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Montana Republican candidate attacks reporter for asking question


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The most unbelievable part of this story isn't that he attacked the reporter. We'll get to the unbelievable part here in a minute.






From the Fox News affiliate reporters who witnessed the attack:

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!"

 

 


The assaulted reporter states he never touched the candidate:

The Guardian reporter who says he was body-slammed by Montana congressional candidate Greg Gianforte recounted the confrontation in a CNN interview Thursday.

"I politely asked the congressman a question about the health care bill," Jacobs told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day." "It was a very strange moment that he suddenly, you know, grabs my recorder, and then things go haywire from there."

Gianforte, a Republican running in a special election for an open House seat, was charged overnight with misdemeanor assault after the altercation with Jacobs on Wednesday.

The Gianforte campaign blamed Jacobs for "aggressive behavior," and that Jacobs grabbed Gianforte's wrist. But Jacobs told CNN that he never touched the candidate.

"They got my name right and my employer right, but other than that, there was not a single correct element there," he said.

An audio file provided by Jacobs backs up his account of what happened, as do witness accounts from other journalists.

 

 

 

So you have a candidate for the House getting so pissed off over a routine question that he punches a reporter.

 

And you'd think that would be the worst part of this story.

 

But it isn't.

 

Because the worst part of this story are the misguided people who are - not kidding - defending this candidate's actions.

 

And that's both comical and alarming from a country whose #1 constitutional amendment guarantees a free press.

 

Basically, you're saying that someone who doesn't like a reporter's question can assault that reporter, and you would be OK with that. So:

 

If Seth Rich's father attacked and punched Sean Hannity for pushing a fake story about his son, that's OK. Right?

 

If Hillary Clinton punched a reporter for asking about Benghazi, that's OK. Right?

 

 

 

 

Right?

 

 

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Maybe some explanation for the attack: This reporter wrote an article this candidate probably didn't like:


GOP candidate Greg Gianforte has financial ties to US-sanctioned Russian companies

• This story was originally published on 28 April 2017

A Republican congressional candidate has financial ties to a number of Russian companies that have been sanctioned by the US, the Guardian has learned.

Greg Gianforte, who is the GOP standard bearer in the upcoming special election in Montana, owns just under $250,000 in shares in two index funds that are invested in the Russian economy to match its overall performance.

According to a financial disclosure filed with the clerk of the House of Representatives, the Montana tech mogul owns almost $150,000 worth of shares in VanEck Vectors Russia ETF and $92,400 in the IShares MSCF Russia ETF fund. Both are indexed to the Russian equities market and have significant holdings in companies such as Gazprom and Rosneft that came under US sanctions in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of the Crimea.

 

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Sounds pretty aggressive to me - surprised it isn't a felony. Mark that seat going to a Democrat unless the voters are totally void of reason. Could you see this guy in the House - there would be a fight a day with his short fuse.

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Maybe some explanation for the attack: This reporter wrote an article this candidate probably didn't like:

 

 

 

GOP candidate Greg Gianforte has financial ties to US-sanctioned Russian companies

 

• This story was originally published on 28 April 2017

 

A Republican congressional candidate has financial ties to a number of Russian companies that have been sanctioned by the US, the Guardian has learned.

 

Greg Gianforte, who is the GOP standard bearer in the upcoming special election in Montana, owns just under $250,000 in shares in two index funds that are invested in the Russian economy to match its overall performance.

 

According to a financial disclosure filed with the clerk of the House of Representatives, the Montana tech mogul owns almost $150,000 worth of shares in VanEck Vectors Russia ETF and $92,400 in the IShares MSCF Russia ETF fund. Both are indexed to the Russian equities market and have significant holdings in companies such as Gazprom and Rosneft that came under US sanctions in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of the Crimea.

 

 

Good Grief another Russian connection. :o:madash I guess this guy doesn't believe in the 1st amendment - esp when it is used to poke around in his business.

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The really sad part of all of this is that 2/3 of the votes are already in for this election ... and this nozzle was the leader by a few points according to the polls. The one thing we can hope is that supposedly those that vote the day of are typically the most unsure, last minute decision makers. And hopefully they take this attack into account.

 

Also I think I heard that robo calls are illegal in this state, yet folks were heading from Donnie.

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Sounds pretty aggressive to me - surprised it isn't a felony. Mark that seat going to a Democrat unless the voters are totally void of reason. Could you see this guy in the House - there would be a fight a day with his short fuse.

 

I hope to high heavens that he doesn't win this seat after this BS, but it is still likely.

 

 

Traditionally, a large chunk of votes are done absentee and already cast.

 

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NM is right. Most of the votes in Montana have already been cast by mail. Apparently Quist had a small lead there, as Dems usually do in early voting, and most who hadn't voted are undecided.

I hope this is enough to make them realize Gianforte is a jerk unfit for office. He's already showed he has no spine because he campaigned against the AHCA but got busted in leaked audio actually supporting it. Now Jacobs tries to get him on record and this happens. I wonder if less than a day is enough time for the state to process this.

 

I've heard many in the state view him as a carpetbagger since he's originally from New Jersey and he's so wealthy.

But who knows. Someone suggested changes to the law to allow early voters to change their votes. That seems fair, but probably won't happen.

Sadly, he's probably still going to win this seat.

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Sounds pretty aggressive to me - surprised it isn't a felony. Mark that seat going to a Democrat unless the voters are totally void of reason. Could you see this guy in the House - there would be a fight a day with his short fuse.

 

No. He will probably get more votes now. See C N Red's and Atbone's replies to dudeguyy's status update.

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