The daughter of South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R) said Tuesday that she would turn in her real estate appraiser license and exit the business by the end of the year amid continuing scrutiny over whether her mother intervened in her licensing.

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       In a letter to the South Dakota Department of Labor, Kassidy Peters, Noem’s daughter, insisted that neither she nor her mother had done anything wrong but said that a legislative inquiry into the matter had “successfully destroyed my business.”

       “It is clear that none of this will stop until my reputation and that of my young family are destroyed,” Peters wrote. “The entire inquiry and media pressure has done irreparable damage to my business.”

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       The letter was first reported by Sioux Falls television station KSFY, which posted a copy on its website.

       Gov. Kristi Noem posts video defending meeting that prompted nepotism accusations, review by state attorney general

       In the letter, Peters voiced “disappointment and anger that my good name and professional reputation continue to be damaged by questions and misinformation.”

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       “I know as the governor’s daughter I am always going to be in the public eye,” she wrote. “I can’t stop these attacks, but I can choose whether to keep being hurt by the fallout.”

       Noem, a close ally of former president Donald Trump, is among the Republicans frequently mentioned as possible White House contenders in 2024.

       The inquiry has focused on whether Noem used her influence to aid Peters’s application for an appraiser license during a meeting with key decision-makers in a state agency that earlier had moved to deny Peters’s application.

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       Noem reportedly organized a meeting in her office in July 2020 to discuss “appraiser certification procedures” that included her daughter; Sherry Bren, head of the state’s appraiser certification program; and South Dakota Labor Secretary Marcia Hultman.

       Noem’s daughter subsequently secured her certification. Noem has insisted that her daughter was treated no differently than others seeking to become appraisers in South Dakota and that she never asked for her to get special treatment.

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       Shortly after Peters received her license, Bren was allegedly pressured to retire by Hultman. Bren later received a $200,000 payment from the state to withdraw an age discrimination complaint. Noem has said the settlement had nothing to do with her daughter’s situation.

       The legislature’s Government Operations and Audit Committee, which is dominated by Republicans, has been probing the matter. The state’s attorney general, also a Republican, has also been reviewing the situation.