A GOP fundraiser in Colorado where Kristi Noem was supposed to speak has been scrapped because of threats triggered by the revelation that she shot a dog she “hated” years ago.
In a statement posted to social media, Jefferson County Republican Party Chair Nancy Pallozzi said the group thought “the timing was perfect” when the South Dakota governor agreed to appear at the May 4 event just before her book’s publication.
But then The Guardian reported that the book contains Noem’s bizarrely boastful account of shooting dead her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, for killing a neighbor’s chickens, and trying to bite her.
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The anecdote is widely seen as having doomed any chance Noem had at being selected as Donald Trump’s running mate. But now it seems the fallout goes beyond her national political aspirations.
Pallozzi said “numerous threats and/or death threats” have been made to the county organization, the hotel slated to host the fundraiser, and to Noem herself.
“After a conversation with the Governor’s office late Wednesday, we mutually decided that safety was the most important concern for everyone involved,” Pallozzi wrote.
“The Denver West Marriott also received alarming comments and shared with us their deep concern over the safety and security for those attending our event, other guests, and their staff.”
Pallozzi said the local GOP is “not taking a position on the public outcry on the Governor’s book,” which was going to be given out to guests at the now-abandoned dinner.
“We have lost money in this,” Pallozzi told NBC News. “This was meant to be a fundraiser, but now we’ve lost thousands of dollars.”
Noem spoke Saturday morning at a Trump donor retreat at Mar-a-Lago and reportedly referenced Cricket-gate.
“Listen, going through hard things, and I’ve been through a few of them— I’m going through one right now, I mean they’re just attacking me like crazy right now,” she said, according to Politico, which obtained an audio recording of her remarks.
“But listen, that’s a good thing. It’s a good thing because it makes you stronger, and it teaches you really what you’re up against, and it makes you recognize how much they lie, how much they will twist, how much they will manipulate. And you just have to be strong and be happy warriors.”
Noem’s account of hauling the wirehaired pointer to a gravel pit and executing it—she did the same to a goat she felt was too smelly and aggressive—is only one of the controversies emanating from No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward.
Her spokesperson has also copped to two errors in the book: a false claim she met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a disputed account of a conversation with Nikki Haley.
