Wednesday’s incident took place after almost four weeks of voting in a special election to replace Ryan Zinke (R), who became Trump’s interior secretary in March.
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Jacobs had been asking Gianforte questions about the Republican health-care bill before Congress when, according to witnesses, Gianforte grabbed Jacobs, threw him to the floor and started punching him. Gianforte was later charged with misdemeanor assault.
Scott Sales, the Republican president of Montana’s state senate, unsuccessfully vied against Gianforte for his party’s congressional nomination. Polls prior to the election indicated that the race had unexpectedly narrowed.
Gianforte made millions with his company.
Democrats were hoping an upset would send a message to the GOP that Trump’s souring approval ratings could damage their political fortunes even in deep red states. In this, together with his large personal fortune, Gianforte’s rise mirrors that of Donald Trump.
“Then the election comes, and the Democrat loses”.
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in NY. Gianforte entered the contest with high negative ratings and an image as a hard-charging bully who had joked about outnumbering a reporter at a town hall meeting and sued to keep people from fishing on public land near his home. Ryan Zinke, the previous congressman who left office to become Trump’s Interior secretary, won the district by 16 points.Gianforte’s win may turn out to be modest comfort for the Trump White House-proof that historical voting patterns may be enough to lift Republican candidates to victory at a time when the president is unpopular and the candidates have profound flaws, like an inability to control their temper. At the same time, as with his political supporter and mentor Bernie Sanders, Quist whitewashed the role of the Democratic Party in shifting the cost for health care from employers to the working class under the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act.
Steps in Gianforte ‘s road to D.C. Gianforte’s alleged hostility toward Jacobs is about more than him simply “owning up” to his actions.
Fox News reporter Alicia Acuna wrote in an article: ‘Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him.’ She said Mr Gianforte then began to punch Mr Jacobs. Jacobs posted audio of the encounter, and Fox News Channel journalists who were present verified the account. In his speech, Gianforte apologized for a altercation at his campaign headquarters with a reporter on the eve of the special election.
“I’m still sort of flabbergasted, not just by the assault, but by the statement that was put out last night which was in some ways far worse than the assault”, Jacobs told CNN Thursday evening. His campaign had initially released a statement blaming the “aggressive” liberal reporter, who thrust his phone in the candidate’s face.
Instead, the win reaffirmed Montana’s support for Mr Trump’s young presidency in a conservative-leaning state that voted overwhelmingly for him in November.
As as result, the reporter found himself the butt of jokes – as well he should.
While Gianforte’s assault garnered national attention, and speculation that it might hurt his chances Thursday, about 260,000 Montanans had already voted by absentee by Wednesday, leaving only about a third of the total vote to be cast on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans and Democrats alike are finding something to be happy about in the special election for Montana’s only seat in the House. “Greg Gianforte should not be sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives while his assault case is still pending in court”.
“Apparently this snowflake reporter invaded Gianforte’s ‘safe space, ‘” another panelist, former Navy SEAL Rob O’Neill, commented.
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Calderone notes that this behavior is of course fanned by Donald Trump, who didn’t invent distrust in media but escalated it dramatically in his campaign-blacklisting outlets, shoving reporters around and restricting movements at events, declaring the press the “enemy of the American people”…and now suggesting putting whistleblower journalists in prison.
