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.
Noem’s insistence on continuing to avoid directly answering questions about the Kim Jong Un meeting resulted in much mockery on X, formerly Twitter.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem on CBS This Morning (Photo: CBS This Morning)