Gov. Kristi Noem says Kim Jong Un book claims have been 'adjusted' but stands by killing Cricket. Here's where things stand with 'No Going Back.'

Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota and potential 2024 running mate for Donald Trump, has been in the spotlight over the past week for a controversial passage in her forthcoming memoir, No Going Back, in which she describes shooting and killing a pet dog.

On Sunday, she was pressed about that and another passage that appeared in advance copies of the book, in which she falsely claimed to have met North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

In an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation, Noem sat down with host Margaret Brennan to talk about the controversies surrounding her memoir.

Here are some key takeaways from the interview.

On her alleged meeting with Kim Jong Un

In Noem’s book, out on May 7, she wrote about meeting with various world leaders during her time in Congress — including North Korean dictator Kim, who she claimed “underestimated” her potential as a leader. Experts and Capitol Hill staffers were quick to dispute the governor’s claim, and Noem acknowledged the mistake during Sunday’s interview.

“As soon as this was brought to my attention, I certainly made some changes and looked at this passage,” Noem told Brennan. “We went forward and made some edits, so I’m glad that this book is being released in a couple of days and that people will have the updated version.”

Noem deflected when asked to confirm whether she had actually met with Kim.

“I met with many many world leaders,” she said. “I’m not going to talk about my specific meetings with world leaders. I’m just not going to do that. This anecdote shouldn’t have been in the book and as soon as it was brought to my attention, I made sure that it was adjusted.”

Take 2

Following backlash from experts who questioned her story of meeting Kim, Noem’s claim will be removed from the book prior to its release on May 7, but other claims in the memoir are coming under scrutiny.

Noem also wrote about Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, claiming that Haley called her in 2021 to offer support and mentorship. In her book, Noem wrote that the call felt threatening, stating that Haley must believe “there was only room for one Republican woman in the spotlight.”

Haley spokesperson Chaney Denton has since come out to say that the women spoke in 2020 — not 2021, as written in the book. During the call, Denton said Haley was supportive of Noem for not closing down her state during COVID.

“How she would twist that into a threat is just plain weird,” Denton said.

Noem’s spokesperson Ian Fury declared that these points were “small errors,” which were “communicated to the ghostwriter and editor” and that future editions of the book will correct this mistake.

Addressing the killing of Cricket

Noem was also pressed about an anecdote in her book in which she recounted shooting and killing her 14-month-old dog Cricket, who she claimed was untrainable, after he attacked chickens on a neighbor’s farm. (Later in the book, Noem writes that she also shot and killed a goat on her farm.)

“This dog was a working dog and it had come from a family that already had issues with this dog. I put months and months of training into this dog. This dog had gone to other trainers as well,” she said, noting that killing Cricket was a “choice I made over 20 years ago, and I didn’t ask somebody else to take that responsibility for me. I had to make that decision myself.”

She also said that President Joe Biden should be held accountable for his dog, Commander, who reportedly has attacked two dozen Secret Service agents.

“Joe Biden’s dog has attacked 24 Secret Service people, so how many people is enough people to be attacked and dangerously hurt before you make a decision on a dog and what to do with it?” she asked.

She claims the goat story is being used against her

In the chapter “Bad Day to be a Goat,” Noem writes that, after shooting Cricket, she later shot a billy goat she claimed to be unruly. Noem told Brennan that the story has repeatedly come up over the years by political opponents who try to “use it against me.”

“It’s well known in South Dakota and it has been to other people,” she said of the goat. “I want the truth out there and [for people] to understand that these animals were attacking my children, that we live on a farm and a ranch and that tough decisions are made many times, and it is to protect people.”

Bad PR at a bad time for Noem

Bipartisan reaction to the story of Noem killing Cricket has been largely negative and comes at a time that she appears to be lobbying to be picked to be Trump’s running mate in 2024.

“Anyone who has ever owned a birddog knows how disgusting, lazy and evil this is,” Ryan Busse, a Democratic candidate for governor of Montana, wrote on X.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is engaged to Donald Trump Jr., said she was bewildered by Noem’s account of killing the dog. “It makes no sense. I don’t understand. I’ve always liked Gov. Noem. She works very hard, tirelessly on behalf of the movement,” she remarked during an interview with One America News Network, adding, “I just can’t imagine that because there’s a forever home for all animals. … I don’t know what happened, maybe somebody slipped that in and she didn’t see it.”

Noem calls out 'fake news media'

Hours after the interview was aired on Sunday, Noem took to X to criticize Brennan, claiming that the journalist was biased against her because she was a conservative.

"This morning in our 15-minute interview, Margaret Brennan interrupted me 36 times — once every 25 seconds on average," she wrote. "But when liberals like [Gretchen Whitmer] and [Nancy Pelosi] are on Face th eNation, they aren't interrupted once."

Noem continued, "In the fake news media, there are two sets of rules, and conservative are always treated differently. That's why Americans don't trust the Fake News."