Kristi Noem keeps up the defense amid messy memoir rollout

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem spent Sunday morning trying to redirect questions about her forthcoming memoir to its main themes, rather than explain why she had to go back and revise the much-discussed “No Going Back.”

The book, which Noem described Sunday as a “how-to guide” for people who want to make their voices heard, first came under fire after a grisly excerpt about an incident in which Noem shot and killed her 14-month-old wirehair pointer, Cricket, for misbehaving sparked backlash across the board.

Later, it emerged in a report from the Dakota Scout that the memoir also included an unlikely — and seemingly inaccurate — anecdote about the time Noem met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un while serving as a back-bencher in Congress. On Sunday, Noem acknowledged that the book had to be corrected before its imminent release, but declined to say that she never met the North Korean leader.

“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 said during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” The book is due to be released Tuesday.

“There are details in this book that talk about going to the [demilitarized zone] and specifics I'm willing to share. There's some specifics I'm not willing to share with you,” Noem added later when pressed by CBS’ Margaret Brennan.

Noem insisted that her book offered ideas on how America could move forward under Donald Trump's leadership. But once floated as a possible running mate for Trump, Noem’s odds in the veepstakes seem to have disintegrated — though the reasons extend beyond the messy memoir rollout.

She’s held firm in her decisions depicted in the book, pitching the killing of Cricket as a sign she’s willing to make difficult choices.

“This dog was a working dog and had come from a family that had issues with this dog and I had put months and months of training into this dog. This dog had gone to other trainers as well,” Noem said Sunday.

“So all of that is the facts of the story, and all of that shows that when you put someone in a position where they have to make a decision and they want to protect their family and protect children and other people from getting attacked from an animal that has attacked others and killed livestock that's the choice I made over 20 years ago. And that I didn't ask somebody else to take that responsibility for me.”

Cricket reportedly isn’t the only pup that faced Noem’s ire in the book. Noem also criticized President Joe Biden’s dog, Commander, who was in the doghouse earlier this year after it emerged that he had bit Secret Service agents dozens of times.

“Joe Biden's dog has attacked 24 Secret Service people, so how many people is enough people to be attacked and dangerously hurt before you make a decision on a dog and what to do with it?” Noem said.

Noem also sparred with Brennan, accusing the CBS reporter of interrupting her and treating her “differently” than other guests that have previously come on the show. It’s an argument Noem made earlier this weekend during a Palm Beach donor retreat.

“Listen, going through hard things, and I’ve been through a few of them — I’m going through one right now, I mean they’re just attacking me like crazy right now,” Noem said according to audio obtained by POLITICO.

As for the book: “This book is a powerful book, it's an honest book. It's an honest book of a blueprint for America about what citizens can do to take their country back,” Noem maintained in her CBS interview.