Yesterday Ben Jacobs of The Guardian alleged that Greg Gianforte, the Republican candidate for Congress in Montana, assaulted him when Jacobs attempted to ask him a question about the GOP health care bill—an event confirmed by three witnesses from Fox News.
Gianforte denied the assault in a statement that contradicts audio of the incident posted by The Guardian, and he has been charged with misdemeanor assault.
The assault, however, has so far not been met with many loud cries of condemnation from the GOP.
In fact, several leading conservatives defended Gianforte over the incident.
California Republican Duncan Hunter said that assaulting a journalist is appropriate if “the reporter deserved it.”South Carolina Republican Mark Sanford responded to the assault allegations by saying people should "be careful not to make him mad."Rep. Duncan Hunter said of MT reporter assault, “It’s not appropriate behavior. Unless the reporter deserved it.”
— Mary Clare Jalonick (@MCJalonick) May 25, 2017
Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., blamed any violence on "the left."Asked Rep. Sanford what kind of greeting House R's would give Gianforte if he won: "I think people would be careful not to make him mad."
— Lissandra Villa (@LissandraVilla) May 25, 2017
Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center, the leading conservative media monitoring group, suggested that Jacobs deserved to be assaulted.Louie Gohmert: “We didn't have a course on bodyslamming…”
Trent Franks: “The left has precipitated this tense, confrontational approach…” pic.twitter.com/eYdttV3397
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) May 25, 2017
Jacobs is an obnoxious, dishonest first class jerk. I'm not surprised he got smacked.
— Brent Bozell (@BrentBozell) May 25, 2017
Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham mocked Jacobs after Gianforte assaulted him:
Politicians always need to keep their cool. But what would most Montana men do if "body slammed" for no reason by another man?
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) May 25, 2017
Did anyone get his lunch money stolen today and then run to tell the recess monitor?
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) May 25, 2017
Author Dinesh D'Souza called Jacobs a "cry baby" and suggested he manufactured the incident in order to swing the election against Gianforte:
Coming one day before the Montana election this #BenJacobs crybaby routine sounds suspiciously like a scam to influence the outcome pic.twitter.com/vyokKuEMm5
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 25, 2017
Sandy Rios of American Family Radio similarly wondered if Jacobs was responsible:
Reporter sounds pretty chipper for someone who was "body slammed." Did he hope to cause an incident?https://t.co/hGmYZEcZRj
— Sandy Rios (@SandyRiosTweet) May 25, 2017
