Donald Trump played it coy initially when asked whether Kristi Noem was still a viable contender for his VP pick post-puppy scandal. While many were quick to cancel Noem, Trump remained tightlipped, neither condemning nor outright supporting her. “She had a rough couple of days, I will say that,” he told Spectrum News 1 before slipping in some praise, which says a lot about their relationship. “[She’s] somebody that has been supportive of me from the beginning,” he remarked, noting that he “likes her a lot.” But when pressed if she’s still part of his veep shortlist, he simply said, “I don’t want to comment on anybody on the list.”
The presidential hopeful changed his tune just days later, sharing on “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show” podcast that the public might have misconstrued Noem’s actions. “I think [Noem’s] terrific. A couple of rough stories, there’s no question about it,” he said. “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.”
Trump even hinted that Noem might have been blindsided by her own memoir, suggesting that the scandal may be chalked up to poor oversight on her part. “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,” he said. “You have ghostwriters, too. They help you, and they, in this case, didn’t help too much.”
