Gov. Kristi Noem on criticisms of new book: "I wanted people to know the truth"

two weeks ago South Dakota governor Christine gome was widely considered one of the top contenders to be Donald Trump's VP pick but that all changed after the release of excerpts from her new book titled no going back it includes lessons from her time as a governor and a congresswoman but also stories that have drawn criticism one about her killing a hunting dog and another about meeting North Korea's dictator govern Governor gnome is with us at the table good morning to you Governor good morning good morning thank you for having me good here in person um let's talk first we don't want to talk about a lot of topics that you address in the book but the book is called no going back but it's sounds like the publisher Center Street is going back on a couple of the details in the book no I don't believe so specifically when you write in the book I remember when I met with North North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un I'm sure he underestimated me that as I understand is now being removed from the book at your request yes when I became aware of that we changed the content and uh the future additions will be adjusted and uh you know I appreciate that I've met with many many world leaders I've traveled around the world uh I should not have put that anecdote in the book and uh at my request they hav that specific didn't happen oh I'm saying that I'm not talking about that meeting I'm not talking about my meetings with world leaders there's some that are B leers there's some that are in the book and then there's some that's not in the book why are there two specific mentions of meeting Kim Jong-un and talking about him and a speciic specific memory I'm sure he underestimated me having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants did you tell your ghost riter to I'm I've specifically have worked on policy for over 30 years and over that time I have traveled around the world and I have met with leaders around the world uh and and that anecdote I've asked them to change the content and and it will be removed it's a simple question did you or did you not me that's the answer that I have for you is that I'm it will be adjusted and as soon as became aware of it that content was removed what about this uh purported call between uh former un Ambassador Nikki Haley and you uh her team is saying a phone call was made but back during 2020 during the pandemic to offer support to you and the state of South Dakota however you describe it as a threatening phone call what can you tell us about well you know I think that certainly her retelling of the story makes sense because that's kind of what Nikki Haley does you know she says whatever works for her at that moment in time so we had conversations in 2020 we had conversations in 2021 so that story is absolutely true uh you know I did feel threatened after that phone call very much it was clear she was the Lone Wolf and that there wasn't room for another Republican woman in politics and Governor I am curious though about why you felt threatened only because she says I'm calling from one Governor to another I just want to offer my mentorship she says that you said she said I offer want to offer my mentorship I've heard great things about you and if I hear something bad about you I'll let you know I I read that and I didn't think of it as a threat I actually thought she was reaching out to you what about it was threatening to you well words matter and twice she repeated to me with long pauses that when she heard bad things that she would make sure that I knew and she said that let me be clear I will make sure that you know when I hear bad things and there was never another phone call why is that a bad thing because I had a friend who was somebody who said I want to Mentor you and if I hear bad things about you I'll let you know I would be I wouldn't I would appreciative of that and they'd be friendly they'd probably call you again check on you if you remember if you remember during that time it was I was during covid I was the only state in the entire country stayed open that stayed open and widely criticized by Republicans and Democrats I didn't have a friend uh there was not people that were calling me and saying christe you're right you're making the right decisions for your people you're following the Constitution uh and typically when I Mentor people and I want to be friendly I check on them I call them there was never once an Outreach and we were in many meetings after that where she was not friendly I was not kind and her words were not kind so so you two you two disagree on the character well and and I think that's pretty typical of Nikki Haley though is that you know she's the person who said I'm never going to run against Donald Trump and then runs against Donald Trump and says one thing and then does another it's pretty consistent call politics govern it is well it doesn't have to be and that's why I wrote this book right I wrote this book because politics doesn't have to be that way yes politics can be just normal human beings who want to serve each other you always say you say forget about fix fixing politics step into the chaos and move the nation forward what you want to do it's very cha I think people are scared to run for office in this day and age I think they're scared to even support people publicly because of the chaos of it and the desire to to you know really serve can lead to people coming after you and your family and your your uh business and your finances and then that's that tends to lead to chaos so I think that concerns a lot of people in America this is a howto guide for the average citizen for an American that you know here's here's some history here's my experience say the people have the power have the power here here's my history here's my experience and we want to speak about one of those experiences you have received huge backlash from your story about killing your 14-month-old puppy Cricket I believe it was because he was aggressive orra female she was aggressive or excuse me um untrainable do you regret writing about that in your book book is filled with painful vulnerable stories um you know and this story people have known for years my political opponents have tried to use a story against me in previous campaigns I wanted people to know the truth and that's why I put that in this book uh you know this was a dog that I was at Second Chance it had come to me from a family that had found her to be way too aggressive I was a dog trainer raised dogs um and she was killing Liv oh I love dogs yeah I I have a dear dog named Foster right now that goes everywhere with me would say why couldn't you just give the dog to someone else you know let him be on a farm or at at the very least if you thought the dog was really aggressive have them put down in a Humane manner I think number one when we hear puppy it's not a little puppy it it's an adult working dog it was an adult working dog and uh this is a Humane manner according to the American veterinarian Society every state in the country has a law that allows what I did and I was purpose of telling thee way to purpose yes the purpose of telling the story was so that people would know I don't pass my responsibilities on to anybody else it was extremely hard for me and that's clear when you read the story that it was that was difficult decision for me but when you have an animal that you as a mom you have to decide do I choose the safety of my children over an aggressive animal that attacks people you know I I chose as a mom to for my children just so hard governor for people to get past Story coming out you were considered to be a top Contender as a VP pick for Donald Trump is that still the case do you think seems like the turned on you I I think that the media has turned on me um and and I understand that I think that that's the part of being honest and being genuine I think the American people want somebody who's real and doesn't pretend to be something that they're not I've never once said that I'm perfect I've never said that I've made every decision perfect but I'm honest about it and the reason I told this story is because most politicians they run from the truth and they they hide from making from the truth you were doubling down you know the book is filled with a lot of antidotes about your life about your family and your children you're raised in a ranching family where there was no distinction between boy chores and girl chores right and so how do you want history to remember you I know your career is still still uh still in process right but you talk about history how do you want to be remembered I want history to remember me as someone who tried who got up every single day and recognized that my purpose for being created was to serve people was to serve people and to do good things for them and to help them and uh I think it's a part of almost every speech that I give is the reminder to people that they're the ones who can make a difference in someone's life and that we were created to serve other people and if we have that mindset that's really what would fix this country that's said you said I never dreamed of being in politics to be honest politics actually sucks but it is but it is energizing and rewarding it is because every day I get stories of people whose lives we helped the veteran we helped them get their health care needs met you know individual who you know maybe had a tree branch fall in their house and we were able to bring you know a couple of people from my office over to help them get it off and that we maybe able to relieve somebody of a financial burden that was really dealing with something they were struggling with with their family I think that is and get people trained to fill a job that they've always wanted you know that's the one thing about being Governors Governors are CEOs we get the chance to wake up every day and make a decision that helps people and and that's the mindset that we need to have if we really want to have the right leaders in places uh that we need them today a sign at the governor's residence that says uh underestimate me it will be fun yeah well I've spent my whole life getting underestimated thank you we appreciate you no going back goes on sale tomorrow

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 66,803

Keywords: Kristi Noem, CBS Mornings Clips, CBS Mornings Politics, U.S.

Id: 9iQOPMyMNjw

Length: 9min 15sec (555 seconds)

Published: Mon May 06 2024