Trump Gives Bizarre Defense of Kristi Noem Shooting Her Dog: ‘We All Have Bad Weeks’
(AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
Former President Donald Trump defended South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem over a controversial anecdote from her latest book where she discussed killing her dog.
Back in April, Noem faced criticism after an excerpt from her new book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, where she detailed how she killed her 14-month-old hunting dog “Cricket” for being too aggressive.
The controversy reportedly hurt Noem’s chances of being Trump’s vice presidential running mate for the upcoming November election. Moreover, Noem discussed how she killed a “mean” goat because it chased her children and smelled bad.
“I think [Noem’s] terrific. A couple of rough stories, there’s no question about it,” Trump said during a podcast interview released Tuesday with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. “And when explained — the dog story, people hear that and people from different parts of the country probably feel a bit differently, but that’s a tough story.”
“She had a bad week. We all have bad weeks,” the Republican nominee added.
Listen to the interview below:
President Trump to @ClayTravis and @BuckSexton on Kristi Noem: “She’s a terrific person. She had a bad week. We all have bad weeks.”
More in the podcast: https://t.co/hGBO5bBV8m pic.twitter.com/Ks0O3aZN7b
— The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show (@clayandbuck) May 14, 2024
The former president then went on to claim that Noem’s ghostwriter may be to blame for the story making its way into the book.
“Until this week, she was doing incredibly well. And she got hit hard, and sometimes you do books, and you have some guy writing a book and you maybe don’t read it as carefully, you know,” Trump concluded. “You have ghostwriters too. They help you, and they, in this case, didn’t help too much.”
