Reporter Claims GOP Candidate ‘Body-Slammed’ Him

Ben Jacobs, a political reporter for The Guardian, was in Montana covering Greg Gianforte, the Republican candidate vying for Ryan Zinke’s congressional seat.

Things got ugly fast.

According to Jacobs, Gianforte grew tired of the questions, snapped and “body-slammed” him.

Greg Gianforte just body slammed me and broke my glasses

— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) May 24, 2017

There was a local TV crew there when Gianforte body slammed me. Audio is posting soon at @GuardianUS

— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) May 24, 2017

Speaking of audio…

[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/KQwu4wff7lI”]

Now THAT doesn’t sound good.

According to the Guardian, others witnessed the alleged assault, including “Fox News reporter Alicia Alcuna, field producer Faith Mangan and photographer Keith Railey.”

Alcuna wrote a detailed account of the incident:

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.

She said Jacobs never showed any signs of aggression. However, Gianforte’s press dude, Shane Scanlon, said Jacobs “entered the [campaign] office without permission, aggressively shoved a recorder in Greg’s face, and began asking badgering questions.”

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

I have a hard time buying Scanlon’s account. Obviously, I wasn’t there, but the audio itself says a lot.

I know liberal journalists can suck and they’re hard to trust, but there’s absolutely no justifiable reason to assault a reporter for asking questions. I don’t care if you have an “R” behind your name or not.

At this point, I’m still not jumping to a solid conclusion. I’d like to see a video, if there is one. But the bottom line? If Gianforte did assault a reporter, he should absolutely be held accountable. Period.

The Gallatin County sheriff’s office is currently investigating the incident. We’ll update you if we find out more.

Update: Gianforte has been charged with assault.

GOP congressional candidate Greg Gianforte charged with assault after being accused of body slamming reporter pic.twitter.com/3hKbPnOSPL

— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) May 25, 2017