South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem looks furious as she is repeatedly grilled about fake meeting with Kim Jong Un and killing her pet dog

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem looked furious as she was repeatedly questioned about a fake meeting with Kim Jong Un and the killing of her dog on Sunday.

Noem — who was once considered a favorite to become former President Donald Trump’s running mate — repeatedly frowned and frowned when journalist Peter Alexander asked her about the controversies she has faced in recent months.

But Noem continued to dodge questions about a dubious claim in her memoir that she once met the North Korean dictator and again defended the killing of her dog, Cricket.

And when Alexander asked her point-blank if she thinks the story about her dog being killed cost her the opportunity to serve as Trump’s vice president, Noem seemed to give Alexander the side-eye when she declared that Trump “needs to pick someone who will help him. to win.’

Noem was widely considered at the top of the list of potential running mates for the former president until her book was released in May.

In one section of the book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How we Move America Forward, Noem describes meetings with international leaders – incorrectly mentioning North Korean leader Kim Jung Un.

“During my tenure on the House Armed Services Committee, I had the opportunity to travel to many countries to meet with world leaders – some wanted our help, and some did not,” she writes in the book.

‘I remember meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. I’m sure he underestimated me because he had no idea of ​​my experience staring down little tyrants (after all, I had been a children’s pastor).”

The description of a supposed meeting between the UN and herself was quickly disputed and described as unlikely by experts on US-North Korea relations, and was removed from later editions.

But Noem has refused to explain in any interview why the allegory was included.

“There was no evidence that that meeting took place,” Alexander grilled her on Meet the Press on Sunday.

“Then how did it end up in your book, Governor?”

Still, Noem declined to answer.

“I’m not going to talk about that,” she said, shaking her head and blinking repeatedly.

“I took that sentence out of my book and I’m not going to talk about it.”

That response sparked a back-and-forth between South Dakota’s governor and Peter Alexander, which continued.

“But you wrote the book, so why was that sentence ever in your book if it wasn’t?” he asked.

But again, Noem dodged the question and simply said, “I wrote the book and I hope people read it.”

Still, Alexander persisted and asked her again, “To put it to bed once and for all, have you met Kim Jong Un or not?”

“I’m not going to talk about this,” Noem replied bluntly.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Noem’s spokesman Ian Fury blamed Noem’s ghostwriter.

“It has been brought to our attention that the upcoming book ‘No Going Back’ contains two minor errors,” Fury said. “This has been passed on to the ghostwriter and editor.”

“Kim Jong Un was on a list of world leaders and shouldn’t have been. The governor spoke with Nikki Haley in 2020 and met with her in 2021,” he added.

Fury called the investigation into the errors in Noem’s book biased and said: “The media will of course try to make these small issues big.”

At another point in the interview on Sunday, Alexander asked Noem point-blank if she thought an anecdote about the murder of her 14-month-old puppy, Cricket, had cost her a shot at becoming Trump’s vice president.

She has said she properly cared for her “untrainable” dog by taking Cricket to a gravel pit and shooting her after aggressive behavior such as killing the neighbor’s chickens and trying to bite her.

However, critics say Noem, who shot her dog while her children were at school, could have rehomed the dog or surrendered it to a shelter that might have been better equipped to train the animal.

“I would say this is a story from 20 years ago, where I protect my children from a vicious animal,” Noem responded on Sunday.

“So we’ve discussed that, and any mother in those situations – when you have an animal that is viciously killing livestock and attacking people – it’s a difficult decision, and the reason it’s in my book is because that book is filled with challenging times and difficult decisions.”

As the bad news from the book spread, Noem began interrupted her book tour in early May and returned to South Dakota citing South Dakota bad weather in the state that demanded her attention.

She tried to revive her campaign for vice president earlier this month with a self-produced film in which she tries to portray herself not only as a political titan, but also as an animal lover who has always taken special care of critters – including one scene that is set in the background of the governor with a small dog.

But an anonymous senator told The Hill that the dog murder story ruined her chances of becoming vice president.

“She’s just done, too much drama,” said a Republican senator who knows how Trump feels about this.

Trump has now said he has made his choice for running mate, but has not yet told anyone about his decision.

The former president just said the pick would attend Thursday’s presidential debate.

On Sunday, Noem admitted that she had not received paperwork to vet her as a candidate.

“I’ve had conversations with the president and I know that he is the only one who will make the decisions about who will be his vice president,” Noem told Alexander, dodging any questions about why she might not have been chosen.

Still, Alexander persevered.

“You said having a woman on the ticket would help Donald Trump win. And he said on this program last year that he liked the concept of running with a woman,” he said.

“As you know, there are currently only men on his shortlist: Burgum, Vance, Rubio. Would Donald Trump be making a mistake if he doesn’t choose a woman as his running mate?’ he asked.

“You know, I think he should pick the best person for the job,” Noem replied, without answering the question.

“He has to choose someone who will help him win. And I think President Trump is in a fantastic position to win this election.

‘He is strong, he is right on all policies. He needs to pick someone who will help him win and get him back in the White House fighting for America,” she continued, her eyes narrowing again.

It is believed that Trump will make an official announcement about his choice of running mate during or shortly before the Republican National Convention in July.