South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R) is almost certainly out of consideration in the 2024 veepstakes due to the story of her shooting her 14 month-old puppy, Cricket.
Rolling Stone journalist Asawin Suebsaeng recently reported that former President Donald Trump is reportedly "disgusted" by the story from Noem's memoir, according to unnamed sources close to the ex-president. Those sources say that Trump has repeatedly discussed Noem's story of shooting her family dog during closed-door meetings and private phone calls.
"Trump, sources recount, has pointedly asked questions regarding her decision to kill the dog, including specifically, 'Why would she do that?' and 'What is wrong with her?'" Suebsaeng wrote. "He has expressed bewilderment that she would have ever admitted to doing this, willingly and in her own writing, and has argued it demonstrates she has a poor grasp of 'public relations.'" In the report, Trump is also described as "taunting" Noem behind her back about the incident.
"In these various conversations over the past week, the ex-president has also mentioned that voters generally don’t like politicians who kill dogs, two of the people familiar with the matter add," Suebsaeng continued.
Rolling Stone's sources reportedly sought to use Noem's anecdote about Cricket to convince him to remove her from consideration as the presumptive GOP nominee's vice presidential pick. Sources were apparently motivated to go after Noem due to both their desire to see Trump select a stronger running mate, and out of opposition to Noem's paramour and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.
As fallout increases over Noem's story, she has sought to downplay the incident, insisting that Cricket was meant to be a "working dog" but was "extremely dangerous" and had to be put down after killing a neighbor's chickens. The South Dakota governor also maintained that the theme of her book is about how she's had to make tough decisions throughout her life, with the Cricket story being just one example.
"You know how the fake news works,” Noem said in a Fox News interview. “They leave out some or most of the facts of a story, they put the worst spin on it. And that’s what’s happened in this case.
READ MORE: Kristi Noem's damage control response to puppy shooting story: She also killed 3 horses
Furor over the story erupted last week, after an excerpt from Noem's autobiography emerged in which she said she "hated that dog." Noem emphasized that Cricket was "less than worthless... as a hunting dog" and that the puppy was "untrainable" and "dangerous to anyone she came in contact with."
"[Cricket] had come to us from a family who had found her way too aggressive," Noem said. "We were her second chance and the day she was put down was a day that she massacred livestock that were part of our neighbors. She attacked me and it was a hard decision."
With Noem likely out of VP consideration, Trump's VP shortlist has narrowed to a few high-profile names. The former president is reportedly fond of Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) and JD Vance (R-Ohio). He's also considering House Republican Conference chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York) and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (R). Trump has yet to indicate when he would be announcing his running mate, though USA Today reports that he's holding court with several members of the shortlist at an event in Florida this weekend.
Click here to read Rolling Stone's report (subscription required).
READ MORE: 'I hated that dog': Kristi Noem recalls taking family pup to gravel pit and killing it