Update | Republican candidate in key Montana election is charged with assault after ‘body-slamming’ reporter
‘We watched in disbelief as Gianforte then began punching the reporter’
The Republican candidate for Montana’s sole congressional seat has been charged with misdemeanour assault after witnesses told police Greg Gianforte grabbed a reporter by the neck and slammed him to the ground the night before polls close in the nationally-watched election.
Gallatin County Sheriff’s Brian Gootkin made the announcement late Wednesday in a statement posted to the county web site. Gianforte would face a maximum six months in jail if convicted. The statement added that the reporter’s injuries did not meet the legal definition of felony assault.
Gianforte was in a private office preparing for an interview with Fox News on Wednesday night when Jacobs came in without permission, campaign spokesman Shane Scanlon said.
The Fox News crew watched in astonishment as, after Jacobs asked him about the GOP health care bill, “Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him,” Fox News reporter Alicia Acuna wrote in an article . She added that Gianforte then began to punch Jacobs.
In an audio recording posted by the Guardian, the reporter asks the congressional candidate about the GOP’s health care bill, which was just evaluated hours earlier by the Congressional Budget Office.