North Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (Republican) suggested Sunday that she had not been formally vetted to be former President Trump’s potential running mate.
When asked on “Meet the Press” if she had received the vetting papers, Noem said, “Only Donald Trump knows who the vice president is going to be.”
“I haven’t received the papers,” she said, adding, “I’ve spoken to the president and I know only the president decides who will be vice president.”
Trump said over the weekend that he has decided who his running mate will be, but refused to reveal the name.
The vice presidential selection process appears to have accelerated in recent weeks, with several leading Republican candidates receiving vetting materials. Sources familiar with the matter told The Hill earlier this month that North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Tim Scott of South Carolina and J.D. Vance of Ohio have all received vetting requests.
Noem, a strong supporter of President Trump, had previously been floated as a possible vice presidential candidate, but a series of controversies appeared to have damaged her prospects.
The South Dakota governor came under fire earlier this year when excerpts from his new book, “There’s No Turning Back: The Truth About What’s Wrong with Politics and How to Move America Forward,” revealed how he shot and killed his family’s 14-month-old hunting dog, Cricket.
The governor said he shot and killed a German Wirehaired Pointer on his property after taking it pheasant hunting. Noem wrote that she “hated” the dog and claimed it had attacked a neighbor’s chickens and tried to bite her.
When asked if she thought the anecdote cost her the vice presidential nomination, Noem replied, “That was 20 years ago when I was protecting children from a vicious animal.”
“We’ve covered that, and any mother in that situation, when you see animals going savagely, killing livestock and attacking people, it’s a tough decision,” she continued. “The reason it’s in my book is because the book is full of tough times and tough decisions. It’s a story, but I think a lot of Americans can read it and learn how to re-engage with their government.”
NBC News correspondent Peter Alexander then asked Noem again whether the article had affected her chances as a vice presidential candidate, to which Noem responded by asking if he had read the article.
“If you read the book, you’ll see that a lot of what was reported wasn’t true, wasn’t true of the story itself,” she said. “So I would encourage people to read the book and really find out the truth of why that story is there and read the other parts where I write about how we’re not going back to the politics we had before, how Donald Trump has changed politics because we’re having more honest and authentic conversations about the challenges people face.”
Noem also drew criticism from the state’s Native American tribes earlier this year after saying tribal leaders were profiting from drug cartels, and as a result she is now barred from all tribal lands in North Dakota.
