South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has had her Senate confirmation hearing abruptly postponed by two days.
Governor Noem had been due to be grilled by senators from the chamber’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday about her suitability for the role.
The session has now been rescheduled for 9am ET on Friday, with a committee aide telling The Hill the rescheduling was “due to a delay on the FBI background check for Governor Noem”.
Another insider told Politico: “Governor Noem has expeditiously completed all her paperwork, but we are waiting for the FBI to complete their portion of the paperwork.”
A hearing for North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, which had been set for Tuesday with the Senate’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee following his nomination for secretary of the interior, has also been postponed until Thursday, a delay likewise attributed to a paperwork holdup.
“Despite his compliance and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee noticing the hearing in accordance with all rules, the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) has yet to complete its review,” said that committee’s chair Mike Lee.
“This bureaucratic delay is unacceptable.”
The OGE has further been blamed for the failure, as yet, to schedule a hearing for former Hawaii representative Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s choice for director of national security.
“It’s a paperwork problem right now with the Office of Government Ethics,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso said on Sunday.
“We had hoped to have the hearing later this week. It looks like it’s going to be the following week.”
Noem made international headlines last April after revealing in her memoir No Going Back that she had once shot dead her family dog Cricket, 14-month-old female wirehaired pointer, as well as a “disgusting, musky, rancid” goat kept at her hunting lodge.
The anecdotes were intended to convey her willingness to take tough decisions but instead provoked an outcry from appalled animal lovers and inspired widespread ridicule.
The scandal may well have cost Noem her shot at being Trump’s running mate, a position that eventually went to Ohio Senator JD Vance.
“That’s not good at all,” Trump reportedly told his son Donald Trump Jr in reaction to the story.
“Even you wouldn’t kill a dog, and you kill everything.”
Noem also found herself caught up in the Republican presidential contender’s bizarre Pennsylvania town hall dance party in October, one of the most surreal moments of last year’s race for the White House.
Trump was speaking at an event in suburban Oaks, compered by the governor, when two members of his audience collapsed and required medical attention, prompting the president-elect to suggest some of his favourite songs be played to entertain the crowd while they waited.
The incoming commander-in-chief duly spent the next 40 minutes swaying and dancing on stage to such eclectic anthems as “Ave Maria”, “Nothing Compares 2 U” and “YMCA” while Noem and other officials gamely joined in.
