Christian Smith
(NewsNation) – South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem acknowledged removing a reference to meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from her book, hesitating when pressed about whether it was inaccurate during an interview on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.” from NewsNation.
Noem, a Republican considered a potential vice presidential pick in 2024, avoided directly admitting the claim was false when asked about the retraction. But after several follow-ups, the governor said: “I shouldn’t have put this anecdote in the book. And I asked (the editors) to take it down, and they did.”
Noem’s book faced scrutiny for including the anecdote describing his encounter with the North Korean leader during a trip during his days in Congress. After several reports raised questions about his accuracy, a spokesman for his office said Kim “was included on a list of world leaders and should not have been.”
The Associated Press noted that Noem traveled to China, Japan and South Korea as part of a congressional delegation in 2014.
Noem initially defended not addressing the vagueness, saying, “I don’t talk about in-person meetings with world leaders.” She said she “took responsibility for this” and that “the buck stops with me.”
Mike Pence and Donald Trump
Vargas asked Noem whether former President Mike Pence did the right thing by refusing former President Donald Trump’s request to reject the 2020 election results. Noem avoided answering directly, saying, “I don’t answer hypothetical questions” because “the law has been changed” since then.
She also criticized Pence for not supporting Trump.
“Mike Pence is not endorsing President Trump at this point, he is basically endorsing Joe Biden. And that’s hard for me to believe,” she said.
When asked if she is still in the running to be Trump’s vice presidential pick in 2024 after attending a Republican Party event with potential vice presidential candidates, Noem said, “I don’t know. I told President Trump he needs to make sure he picks someone who will help him win.”
She said she wants Trump “to succeed. I will do everything I can to be of service in this.”
Border, tribal reservations and rural lands
Noem alleged that Native American tribal leaders in her state are allowing drug cartels to operate on reservations with impunity, contributing to the crisis at the national border.
She said three reservations in South Dakota banned her from visiting after she said cartels were trafficking drugs and human beings from the reservations.
“We have established cartels in South Dakota,” Noem said, adding that a cartel member allegedly kidnapped an FBI agent in the state.
She accused tribal presidents and councils of protecting the cartels because “I don’t have jurisdiction there” over reservations. Noem said she offered to help enforce the laws, but tribal leaders retaliated by “banning” me instead of the cartels.
“Why don’t they ban cartels, those who traffic drugs, who abuse their children and their wives and traffic them?” Noem challenged.
Noem said the presence of the cartels shows that the border crisis extends beyond southern states, claiming that “dangerous criminals” and people on “terrorist watch lists” are entering the US illegally.
On immigration, Noem supported Trump’s proposal for “the largest deportation in American history” of those who entered illegally. She criticized the Biden administration for “violating federal law” on border security.
Noem also accused the Chinese government of purchasing rural land to control the U.S. food supply, calling it a serious national security threat that must be addressed.
“The majority of our packaging plants are owned by Chinese entities or Chinese investors,” Noem said. “And now they’re coming and buying our land too.”
She alleged that it is part of China’s long-standing strategy to make the US dependent on imported food as a means of control. Noem argued that past policies were aimed at ensuring America could feed itself for national security reasons.
“If we think a pandemic is scary, I can’t imagine what it would be like if we let China control our food supply,” he warned. “We should own our land. It’s in our best interest to have small family farms on the land growing our food for us.”
Consequences of the dog’s story
Noem stood by her controversial decision to include an anecdote about shooting and killing her family dog for bad behavior years ago in her book “No Going Back,” despite criticism that the story was a political misstep.
The Republican governor said she wanted to be open about the “painful” choice rather than shy away from it as most politicians would.
“This book is full of vulnerable stories and painful decisions I made,” said Noem. “And at that moment, I made a decision between protecting my children and the people in our lives and a dangerous animal that was killing livestock and attacking people.”
Noem rejected suggestions that repeating the dog shooting was a political mistake, as polls show 65 million people in the US. families have pets. She said most elected officials would “run away from the truth” and difficult decisions.
“I don’t do any of that,” Noem said. “I wanted them to know the truth. I wanted them to hear my words.”
NewsNation Affiliate The hill contributed to this report.
