CBS Anchors Frustrated By Kristi Noem Evading Kim Jong Un Questions Again
If at first you don’t succeed, try again.
That seems to be the approach South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is taking regarding press interviews for her controversial new political memoir, “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward.”
Noem’s book is being released tomorrow, but the governor and her book have already come under fire.
One of the anecdotes, a supposed meeting she had with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un while serving in Congress on the House Armed Services Committee has been called “bullshit” by people in the know on Capitol Hill.
Noem refused to deny the anecdote Sunday on “Face The Nation,” and again on Monday during an interview on “CBS This Morning” where she continued to avoid giving straight answers.
In the process, she frustrated CBS anchors Natalie Morales and Nate Burleson.
It started when Morales noted that the passage where Noem claimed she met the North Korean dictator is now being removed from the book at the governor’s request.
Noem tried to make it sound like it wasn’t completely sketchy to delete an anecdote from an already-published book saying that the content was changed when she “became aware of that.”
She added: “And, you know, I appreciate that. I’ve met with many, many world leaders. I’ve traveled around the world. I should not have put that anecdote in the book. And at my request, they have removed it.”
Burleson tried to pin her down.
“That specific meeting didn’t happen?” he asked.
“I’m saying that I’m not talking about that meeting. I’m not talking about my meetings with world leaders,” she said.
Morales quickly noted that Noem actually does talk about meetings with world leaders in her book.
“There are some that are in the book, and then there’s some that’s not in the book,” Noem said.
Morales immediately pointed to two specific mentions of meeting Kim, and quoted a line from the book before asking, “Did you tell your ghostwriter to write them?”
Noem didn’t give a straight answer, saying that over the past 30 years she has traveled around the world and met with various leaders.
“And that anecdote, I’ve asked them to change the content, and it will be removed,” she said.
“It’s a simple question,” Morales snapped. “Did you or did you not meet with Kim Jong Un?”
Noem continued to dodge the question.
“That’s the answer that I have for you, is that I’m― It will be adjusted. And as soon as I became aware of it, that content was removed,” she said.
You can see the exchange below.
Beyond parody: On CBS this morning, Kristi Noem still wouldn't provide a straight answer to the question of whether she ever met Kim Jong Un. She brought up other unspecified meetings she had with world leaders as though that justifies fabricating a meeting with the NK dictator. pic.twitter.com/REuhbIlp4x
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 6, 2024
Noem’s insistence on continuing to avoid directly answering questions about the Kim Jong Un meeting resulted in much mockery on X, formerly Twitter.
Why am I getting the feeling that she wanted to eat dog with Kim Jong Un https://t.co/y4SmqvubkI
— Jared Moskowitz (@JaredEMoskowitz) May 6, 2024
The lie is bad, and probably disqualifying from any position of public trust.
The utter inability to construct a response is an indication of actual incompetence. https://t.co/BPtrMBZ2wK— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) May 6, 2024
Maybe Kristi Noem should just stop going on tv. https://t.co/klylZKz4vU
— Jo (@JoJoFromJerz) May 6, 2024
BREAKING: Kristi Noem continues to dodge questions about her imaginary meeting with Kim Jong Un.
For someone who tried to cast herself as courageous, her refusal to admit she lied is craven and cowardly.pic.twitter.com/cXatxg958H— Really American 🇺🇸 (@ReallyAmerican1) May 6, 2024
Two days in a row she says this gobbledygook. Maybe it's me, but I think I'd be pretty dadgum certain I'd remember if I met with Kim Jung Un, who's fairly notorious. There's zero reason to equivocate. What the heck? https://t.co/8bzjkRwW4b
— PatMcManamon (@PatMcManamon) May 6, 2024
She literally claimed she met with Kim(total lie), then said it was the fault of her ghost writer, but probably can’t account for why the lie is narrated by her in the audio version. Freaking mendacious nut job. https://t.co/mucH3JnCtG
— HawaiiDelilah™ (@HawaiiDelilah) May 6, 2024
Here's the point: after she lied on @cbs yesterday why the fuck did these idiots on @CBSMornings put Kristi Noem on AGAIN this morning? #KristiGnomehttps://t.co/28QOtZt6Li
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) May 6, 2024
How does this happen?
A ghostwriter doesn't just put this story into the book without it coming from somewhere.
She knew this wasn't true, why didn't she take it out BEFORE the book was printed?
Did she even read the book? pic.twitter.com/nC3wAlszdv— Andrea Katherine (@AndreaKatSTL) May 6, 2024