Kristi Noem erupts on CBS anchor after viral interview about controversial book
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem lashed out at her CBS News interviewer Sunday after being challenged on her controversial new book, accusing "Face the Nation" host Margaret Brennan of interrupting her dozens of times because she was a conservative.
"This morning in our 15-minute interview, Margaret Brennan interrupted me 36 times — once every 25 seconds on average," Noem, a Republican, wrote on X. "But when liberals like [Gretchen Whitmer] and [Nancy Pelosi] are on @FaceTheNation, they aren’t interrupted once. In the fake news media, there are two sets of rules, and conservative[s] are always treated differently. That's why Americans don't trust the Fake News."
In an exchange that went viral, Brennan pressed Noem about an excerpt from her new memoir "No Going Back" where the governor claimed to have met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, leading to an awkward back-and-forth where Noem suggested it was mistakenly included but didn't outright admit it was false.
"I've met with many, many world leaders, many world leaders. I've traveled around the world. I think I've talked extensively in this book about my time serving in Congress, my time as governor, before governor, some of the travels that I've had," 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 that was adjusted."
Noem and Brennan continued a contentious exchange about the anecdote, at times talking over one another. At one point, Noem said "Hello?" as Brennan pressed her about the error, as though Noem couldn't hear her.
Noem urged Brennan to push President Biden on falsehoods he's stated, such as his repeated claim about being arrested in South Africa while trying to see Nelson Mandela. Brennan replied she would ask Biden about his record if she got an interview with him.
"Why am I being treated differently than every other person that you've interviewed?" Noem asked at one point. "I've looked at your last several weeks of your interviews—"
"I'm quoting you," Brennan said.
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"You don't interrupt other people, you let them talk, thank you for inviting me to have this conversation about this book," Noem said. "This book is extremely important to the people of this country."
Noem, a staunch ally of former President Trump, was also pressed about a book excerpt where she revealed she once killed a young dog named "Cricket" on her farm, in part because it was "untrainable." The bipartisan uproar over the story appears to have fatally damaged her hopes of being Trump's 2024 running mate.
Noem continued to defend the anecdote on Sunday, claiming the dog had also attacked people and she thus had to make the difficult decision to shoot it.
Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, the next guest on Brennan's Sunday program, was chuckling at the start of his appearance. Asked why he was "cracking up," Fetterman replied the earlier conversation with Noem was "magnificent."
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Noem's annoyance with Brennan didn't stop her from appearing on the same network the next day, however, as she also showed up on "CBS Mornings" Monday. She again didn't directly answer questions during that interview over whether she'd met personally with Kim Jong Un.
Noem also addressed the viral interview with Brennan on Fox News Radio's "The Brian Kilmeade Show" on Monday, repeating that Brennan had continually interrupted her and that she'd been subjected to a double standard.
"She didn't treat anybody else that way. It was definitely an attack," she said. "And that's fine. I'm used to that. If you guys remember, I've kind of been through the fire before. During COVID, nobody had my back when I made the decisions I made in South Dakota, keeping my state open, not mandating anything, not mandating masks or vaccines. So I'm used to the attacks. I gave her my answer. She didn't like my answer. So she kept trying to bully me into saying something different. But the truth is the truth."
A CBS News spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment.