A Fox News reporter provided a vivid eyewitness account late Wednesday of an attack on a reporter by Montana Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte that led to him being cited for assault by the county sheriff and to lose his endorsements from two Montana newspapers ahead of the special election set for Thursday.
Both papers, the Missoulian and the Billings Gazette, issued scathing denunciations of Gianforte.
The alleged assault took place at Gianforte’s headquarters in Bozeman, where Fox’s Alicia Acuna and her crew were preparing a story to air on “Special Report with Bret Baier.”
As the crew was setting up, Gianforte was approached by the Guardian’s Ben Jacobs, who put a voice recorder “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,” the Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act, she wrote.
“Gianforte,” Acuna wrote, “told him he would get back to him later. Jacobs persisted with his question. Gianforte told him to talk to his press guy, Shane Scanlon.
“At that point,” she wrote, “Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him.”
Acuna and her crew “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!’”
Acuna said that Jacobs “scrambled to his knees and said something about his glasses being broken.” He asked the Fox reporter and crew for their names but “in shock, we did not answer.”
“To be clear,” she wrote, “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.”
Her account contradicts a statement issued by Gianforte’s campaign which said that Jacobs, the Guardian reporter, “grabbed Greg’s wrist” as the candidate tried to grab a phone “pushed in his face.” Jacobs then “spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground.”
“It’s unfortunate,” said that statement, “that this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this scene at our campaign volunteer BBQ.”
The entire incident can be heard on an audio recording published by the Guardian. The recording does not support the campaign’s claim that Jacobs had been asked to leave but rather reflects some broader grievance with reporters. “I’m sick and tired of you guys,” Gianforte is heard saying. “The last guy who came here did the same thing. Get the hell out of here. Get the hell out of here.”
Gianforte was later charged with misdemeanor assault. What is wrong with these candidates who feel they can say and do anything they want to do? Is this behavior the “Trump syndrome?” While Trump, to my knowledge, did not trample anyone personally while he was running, people associated with the presidential candidate certainly did cut loose on those who showed the slightest inclination of questioning Trump.
It sounds like this aggressive behavior towards the press is becoming the norm. One of the foundations of our democracy is that we have a free and open press. One must remember that members of the press in the United States behave far better in this country than do their counterparts in Europe. We seem to have a happy medium in this country. Much of our press is self-regulated by their own professional standards of behavior.
Gianforte should lose his election based on this recent out-of-control behavior. Unfortunately, early voting and mail ins may prevent him from being soundly defeated. How many of his die-hard fans will excuse this negative behavior? It seems that more and more people justify thug behavior.
Time will tell.
Another paper subsequently withdrew it’s endorsement of Gianforte, who was already angry with the reporter’s paper for their story about his investment in Russian index funds.
Looks like Gianforte really put a beating on his Democrat opponent 😉
200,000 people had already voted when the beat down took place.
On the other hand, we ARE talking about Montana. I love the state for its scenic beauty and have visited there 5 or 6 times. Howevaaaa…I wouldn’t call it the bastion of enlightened thinking. Gotta call it like it is. That might even be the norm there.
Richard Hertz,
Home field advantage, big deal.
Will he appear on “Beat the Press” on Sunday morning?
I know there is much outrage, especially amongst the media. No question the guy lost his temper. Might work for Alec Baldwin and Sean Penn when dealing with the “pops”, but not so much when its a politico vs. a credentialed journalist.
Still, Jacobs was in the candidate’s HQ, barged into a room where another interview was minutes away from being conducted, and tried to “ambush” the candidate. I heard the audio, and Jacobs was told first he’d get comments later, then he was directed to the campaign’s press rep, and in both cases, refused to accept anything short of actual answers to his questions.
I am sympathetic to Gianforte, and not just because he’s a Republican. I despise what passes for “jounalism”, and just because you are a member of the press, it doesn’t give you license to be a jerk. If you wave a cape at a bull, don’t be surprised when you get the horns.
I didnt feel that Jacobs did anything that the other reporters weren’t doing. He didn’t ask gotcha questions either.
Getting the comments later would not have sufficed…the election was the next day. I just don’t think that was an issue that should have been settled with fists. You can’t beat up everyone who pisses you off, even though it might feel good.
I don’t feel the least bit sorry for him. Also, when you run for office, you know that the press is going to be covering everything you say or do. Heat/kitchen. Furthermore, a free and open press is still the cornerstone of our democracy.
I mean when the fox news crew defends you….you are doing something right.
“beat the Press” was clever. Good one, Steve.
Steve Thomas,
This reminds me of Trump’s WrestleMania appearance a decade ago.
It was the day before the election and the last chance for the reporter to get an answer. As Trump put it himself, he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any supporters. Support for Gianforte is an extension of the same thuggish mentality.
Even Fox News bore witness against him and he was charged with assault. These are facts.
Let’s also not forget that the reporter in this story is Ben Jacobs. This is the same reporter that while covering CPAC sent the following tweet about a 16 year old speaker at the event:
“Left, right and center, straight news and opinion, journalists at CPAC have one thing in common, the overwhelming urge to punch Benji Backer” – Ben Jacobs.
I’m not condoning violence in any way but I am a believer in karma and it appears pajama boy Ben just got body slammed by it. When you talk about your “overwhelming urge to punch” a 16 year old because you don’t agree with his opinion there is something wrong with you.
Richard Hertz,
But he stifled his urge because he’s a grown up.
Absolutely, Robin. Its one thing to think about pummeling someone. Its another thing to do it.
Grown up is a big deal here.
Not really. Wait till your son is 16 and gives you some slack jaw and then tell me you don’t think about it….if you don’t, you are a better person than I am.
Actually, I see some victim blaming here. The guy got beaten up and his glasses broken. You seem to be doing situational ethics on this one.
Can we agree that beating up a reporter who was just asking questions is unacceptable? You are applying the same standard to him as you are accusing him of doing.
MoonHowler,
I used to think of conservatives as upholders of traditional values and morals, similar to British Tories. Now they seem to have all but disappeared.
Yes, what happened to those people? They seem to be gone. I think they started disappearing gradually about 30 -40 years ago. It was barely noticeable at first.