Wednesday on FNC’s “Hannity,” Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) insisted she had a binary choice on whether or not to kill a 14-month-old dog, as she disclosed in her book.
The South Dakota Republican is under fire for handling what she deemed an untrainable dog.
Partial transcript as follows:
HANNITY: Governor, I know you have — you have responded. You responded on X on Sunday. And you gave more explanation to this, but you talk about this 14-month-old dog as untrainable. You describe it as a trained assassin, how you — how the dog was killing chickens of a local neighbor, and how the dog even went to bite you, and I believe bit others as well.
Tell us in your words why it came to that decision. I mean, unfortunately, dogs that are violent sometimes have to be put down. But I guess people, because you shot the dog, say — is there a difference which way you put a dog down? I’m not really sure. But I don’t think people understood it. I want to give you a chance to explain.
NOEM: Well, Sean, you know how the fake news works.
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. I hope people really do buy this book and they find out the truth of this story, because the truth of this story is that this was a working dog, and it was not a puppy.
It was a dog that was extremely dangerous. It had come to us from a family who had found her way too aggressive. We were her second chance, and she was — the say 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.
And the reason it’s in the book is because this book is filled with tough, challenging decisions that I have had to make throughout my life. And I hope that people understand from this that what the point of this story is, is that most politicians, they will run from the truth. They will shy away and hide from making tough decisions.
I don’t do either of those. I tell the truth and I make tough decisions. People attacked me during COVID for keeping my state open. They called me wrong and attacked me night after night on TV for not doing mandates and not forcing people to get vaccines or wear masks. They’re doing it again now with this.
I just hope people will read the book, find out the truth, because this was a dangerous animal, and I had a choice between keeping my small children and other people safe or a dangerous animal, and I chose the safety of my children.
HANNITY: You know, I was shocked when we learned that Joe Biden — and he has a German shepherd — that, when all was said and done, 24 Secret Service agents were bitten by a German shepherd, by a big dog.
I want to go back to something that you say here. You said you followed the law in your book. What is the law?
NOEM: Virtually every state has a law in place that says the animals that attack and kill livestock can be put down in situations like this. But I will tell you, Sean, to farmers and ranchers, they expect it. They know that once an animal like this starts killing and starts killing just because they enjoy it, that that is a very dangerous animal.
And that was the situation that we were dealing with. And I’m a dog lover. I have trained dogs for years. I have been around hundreds of them, of course. And so this was a tough situation and very difficult. But that’s what happens in rural America many times.
And I hope people do read the facts of the story and truly understand that I’m a mom. And, at the time, I had small children and a lot of small kiddos that worked around our business and people, and I wanted to make sure that they were safe, and that dogs that have this kind of a problem, that have been to training for months and still kill for fun, they are extremely dangerous, and a responsible owner does what they need to do and what this — what the law will allow.
HANNITY: A dog trainer friend of mine actually describes every dog as a baby wolf, and they have a pack mentality. And once they get aggressive, it’s very difficult to alter and change that behavior.
Look at the case of Joe Biden. Initially, we had heard, OK, maybe one Secret Service agent, maybe three, and then, at one point, we read 24? In that particular case, if somebody is biting people in large numbers like that, wouldn’t it — it’s a sad thing to do, but at some point doesn’t it become the responsible thing to — for the safety of others that you don’t allow a dog at least around anybody else, at the very least?
NOEM: Well — and that was our situation was, this dog had come to us from another family that had already found her to be too aggressive.
They’d had issues before. And we had — she — we put her through months of training and were working with her. It’s an unfortunate situation, but one that I hope people understand that they need to hear the truth and not what the media has been spinning.
The media continuously, through the fake news, does not always tell the truth, that they spin the story. They did the same thing to me during COVID, and they’re doing it again here. I hope people buy the book and read the truth.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
