Republican candidate 'body-slams' Guardian reporter in Montana

[Gandalf]

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. The Gallatin County sheriff’s office is investigating.

A statement by campaign spokesman Shane Scanlon blamed Jacobs for the altercation, saying that he “entered the office without permission, aggressively shoved a recorder in Greg’s face, and began asking badgering questions”.

“Jacobs was asked to leave,” the statement reads. “After asking Jacobs to lower the recorder, Jacobs declined. Greg then attempted to grab the phone that was pushed in his face. Jacobs grabbed Greg’s wrist, and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground.

“It’s unfortunate that this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this scene at our campaign volunteer BBQ.”

Scanlon’s account appears to be contradicted by audio of the abortive interview recorded by Jacobs. The audio does not capture Jacobs being asked to leave or lower his recorder, but does contain an apparent reference to the Guardian’s previous attempts to report on Gianforte. “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,” Jacobs said.

“Get the hell out of here,” Gianforte yelled.

“The Guardian is deeply appalled by how our reporter, Ben Jacobs, was treated in the course of doing his job as a journalist while reporting on the Montana special election,” Guardian US editor Lee Glendinning said in a statement. “We are committed to holding power to account and we stand by Ben Jacobs and our team of reporters for the questions they ask and the reporting that is produced. The incident has been referred to law enforcement and we have confidence that it will be handled appropriately.”

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.

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 that Gianforte left the event without speaking and that the Gallatin County Sheriffs department was taking witness statements.

Levinson told the Guardian by phone that before the incident, she overheard Gianforte’s staff telling Jacobs that the campaign was upset with the Guardian’s previous reporting and that the candidate would likely not have time to talk to him. Jacobs then entered the side room to try to talk to Gianforte.

She said that the crash from the altercation was very loud and interrupted the entire office: “Everyone in the room heard it. Everyone in the room went silent.” She also said it wasn’t clear who might have directly witnessed the clash, adding “Ben walked out holding his glasses that were visibly broken and said, ‘He just body-slammed me’.”

Gallatin County sheriff Brian Gootkin confirmed to the Guardian that his department was “currently investigating” the incident and declined to comment further.

The special election has attracted national attention, and spending has reached $17m as the race has tightened. Democrat Rob Quist is a political novice and folksinger. Quist declined to comment on the altercation when approached by reporters on Wednesday.

Gianforte is a tech mogul who mounted an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 2016.

On 28 April, Jacobs reported on Gianforte’s financial ties to Russian companies that have been sanctioned by the US. Gianforte’s wealth is estimated at between $65m and $315m.

Last month, the Missoulian newspaper took Gianforte to task for his attitude toward the press. At an event hosted by the Advancing Conservatism Society, an audience member reportedly said: “Our biggest enemy is the news media. How can we rein in the news media?”

Gianforte responded by pointing at a reporter and saying, “We have someone right here. It seems like there is more of us than there is of him.” The Republican later told the Billings Gazette that his comments were a joke.

The Missoulian editorial board interpreted Gianforte’s statement as “demonstrat[ing] Gianforte’s agreement that news media are ‘the enemy’”. “While his apology is appreciated,” they wrote, “Gianforte needs to take pains to set a better example of civility from now on.”

If Trump can get elected, despite everything, how will this guy go? Stay tuned.

[Gandalf]

Things become more interesting; Apparently the other news team in the room was from Fox, and they've told their side of the story. It agrees with Jacobs.

The race to fill Montana's sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives took a violent turn Wednesday, and a crew from the Fox News Channel, including myself, witnessed it firsthand.

As part of our preparation for a story about Thursday's special election to air on "Special Report with Bret Baier," we arranged interviews with the top two candidates, Republican Greg Gianforte and Democrat Rob Quist. On Wednesday, I joined field producer Faith Mangan and photographer Keith Railey in Bozeman for our scheduled interview with Gianforte, which was to take place at the Gianforte for Congress Bozeman Headquarters.

Faith, Keith and I arrived early to set up for the interview in a room adjacent to another room where a volunteer BBQ was to take place. As the time for the interview neared, Gianforte came into the room. We exchanged pleasantries and made small talk about restaurants and Bozeman.

During that conversation, another man — who we now know is Ben Jacobs of The Guardian — walked into the room with a voice recorder, put it up to Gianforte's face and began asking if he had a response to the newly released Congressional Budget Office report on the American Health Care Act. Gianforte told him he would get to him later. Jacobs persisted with his question. Gianforte told him to talk to his press guy, Shane Scanlon.

At that point, Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him. Faith, Keith and I watched in disbelief as Gianforte then began punching the reporter. As Gianforte moved on top of Jacobs, he began yelling something to the effect of, "I'm sick and tired of this!"

Jacobs scrambled to his knees and said something about his glasses being broken. He asked Faith, Keith and myself for our names. In shock, we did not answer. Jacobs then said he wanted the police called and went to leave. Gianforte looked at the three of us and repeatedly apologized. At that point, I told him and Scanlon, who was now present, that we needed a moment. The men then left.

To be clear, at no point did any of us who witnessed this assault see Jacobs show any form of physical aggression toward Gianforte, who left the area after giving statements to local sheriff's deputies.

As for myself and my crew, we are cooperating with local authorities. It is not clear if charges will be filed against Gianforte at this time.

Scanlon later issued a statement saying that Jacobs "entered the [campaign] office without permission, aggressively shoved a recorder in Greg's face, and began asking badgering questions."

Later, the statement added, "After asking Jacobs to lower the recorder, Jacobs declined. Greg then attempted to grab the phone that was pushed in his face. Jacobs grabbed Greg's wrist, and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground. It's unfortunate that this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this scene at our campaign volunteer BBQ."

Alicia Acuna joined Fox News Channel (FNC) in 1997 and currently serves as a general assignment reporter based in the network's Denver bureau.

[Crazedwraith]

Wow. Thats actually fair and balanced reporting from Fox. Sounds like the Guardian guy had wandered where he wasnt supposed to be and persistently questioned tbe guy and was attacked entirely disproportionately.

[Civil War Man]

Gianforte is also having some of his support bail on him, which is not a good omen.

Three Montana newspapers rescind Gianforte endorsements

Three of Montana’s largest newspapers have rescinded their endorsements of Republican Congressional candidate Greg Gianforte after he allegedly body slammed a reporter at what was to be his final campaign event before Thursday’s special election.

The sheriff of Gallatin County, Montana, released a statement Wednesday night announcing that Gianforte had been cited for misdemeanor assault as a result of his altercation with Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs, who had been questioning the GOP candidate on his position on legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare.

The incident was enough for the editorial boards of The Billings Gazette, The Helena Independent Record and The Missoulian to withdraw their endorsements of Gianforte on the eve of Thursday’s election to replace Ryan Zinke, who vacated the seat to become President Donald Trump’s secretary of the interior.

While all three of the newspapers retracted their endorsements, none of them went so far as to endorse Gianforte’s opponent, Democrat Rob Quist.

In an editorial posted hours after the altercation, the Gazette wrote that “eyewitness accounts, law enforcement investigations and records are all shocking, disturbing and without precedent.” Aside from defending the right of a reporter to ask questions of a candidate for public office, the newspaper wrote, Gianforte’s behavior as described by police and those who witnessed it was “nothing short of assault.”

“We wouldn't condone it if it happened on the street. We wouldn't condone it if it happened in a home or even a late-night bar fight,” the Gazette’s editorial said. “And we couldn't accept it from a man who is running to become Montana's lone Congressional representative.”

The Independent Record, in its editorial, said Jacobs’s questions “were fair and come with the territory of running for Congress.” The reporter’s questions, the newspaper wrote, “surely did not justify the reaction” from Gianforte.

And The Missoulian, in its own course-reversal on Gianforte, wrote that the GOP candidate had not just lost the newspaper’s endorsement but also “should lose the confidence of all Montanans.”

“We will leave it to the legal system to determine his guilt or innocence,” the editorial board wrote. “But there is no doubt that Gianforte committed an act of terrible judgment that, if it doesn’t land him in jail, also shouldn’t land him in the U.S. House of Representatives."

It probably won't have as big a ripple on the results as some would otherwise expect, since Montana does apparently have vote-by-mail, and the current estimate is that about 2/3rds of ballots have already been cast. But this whole debacle will probably hurt Gianforte pretty badly either way, since the race was already considered closer than normal even before this story broke, and this is going to be the main story as the Montanans who vote in person go to the polls.

In some ways, some Republicans are probably glad that this assault happened, since now they can spin a loss or a narrow win as being the result of the assault as opposed to an increasingly angry and mobilized Democratic base.

[Crazedwraith]

BBC has some sound and I think a bit of video, I didn't get to watch it all.

[Sea Skimmer]

Sounds like he should run for Governator next.

[The Romulan Republic]

Some Republicans are scarcely even bothering to hide their desire to suppress anyone who isn't one of them by violence, now.

[Gandalf]

He won, and convincingly too.

So there's that.

[Highlord Laan]

He won, and convincingly too.

So there's that.

He's a proper, red-blooded murrican that puts those dirty libcuck commies in their place, does what John Wayne would do, and doesn't afraid of nothin'.

[Ralin]

It'd be interesting to see a poll of how many of his voters would have changed their ballots if they'd had the chance.

[Patroklos]

He won, and convincingly too.

So there's that.

He's a proper, red-blooded murrican that puts those dirty libcuck commies in their place, does what John Wayne would do, and doesn't afraid of nothin'.

You ended up saying something funny though though not in the way you thought. Go look up his opponent.

[The Romulan Republic]

It'd be interesting to see a poll of how many of his voters would have changed their ballots if they'd had the chance.

It would indeed. He won, but from what I've heard, by a lot less than you would expect a Republican in that area to win. Had this hit the news a bit sooner, before early voting, I wonder if he might have lost.

[Mr Bean]

He won, and convincingly too.

So there's that.

Montana voters vote about one to six weeks before the elections thanks to mail in ballots this happen so late game it was unlikely to affect anything even if it was sixteen felony counts of being a communist.

Interesting to see the court case on this but the charge was correct at misdemeanor assault since it was not with intent to kill, no sexual in nature and did not really result in serious injury to the reporter.

Now no way this guy gets a year in jail considering the law is literally his campaign contributors I expect a guilty plea and maybe a few weeks community service.

[Civil War Man]

He won, and convincingly too.

So there's that.

On the other hand, it's yet another case of a race that went from R+(a lot) during the election last year to R+(single digits) yesterday. It's still a problem for Democrats, since losing by 2 points puts the same person in Congress as losing by 20, but if this special election trend keeps up nationwide then less-deep-red districts could be up for grabs.

[Soontir C'boath]

Gianforte's campaign and PACs also spent pretty much ten times as much as Quist, so there's that as well. Until Democratic state/local campaign coffers are actually filled up instead of say, being kept in the DNC and Hillary's pocket, we might actually get somewhere.

[Thanas]

Apologizing for his behaviour was actually the first thing he did after winning.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/vid ... n-reporter

[Broomstick]

That's great, he admitted he was wrong.

But there is still the problem that there really are people in this country who applaud strong-arm tactics, want to follow "strong me", cheer bullies, and are not adverse to violence. It's a problem.

[Simon_Jester]

He won, and convincingly too.

So there's that.

It would appear that he enjoyed a considerable advantage that the majority of all ballots cast in the entire state had already been cast, before he assaulted a reporter. It would have been hard for him to lose, as Civil War Man pointed out already.

That's a downside of early voting and mail-in voting I hadn't considered before, but there it is.

[Sea Skimmer]

I've never liked the idea of early voting, it undermines the process and strikes me as an expression of laziness for anyone who isn't seriously out of the county or certain to be at work. But in the case of Montana you have that ultra rural factor too for the work factor, and I'd assume that's dominate because the state has barely a million people and is over three hundred miles wide.

[Gandalf]

I've never liked the idea of early voting, it undermines the process and strikes me as an expression of laziness for anyone who isn't seriously out of the county or certain to be at work. But in the case of Montana you have that ultra rural factor too for the work factor, and I'd assume that's dominate because the state has barely a million people and is over three hundred miles wide.

Why should voting require an amount of effort greater than posting one's ballot?

[Soontir C'boath]

I've never liked the idea of early voting, it undermines the process and strikes me as an expression of laziness for anyone who isn't seriously out of the county or certain to be at work. But in the case of Montana you have that ultra rural factor too for the work factor, and I'd assume that's dominate because the state has barely a million people and is over three hundred miles wide.

Given today's circumstances, early voting is a must even if it is made a holiday. Even with the calls for moving voting to a weekend, minimum wage earners are more likely required to work those days.

That's a downside of early voting and mail-in voting I hadn't considered before, but there it is.

Well hey, maybe the experienced candidate who knows how to deflect shit Hillary would have won before Comey did her in.

[Gandalf]

I've never liked the idea of early voting, it undermines the process and strikes me as an expression of laziness for anyone who isn't seriously out of the county or certain to be at work. But in the case of Montana you have that ultra rural factor too for the work factor, and I'd assume that's dominate because the state has barely a million people and is over three hundred miles wide.

Given today's circumstances, early voting is a must even if it is made a holiday. Even with the calls for moving voting to a weekend, minimum wage earners are more likely required to work those days.

Indeed. In Australia, we vote on Saturdays. But people in the service sectors still have to take half an hour or so off to head to the polls.

Personally I'd rather we just moved it all online. But that'll probably be a generational change.

[houser2112]

Given today's circumstances, early voting is a must even if it is made a holiday. Even with the calls for moving voting to a weekend, minimum wage earners are more likely required to work those days.

This is bullshit. Just about everybody works on Tuesdays. New York has laws that state that employers must allow employees the opportunity to leave work to vote (even if unpaid). The polls are also open from 6am - 9pm, which is a window plenty big enough for someone to find the time to vote. I imagine other states are similar.

[Raw Shark]

Here in sunny Colorado, you can mail in your ballot as soon as you receive it if you want to, without ever leaving your own home, but they don't count it until election day, which I think solves everyone's objections.

[Kelp]

Here in sunny Colorado, you can mail in your ballot as soon as you receive it if you want to, without ever leaving your own home, but they don't count it until election day, which I think solves everyone's objections.

The idea is that the vote has already been cast before a scandal pop up. If it was something big enough to warrant a change in the ballot, too bad. There is not a method to overwrite your own vote that I'm aware of.