South Dakota's Kristi Noem deflects from corruption allegations by accusing media of smearing her kids

Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) angrily lashed out at the media after an Associated Press report led to accusations that she corruptly abused her office.

According to the AP, Noem's daughter was denied a real estate appraiser license in 2020 by the South Dakota state employee who runs the agency. Noem then called the woman into her office, as well as her daughter.

It wasn't long after that Noem's daughter got her license. One week later, the Secretary of Labor called for the "retirement" of agency head Sherry Bren.

What became even more bizarre is that Bren filed an age discrimination complaint. She then was given a $200,000 check and Bren withdrew her age discrimination case.

"Exactly what transpired at the July 27, 2020, meeting in the governor's office isn't clear. Noem declined an interview request and her office declined to answer detailed questions about the meeting," said the report.

Instead of denying the claim or even saying that the governor wasn't involved in the Secretary of Labor's internal affairs, Noem attacked the media for supposedly smearing her family -- even though the core questions surround Noem's own actions.

"The Associated Press is disparaging the Governor's daughter in order to attack the Governor politically – no wonder Americans' trust in the media is at an all-time low," Noem's spokesman Ian Fury said.

Noem then turned to Twitter to further attack the press, saying that they were going after her daughter and tried to make her daughter the focus of the scandal instead of her own efforts to use the government for her own personal purposes.

Responses to the tweet overwhelmingly called her out for throwing her children under the bus and trying to make the scandal about her kids instead of being about her.

Others called out the hypocrisy of Noem, by pointing to her attacks on President Joe Biden's son Hunter, who doesn't serve in government or work for the White House in any capacity.

Noem's name has been thrown around as a possible replacement of Vice President Mike Pence on the 2024 Donald Trump ticket if the former president attempts to run again.