The Republican candidate for Montana’s congressional seat slammed a Guardian reporter to the floor on the eve of the state’s special election, breaking his glasses and shouting, “Get the hell out of here.”
Ben Jacobs, a Guardian political reporter, was asking Greg Gianforte, a tech millionaire running for the seat vacated by Ryan Zinke, about the Republican healthcare plan when the candidate allegedly “body-slammed” the reporter.
“He took me to the ground,” Jacobs said by phone from the back of an ambulance. “This is the strangest thing that has ever happened to me in reporting on politics.”
Jacobs subsequently reported the incident to the police. Gianforte’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Audio of the abortive interview recorded by Jacobs captures the altercation, and appears to reference previous questioning from another Guardian reporter. “I’m sick and tired of you guys,” Gianforte said. “The last guy who came here did the same thing. Get the hell out of here. Get the hell out of here. The last guy did the same thing. Are you with the Guardian?”
“Yes! You just broke my glasses,” Jacobs replied.
“The last guy did the same damn thing,” Gianforte said.
“You just body slammed me and broke my glasses,” Jacob said.
“Get the hell out of here,” Gianforte yelled.
The altercation took place at Gianforte’s campaign headquarters in Bozeman, Montana . Gianforte was in a side room with a local television news crew when Jacobs attempted to ask his question, according to Jacobs.
“I decided there was no harm in asking one question, and the worst thing that could happen was they would tell me to go to hell,” Jacobs said.
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Jacobs’s account was partially confirmed by BuzzFeed News reporter Alexis Levinson, who wrote on Twitter that she had been in an adjacent room during the incident.
“This happened behind a half closed door, so I didn’t see it all, but here’s what it looked like from the outside – Ben walked into a room where a local tv crew was set up for an interview with Gianforte. All of a sudden I heard a giant crash and saw Ben’s feet fly in the air as he hit the floor. Heard very angry yelling (as did all the volunteers in the room) – sounded like Gianforte...”
Levinson later tweeted Gianforte left the event without speaking and that the Gallatin County Sheriffs department was taking witness statements.
audio available at link https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/24/greg-gianforte-bodyslams-reporter-ben-jacobs-montana?CMP=edit_2221
At the bottom of the seed there is a link to the page that will play the audio. It is pretty clear, even from the audio , that the reporter was assaulted.
Chris Hayes just read the official response from Gianforte's team. It's as ridiculously spun as a typical conservative rebuttal on newstalkers. "Aggressive liberal blah blah blah."
You never know, in Montana physically attacking a reporter might get you more votes , not less.
It might, but the RNCC rated him as only a C- candidate (he lost to the Democratic Governor last November), so many of them are hoping that loses because he will be much easier for a Democrat to beat in 2018 because of this incident rather then a fresh candidate. The Democrats, thanks to Trump's ties to Russia, the horrible phony health care plan the House passed and Trump's inhumane budget are already on course to take back the House in 2018 and this guy, even if he wins tonight, is only going to help.
Another consequence of a Trump America. Not sure how this is "making America great again" unless you value violence and intolerance.
Bottom line: Trump has created an environment in which he has given permission to people to mistreat reporters and journalists. This is Trump's fault.
You know what PJ ? You're right.
A violent conservative, I'm shocked.
Actually, in addition to the main story, there's another story. It has to do with the situation in the district-- Gianforte must be under a lot of stress. (I'm not making excuses for him-- but the reason for his stress is something people here are probabl;y unaware of-- but is a a major story in and of itself:
Here's the link (although I do realize that the idea of reading an article before actually commenting on it is extremely politically incorrect to some of the more mentally-challenged folks here on NT!)
(LINK)
He want's to drain the swamp... He should start with himself. Today he body slammed a reporter from the Guardian. The incident was reported to the police. It will be interesting to see what becomes of it.
Even if Gianforte is eleceted (and is sworn in with a felony arrest and investigation going on when it happens) a close win is still going to scare the GOP when it comes to the very, very red state of Montana. If they have to defend a state like this this hard, then the purple districts are going to fall into the Democrats hands in 2018 like ripe fruit and some red ones too. The longer Trump hangs around (along with Mulvaney and Ryan with their cold hearted, soulless, prick-ish budgets that try to make the rich richer by literally killing the poor) the more it guarantees a Nancy Pelosi Speaker-ship in 2018.
Gianforte must be under a lot of stress.
I read your Link...What Stress, This Republican Candidate is unable to handle the "Stress" of an Election???What the hell is he doing running for anything??? He is nothing but a "Common Thug"...
Now three FOX News reporters are saying they saw the whole thing and that Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck and threw him to the floor behind him. That HAS to be a felony.
This is already news in England and the three largest papers in Montana have pulled their endorsements according to CNN. Also the Sheriff admits to being a Gianforte supporter and says he gave $250 to his campaign, but that that had nothing to do with why he is only charging him with a misdemeanor instead of a felony. And if you believe that I have some swamp land in Washington D.C. to sell you. I wonder how they are related? Cousins? Members of the same gun club? Fellow members of the local GOP council? No favoritism? Bull-fucking-shit!
According to reports, the Sheriff who drew up those changes is a supporter of Gianforte, so nothing amiss there.
''The paper went on to say Gianforte "lacks the experience, brains and abilities to effectively represent Montana elected office."
Excellent description....
Pretty stupid and inexcusable on the part of Gianforte. He should withdraw from the election.
I hope he wins. If the Democrat wins they will all be drinking a lethal dose of the kool aid.
You are aware that Montana has a democratic governor and a democratic senator aren't you Dean...Doesn't seem that the state has done a lot of drinking of lethal doses of kool aid..
Also nice to note that you support violence.
Well according to our resident expert on everything:
"You never know, in Montana physically attacking a reporter might get you more votes , not less."
Looking good for Gianforte right now. It was a risky move but it looks like it's paying off.
You can follow it here.
The Republi Thug Gianforte will win Montana...Now we know the GOP of Montana embraces Thug mentalities..
This time they preferred violence over intelligence. However they do have a Democrat for Governor and Senator and this House seat should be a pretty easy pick up for the Democrats in 2018 with this soon to be convict to run against.
CM, to be fair this happened on the eve of the election. Most of the vote had been cast already through early voting. This is a red state. This result is not a surprise.
Having said that I'm having real concerns about the level of civility in our society today. Look at the footage of Trump muscling past another nation's leader ! And then listen to the audio recording of the reporter in Montana getting beat up by the republican candidate for asking questions about the recent health care vote. Its true that reporters and journalists can be obnoxious but one can't resort to beating the shit out of them. Bad form.
Especially since the reporter did not seem to be obnoxious. I mean it's not like he was asking about some sort of scandal or something involving the man's family. He was just asking about the just released CBO score. Also there was a reporter for NPR in the state yesterday who says that he is notoriously thin-skinned and easy to anger. I wonder how well he'll do in Washington which can be a real pressure cooker, especially with much more aggressive reporters.
He's clearly got anger mgt. issues ! Shall we bet if he gets through the midterms ?
I don't think that even the GOP wants hm to run for re-election in 2018. If they have their way they'll move him out of the way. In the meantime I wonder if he loses his temper in the House or rather how many times and how badly?
Or that the singer/songwriter/poet with tax problems was unacceptable to the voters. Looks like they had a bad choice on the right and a bad choice on the left.