A Colorado county Republican group said it was canceling a fundraiser featuring South Dakota governor and potential Republican vice presidential nominee Kristi Noem after she allegedly described killing her young dog in her near book.
Jefferson County Republican Party Chairwoman Nancy Pallozzi said in a statement Friday that the group’s fundraising dinner, which was scheduled to take place on Saturday, was canceled “due to safety concerns” after the group, the governor and his team, and the hotel hosting the event received “numerous threats and/or death threats.”
“After a conversation with the governor’s office Wednesday night, we mutually decided that safety was the most important concern for everyone involved,” Pallozzi said. “The Denver West Marriott also received alarming comments and shared with us their deep concern for the safety of our event attendees, other guests and their staff.”
Noem was confirmed as the keynote speaker at the Jefferson County Republicans’ annual fundraiser in early April after the group sent her an invitation in January, Pallozzi said.
That was before The Guardian released an article late last month that described Noem’s account of taking her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, to a gravel pit to be shot after concluding he was “less than useless” and “untrainable”.
Pallozzi’s statement noted that his group was “not taking a position on the public outcry over the governor’s book,” adding that Noem “has, and continues, to defend our constitutional rights, our freedom and less government, which is the platform of the Republican party.”
In a phone interview, Pallozzi told NBC News that the decision was not made lightly.
“We lost money on this,” Pallozzi said. “This was supposed to be a fundraiser, but now we’ve lost thousands of dollars.”
Pallozzi said the group is offering a “full refund” of tickets and that she has 300 copies of Noem’s book that the publisher gave special permission to be released at the event. Noem was also expected to do an autograph session and take photos.
The group continues to negotiate with Noem. It is not immediately clear whether the event with the governor will be rescheduled.
A spokesperson for Noem did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment Friday evening.
During an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Noem said the dog was “extremely dangerous.”
“It came to us from a family who found it very aggressive,” Noem said, continuing that the dog “butchered” a neighbor’s livestock the day it was killed.
Noem initially responded to criticism of the Cricket passages in a post to X last week, writing, “We love animals, but difficult decisions like this happen all the time on a farm.” Noem’s social media response was written above a screenshot of Noem’s article The Guardianwho obtained a copy of Noem’s book “No Going Back,” which is set to be released next week.
NBC News did not obtain a copy of Noem’s book or independently verify the story about Noem’s dog reported by The Guardian.
Noem has been widely seen as one of Trump’s top choices for running mate. The governor of South Dakota, who has been in office since 2019, previously served in Congress as the state’s sole representative.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
