‘We all have bad weeks’: Trump defends VP contender Kristi Noem over fury for shooting her dog and says she’s still ‘terrific’

Former President Donald Trump still thinks South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is ‘terrific’ despite the outcry over the revelation she shot and killed her 14-month-old dog. 

Trump appeared Wednesday on Clay Travis and Buck Sexton’s podcast and was asked about the controversy surrounding Noem’s book, which also included a made-up meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. 

Noem was long considered someone who could be Trump’s vice presidential pick. 

‘I think she’s terrific,’ the presumptive Republican nominee said. ‘A couple of rough stories, there’s not question about it. 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.’

‘She had a bad week. We all have bad week,’ the ex-president added. 

In the book, Noem explained how Cricket, a young wirehaired pointer, had an ‘aggressive personality,’ killed a number of her neighbor’s chicken and then bit her. 

She then decided to shoot Cricket dead at the gravel pit on her family property, moments before her children came home from school.

In another passage in the book, she claimed as a congresswoman she met Kim – a section her spokesperson said was being removed from future copies. 

In a statement to DailyMail.com, spokesperson Ian Fury placed the blame on her ghostwriter. 

‘It was brought to our attention that the upcoming book “No Going Back” has two small errors,’ Fury said. ‘This has been communicated to the ghostwriter and editor. Kim Jong Un was included in a list of world leaders and shouldn’t have been.’

During the podcast interview, Trump indicated he believed the ghostwriter excuse. 

‘Until this week, 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,’ Trump said. ‘You have ghostwriters too. They help you, and they, in this case, didn’t help too much.’

Trump supporters DailyMail.com interviewed at his Saturday New Jersey rally said the dog-shooting story and other factors about Noem were disqualifying as a vice presidential choice. 

Jacki Ortiz, a 53-year-old from South Jersey said she believed Noem’s chances of becoming Trump’s VP were shot. 

‘No, I like my dog just fine,’ Ortiz said.  

Linda Donnelly, 80, of Long Island, New York said she was ‘a very big dog person,’ but showed Noem some grace. 

‘She shouldn’t have put it in the book. She shouldn’t have done it that way, if you want get rid of a dog give it [up] or have it put to sleep,’ Donnelly told DailyMail.com. ‘But she’s from a different state. They do things different there.’

Donnelly had a different reason for why she thought Noem shouldn’t be Trump’s choice. 

‘I think she’s beautiful,’ the supporter said. ‘Listen, if I was his wife I wouldn’t want him to pick her.’ 

Nancy Martin, a 62-year-old cosmetologist from Baltimore, Maryland had a similar take.

‘I don’t think he can have a woman,’ Martin told DailyMail.com.