Kristi Noem Refuses to Say Whether She Would Have Certified the Election

Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, a possible vice-presidential choose for former President Donald J. Trump, refused to say on Sunday whether or not she would have licensed the 2020 election if she had been in Vice President Mike Pence’s place. She additionally dodged questions on whether or not she supported exceptions to abortion bans for rape and incest.

“You’ll be able to return and preserve speaking about Jan. 6, however the truth of the matter is that was a day we hope we by no means see once more right here on this nation,” Ms. Noem stated on CNN. “We didn’t do justice by our nation by exhibiting and combating over that day. We should always deal with our freedoms and proceed to uphold our Structure. So speaking in hypotheticals isn’t one thing that I do.”

When the interviewer, Dana Bash, pressed her on whether or not Mr. Pence had been improper to certify the election outcomes, Ms. Noem once more averted a direct reply, as an alternative criticizing Mr. Pence for denouncing Mr. Trump after Jan. 6.

“I wasn’t in Mike Pence’s footwear, and the data that he had at the moment — I don’t know the way he primarily based his selections,” she stated. “I feel he’s a pleasant man. I feel that he’s failed Donald Trump since that day, as a result of he definitely doesn’t acknowledge that we’d like somebody within the White Home who wants him out on the path advocating for him, as an alternative of continually criticizing and going again and ripping him aside.”

On abortion, Ms. Noem, who supported a federal ban when she was a member of Congress, stated she now believed restrictions must be left to particular person states. That’s the place Mr. Trump took this month, although his allies have developed plans that might functionally ban abortion nationwide with out formally doing so.

Mr. Trump has additionally expressed assist for rape and incest exceptions, which South Dakota’s near-total abortion ban doesn’t embrace. When requested about that, Ms. Noem tried to distance herself from her personal state’s legislation, noting that it was a “set off ban” enacted years in the past to take impact if the Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade.

“The legislation in my state was handed a long time earlier than I ever grew to become governor,” she stated, including: “That could be a subject that may proceed to be mentioned in South Dakota. Our legislation in the present day permits an exception to save lots of the lifetime of the mom, however the individuals in South Dakota will resolve what their legal guidelines seem like.”

She didn’t give a transparent reply when Ms. Bash requested what she believed South Dakota’s legal guidelines ought to seem like.

“I can have an opinion, and I can weigh ahead and I can take a look at the science and what we’ve realized about infants within the womb and consider that we must always defend life, however I feel that our legislation in the present day is what South Dakota desires,” she stated. “And so they’ll proceed to have that debate, and I’ll proceed to comply with by way of on my function, which is to ensure the desire of the individuals is enforced.”

Ms. Bash repeated her query, and Ms. Noem implied — however didn’t say outright — that she would possibly oppose a rape and incest exception.

“We’ve got a legislation that claims that there’s an exception for the lifetime of the mom, and I simply don’t consider a tragedy ought to perpetuate one other tragedy,” she stated. Variations of that assertion are widespread amongst individuals who consider abortion must be unlawful even in circumstances of rape and incest.

“I consider in caring for moms which can be in a disaster state of affairs and that we must be locking alongside them, giving all of them the data and the perfect info they’ll make earlier than they must be put in a state of affairs the place an abortion is the one choice that they’ve,” she added.

Ms. Noem additionally echoed Mr. Trump’s claims that the prison fees towards him in New York — the place his trial started final week — have been political, and affirmed that she would assist him even when he have been convicted of felonies.

“When he was within the White Home, each single day as governor, I received to be on offense, I received to resolve issues,” she stated. “And since Joe Biden has been within the White Home, I simply must defend the freedoms of my individuals in South Dakota. I’m every single day making an attempt to push again on what this federal authorities is making an attempt to do by rising prices for the on a regular basis households that rise up every single day and go to work. So sure, Donald Trump must be again in that White Home. I’m going to do all I can to assist him win.”