Kristi Noem was chastised by a Republican senator for shooting her dog and compared it to decisions she has made in federal leadership.
In 2024, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chief explained in her memoir that she shot her “untrainable” puppy, Cricket. She said the experience taught her lots about being a “responsible parent, dog owner, and neighbour.”
During a public hearing on Tuesday (3 March), Thom Tillis told Ms Noem, “You decided to kill that dog because you had not invested the appropriate time in training. And then you have the audacity to go into a book and say it’s a leadership lesson about tough choices?”
Mr Tillis argued that the shooting of her puppy and a goat were bad decisions made in the heat of the moment, “not unlike what happened in Minneapolis.”
