Newsweek reported that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was among those present at a gathering organized by former President Donald Trump this past weekend.

Yet the magazine noted that although Noem delivered a speech at the Mar-a-Lago event, she was not among those who later posed for a picture with Trump.  

Trump critic highlights Noem's absence

Noem's absence from the photo was seized upon in a social media post by attorney and prominent Trump critic Ron Filipkowski.

The news here is that Kristi Noem was originally on the list for this tonight, but no Kristi here. pic.twitter.com/xXGelIHCuV

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 5, 2024

Newsweek pointed out that many political observers had considered Noem to be one of the figures which Trump might pick to serve as his running mate.

Trump himself referenced Noem during an interview with Fox News in March while also mentioning former Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as a potential vice presidential pick.

However, the South Dakota governor received wide condemnation for a passage in her book titled, "No Going Back: The Truth on What's Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward."

Dog shot after killing chickens

Specifically, Noem recalled how she once took a 14-month-old dog to a gravel pit and shot it after the animal killed chickens and proved to be "untrainable."

She explained that the dog "grabb[ing] one chicken at a time, crunching it to death with one bite, then dropping it to attack another."

After Noem paid the owner for the chickens and helped to clean up the resulting mess, the Republican official said that she "realized I had to put her down."

"It was not a pleasant job, but it had to be done. And after it was over, I realized another unpleasant job needed to be done," Noem wrote.

Noem spoke at Mar-a-Lago event

Newsweek cited leaked audio obtained by Politico in which Noem could be heard speaking about "going through hard things" during a "breakfast conversation" with North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum.

"Listen, going through hard things, and I've been through a few of them—I'm going through one right now, I mean they're just attacking me like crazy right now," Noem was quoted as saying.

"But listen, that's a good thing. It's a good thing because it makes you stronger, and it teaches you really what you're up against, and it makes you recognize how much they lie, how much they will twist, how much they will manipulate. And you just have to be strong and be happy warriors," she added.