Trump is going out of his way to defend Kristi Noem for shooting her dog, saying she’s just ‘had a bad week’

Former President Donald Trump (left) and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (right).

Ethan Miller via Getty Images; Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was hit by a deluge of criticism after she said she shot her own dog.But former President Donald Trump says he isn’t too bothered by the bad press. “She had a bad week. We all have bad weeks,” Trump said.

Former President Donald Trump doesn’t appear to be too bothered by the criticism surrounding South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s decision to shoot her dog.

“I think she’s terrific. A couple of rough stories, there’s no question about it,” Trump said in an interview on “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show” that aired Tuesday.

“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 weeks,” he continued.

Noem was hit with a deluge of criticism after she revealed in her memoir that she shot her 14-month-old dog, Cricket. In her book, Noem described the dog as “untrainable” and “dangerous.”

The anecdote provoked bipartisan outrage, with some Republicans saying that Trump shouldn’t pick Noem as his running mate.

Trump, meanwhile, was more forgiving in his assessment of Noem. On the podcast, he speculated that Noem might just have had a team of bad ghostwriters.

“Sometimes you do books, and you have some guy writing a book, and you maybe don’t read it as carefully. You have ghostwriters, too. They help you, and they, in this case, didn’t help too much,” Trump said.

Trump has worked with ghostwriters himself — he hired journalist Tony Schwartz to ghostwrite his bestselling 1987 book, “The Art of the Deal.“

Trump’s defense of Noem this week suggests that despite the maelstrom of bad press, she may still stand a chance of being tapped to be his running mate.

The former president has a long list of contenders to choose from, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and Ohio Sen. JD Vance. Trump, however, has remained coy about who his final pick is thus far.

Trump’s choice of a running mate could have huge implications on his campaign’s fundraising capabilities as he heads into the final stretch of the electoral race. His campaign team said it raised more than $76 million in April, Politico reported on May 4, citing a person familiar with the matter.

GOP megadonor Ken Griffin said on Tuesday at the Qatar Economic Forum that he’s “going to see” who Trump’s running mate is before he decides on whether to give money to the GOP campaign. The hedge fund billionaire declined to state who his preferred vice presidential candidate is, per Bloomberg.

Representatives for Trump and Noem didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.