Greg Gianforte, the Montana Republican hopeful vying for Interior Secretary Zinke's vacated House of Representative seat, has allegedly "body slammed" Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs. Gianforte's team alleges that Jacobs entered the room without permission and shoved a recorder in Gianforte's face, trying to get a statement on the CBO's estimates for the AHCA (aka TrumpCare). Gianforte also made it sound like this isn't the first time that someone from the Guardian attempted to do this and his campaign alleges that Jacobs was interrupting an interview conducted by other reporters. Reporters from Fox News gave their account of the story, claiming that Jacobs was not very hostile. They more or less implied that Gianforte severely overreacted. The police claim to have 5 witnesses right now giving statements as to what occurred.
Here is the Gianforte campaign's statement:
Below is the link to the audio, which is the only real evidence we have other than contradictory statements from both sides as to who was at fault:
OMG. Here's the audio of the incident. Greg Gianforte just BODYSLAMMED a reporter. #FlipThe406 pic.twitter.com/MW7P8dJDjb
— SeriouslyUS? (@USseriously) May 25, 2017
It is worth noting that the latest Gravis Poll had Gianforte ahead of his Democratic challenger Quist by 14 points (49-35). This poll also determined that 36% of Montana residents voted early, meaning that even after this incident, it will be tough for Quist to turn this around.
This is definitely going to be a story to keep an eye on going forward. If Jacobs presses charges, that could not only cause problems for Gianforte, but the bad press could also spill over to other Republicans who have supported him. This election was seen as another barometer of the nation's attitude towards President Trump so far, and even though his guy is winning in the polls, he's absolutely losing in the reputation department tonight.
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