented safety issues to staffers and Secret Service agents.
“Joe Biden’s dog has attacked 24 Secret Service people. So how many people is enough people to be attacked and dangerously hurt before you make a decision on a dog?” Noem pondered on told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
“That’s the question that the President should be held accountable to.”
The Republican, who had been named as a possible pick as former President Donald Trump’s running mate, ducked a question from moderator Margaret Brennan about whether she was saying “he should be shot.”
In February, the White House announced that Biden, 81, gave Commander away to relatives as a more permanent fix after multiple biting snafus and revelations of the German shepherd drawing blood from a Secret Service agent.
Noem’s name had long swirled as a possible vice president contender for Trump. However, she has become engulfed in controversy after a preview of her book revealed a passage about her shooting the family dog.
“I hated that dog,” Noem recalled of the female wirehaired pointer in an excerpt previewed by The Guardian. “[Cricket was] dangerous to anyone she came in contact with.”
Afterward, Noem described shooting the “disgusting, musky, rancid” smelling family billy goat that she said would “chase kids.”
The governor was adamant that she wasn’t trying to celebrate the shooting, but merely seeking to describe the “tough decisions” she was forced to make on a ranch nearly 20 years ago.
“I made a difficult choice. I think you’re a mother too, and you have little kiddos. Would you make a choice between your children or a dangerous animal?” Noem asked rhetorically.
“What I’m tired of in this country is politicians who pretend to be something that they’re not. That they aren’t willing to have the hard conversations.”
Noem further explained that she had put “months and months of training into this dog,” but to no avail, and that Cricket had come from another family that similarly had trouble with her.
Visiting North Korea
Another point of controversy Noem’s book kicked up was a passage in which she twice described meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom she initially called a “president.”
“I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un,” she wrote. “I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all).”
Noem has since said that she is working to correct that passage in her book.
On Sunday, Noem was coy about whether she actually met with the North Korean dictator — or traveled to the Hermit Kingdom, something very few US officials have done.
“I’m not going to talk about my specific meetings with world leaders. I’m just not going to do that,” she said. “This anecdote shouldn’t have been in the book and as soon as it was brought to my attention, I made sure that — that was adjusted.”
But she insisted she did visit the pariah state.
“There are details in this book that talk about going to the DMZ [demilitarized zone] and specifics that I’m willing to share,” she said. “There’s some specifics I’m not willing to share.”
The DMZ is a heavily guarded part of South Korea near the border, from which tourists and others can come within sight of the North.
Brennan pressed Noem on how she didn’t catch that glaring mistake about meeting Kim when she was recording audio for the book.
“I took action to make sure that it was [corrected],” Noem stressed.
Her book is set to hit shelves on Tuesday.
On Saturday in Palm Beach, Trump huddled with a cadre of speculated vice presidential contenders at the Republican National Committee spring meeting.
Noem was present for parts of the retreat but left early, NBC reported. Her name was not listed as the candidates who joined Trump onstage in the RNC readout of the gathering.
