Noem Trashes Veepstakes Rivals and Defends Book Near Mar-a-Lago: Report

Kristi Noem used a speaking event Monday to take shots at her rivals hoping to be chosen as Donald Trump’s running mate and defended her now notorious memoir, according to a report. Speaking to the Trump-loving Club 47 at a hotel around 2.5 miles from Mar-a-Lago, the South Dakota governor didn’t name names but criticized those who ran against Trump for the GOP nomination. “Now they’re back on your team, aren’t they—begging for help?” she said she told Trump, according to Politico, adding that Trump “obviously was the right plan from the beginning.” Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was in the audience for the event—as was a dog that another attendee brought. Noem portrayed the recent furor around her book No Going Back—in which she admitted to killing her pet dog Cricket in a gravel pit—as an unfair media attack. “It’s absolutely not the truth,” she said of the coverage. “Read this book and know that I stand behind this book, and it tells the truth about hard decisions.”