According to Mary Trump, the estranged niece of Donald Trump, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem's actions, in which she reportedly revealed in a book she wrote that she fatally shot her 14-month old dog, will appeal to the former president.
British newspaper The Guardian published an excerpt of Noem's book, No Going Back: The Truth on What's Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward on Friday in which the governor shared an account of shooting the dog, named Cricket, which she wrote had an "aggressive personality" and was "untrainable."
The governor wrote that she brought Cricket on a pheasant hunt with older dogs to help it learn how to behave. However on the hunt, Cricket went "out of her mind with excitement, chasing all those birds and having the time of her life," the governor wrote, who added on the way home, Cricket escaped Noem's truck and attacked a family's chickens.
She added that when she grabbed Cricket, the dog "whipped around to bite me."
"At that moment, I realized I had to put her down. It was not a pleasant job, but it had to be done," Noem wrote, adding that she shot Cricket after leading it to a gravel pit.
Newsweek has not obtained a copy of the book and has been unable to verify the reported passage. Newsweek has also reached out to a spokesperson for Noem's office for comment via email.
Noem, a close ally of Trump, is widely speculated to be a potential vice president pick for him. Trump previously indicated that the Republican governor was a possible choice in an interview with Fox News in February and said that Noem and six others were being considered as his potential running mate.
Noem, however, also told Fox News in February that she and Trump have "never had that conversation" about her potentially being his 2024 running mate.
On Friday in response to the excerpt of Noem's book, Mary Trump, a vocal critic of her uncle, took to X, formerly Twitter, to suggest the governor's actions will appeal to the former president.
"Kristi Noem is telling everybody that she murdered a puppy because she wants to be Donald's VP and she thinks the story will appeal to him. She's not wrong," she wrote.
In a X separate post, Mary Trump wrote: "My cat died when he was six. I'll never get over it and I'd do anything to get him back. Kristi Noem murdered her puppy because she couldn't be bothered. This is who they are."
Newsweek has reached out to Trump's spokesperson via email for comment.
Since the excerpt emerged, the governor's chances of becoming Trump's 2024 running mate has fallen.
Polymarket, a platform where users can place "yes" or "no" bets on the likelihood of world events, is currently giving Noem a 3 percent chance of potentially being the next Republican vice president.
On Friday, Noem was given a 5 percent chance of being selected as Trump's next running mate, down from 10 percent the previous day. On March 25, Polymarket was listing Noem as the second favorite with a 9 percent chance, behind South Carolina Senator Tim Scott at 22 percent.
Mary Trump's comments come after several high-profile Republicans criticized the governor for the excerpt.
Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as director of strategic communications in the Trump White House and now is a co-host of The View, wrote: "I'm a dog lover and I am honestly horrified by the Kristi Noem excerpt. I wish I hadn't even read it. A 14-month old dog is still a puppy & can be trained. A large part of bad behavior in dogs is not having proper training from the humans responsible for them."
In addition, Sarah Matthews who served as the deputy White House press secretary in the Trump administration, posted to X, "When I saw tweets about Kristi Noem murdering her puppy, I thought to myself, 'Damn, one of the other VP contenders' teams found some oppo,' until I realized SHE wrote about it in HER book. I'm not sure why anyone would brag about this unless they're sick and twisted."
However, Noem responded to the criticism she has received in a post to X and wrote, "We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm. Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years."
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Natalie Venegas is a Weekend Reporter at Newsweek based in New York. Her focus is reporting on education, social justice ... Read more
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