South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem will appear Saturday morning at a Palm Beach donor retreat for former President Donald Trump’s campaign, according to a source familiar with the speaker lineup.
It will be the first time Noem has shown her face in Trump’s orbit since the news broke that she admitted in her memoir to shooting and killing a puppy—a scandal that seems to have tanked the governor’s chances to be tapped as Trump’s vice presidential pick.
Ever since the excerpt from the book ran in The Guardian a week ago, Trumpworld operatives have been aghast not only at the chilling anecdote but puzzled about how Noem has worsened the by doubling down on the puppy killing.
Noem, once considered a legitimate contender for Trump’s No. 2 spot on the 2024 ticket, is appearing in Florida alongside several other top candidates at the donor confab, which was first reported by Politico.
They include a GOP Senate triumvirate of Ohio’s J.D. Vance, South Carolina’s Tim Scott, and Florida’s Marco Rubio, along with Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Byron Donalds (R-FL).
Trump himself is scheduled to be in attendance for the meetings and speeches, according to Politico.
As Trump closed in on the GOP nomination in February, Vance and Stefanik were considered to be in the top tier of VP contenders. The informal list has grown since then, with Rubio proving to be a surprising late entrant.
A representative for Noem did not immediately return a request for comment.
