Kristi Noem capped off an embarrassing week with a brutal CBS Face the Nation appearance, in which host Margaret Brennan unrelentingly grilled the South Dakota governor on the controversies surrounding her forthcoming book.
At one point in the book, titled No Going Back, Noem recalled meeting North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, claiming he “underestimated” her. However, experts have called into question whether such a meeting could have ever taken place.
“Did you meet Kim Jong Un?” Brennan directly asked the governor, who avoided answering the question and instead said she’s “met with many, many world leaders” and has “made some edits” to the book.
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“I’ve met with many, many world leaders and traveled around the world,” Noem said. “I think I’ve talked extensively in this book about my time serving in Congress, my time as governor, before governor, some of the travels that I've had. I’m not going to talk about my specific meetings with world leaders. I’m just not going to do it.”
Her blatant refusal to say whether she actually met with the dictator contradicts her admission that the anecdote should not have been included in the book—a point Noem repeatedly noted during the interview. She never explained why she is pulling the story from the final version, however.
“At the request of Governor Noem, we are removing a passage regarding Kim Jong Un from her book No Going Back, upon reprint of the print edition and as soon as technically possible on the audio and ebook editions,” the book’s publisher, Center Street, wrote in a brief statement Sunday.
“Further questions about about the passage should be referred to the author, ” the company added.
During the interview, Brennan tried to offer Noem alternative explanations for the passage, including whether she might have instead met with South Korea’s leader, but Noem refused to clarify the reality of the situation.
The governor also claimed she went to North Korea via the Korean Demilitarized Zone, which borders the two nations and can be visited by tourists.
“There are details in this book that talk about going to the DMZ and specifics I’m willing to share,” she said. “There’s some specifics I’m not willing to share with you. I’ve traveled the world and visited with world leaders. Some of that is referenced in the book and this anecdote is something, when brought to my attention, we made some changes and when the book is released we’ll do all that we can to see that that is reflected.”
Noem was also grilled about another anecdote in the book, first reported by The Guardian, in which Noem brags about executing her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, after it killed a neighbor’s chickens and tried to bite her.
Noem wrote that she “hated” Cricket, and so she took the “extremely dangerous” dog to a gravel pit on her property and put it down. It was “not a pleasant job,” she wrote, but “had to be done.” (The governor also recalled executing a goat she claimed was too smelly and aggressive.)
The revelation, among other oddities contained in her book, caused near-universal outrage and is widely viewed as having destroyed her chances of being selected as Donald Trump’s running mate.
When asked about her chances as the veep choice on Sunday, Noem ignored the question and seemingly suggested to Brennan that President Joe Biden’s dog, Commander, should be shot for chomping on Secret Service agents.
Noem’s advisers had reportedly hoped that her Face the Nation interview would produce some news, ostensibly to change the emerging public narrative of a cold, obfuscating politician. However, throughout the interview, Noem only seemed to use her time to deflect from questions and attack Brennan, asking her why Brennan wasn’t raising Joe Biden’s lies—during an interview with Noem, not the president.
“If I had an interview with Joe Biden, who I’ve asked for multiple times, I will ask him about this,” Brennan said. “I’m asking you about your book.”
