It took longer than it should, but the Gallatin Sheriff’s office charged Republican Montana Congressional Candidate Greg Gianforte with assault for body-slamming Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs.
Bozeman Daily is reporting the following,
Late on the night before a hotly contested special election, U.S. House candidate Greg Gianforte was charged with misdemeanor assault after a national political reporter alleged the Republican “body slammed” him, sending a last-minute shock wave through the race. …
After multiple interviews with witnesses Wednesday night, the sheriff’s office cited Gianforte for the misdemeanor. Gallatin County Sheriff Brian Gootkin said the incident did not meet the criteria for a felony charge.
Gianforte must appear in Gallatin County Justice Court between now and June 7. …
The sheriff said charges were not filed at the scene because investigators didn’t have enough information at the time. He said the detective division is treating the case like any other investigation.
Guadian reporter Ben Jacobs sent out a tweet stating that Republican Montana Congressional Candidate Greg Gianforte body-slammed him and broke his glasses.
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
Jacobs explained on All-In with Chris Hayes that he was surprised by the attack by the Republican candidate. He simply wanted to know the candidate’s response to the release of the CBO report on Trumpcare.
Soon after the Gianforte campaign released a statement that implied the altercation was started by Ben Jacobs. It was anathema to the audio that Jacobs posted to the Guardian website.
Fox News reporter Alicia Acuna implicitly called out the Gianforte campaign’s lie. She said, “Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him.” She further wrote that “To be clear, 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.”
One hopes this incident occurred in time to allow Montanan’s to make the appropriate vote.