UPDATED! Beatdown in Bozeman: Montana GOP candidate Greg Gianforte assaulted reporter who discovered Gianforte owns $250k in Russian stock
Raw Story reports:
Tomorrow is election day in Montana, when voters will decide the outcome of the only statewide congressional election of 2017.
Tonight the race was rocked with allegations that Republican nominee Greg Gianforte assaulted and battered Ben Jacobs, a Washington DC based political reporter for The Guardian.
There were tweets aplenty:
Greg Gianforte just body slammed me and broke my glasses
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) May 24, 2017
Ben walked into a room where a local tv crew was set up for an interview with Gianforte
— Alexis Levinson (@alexis_levinson) May 24, 2017
All of a sudden I heard a giant crash and saw Ben’s feet fly in the air as he hit the floor
— Alexis Levinson (@alexis_levinson) May 24, 2017
Now why might Gianforte do such a thing? Per the update at Raw Story,
In a statement, Gianforte’s campaign claimed Jacobs entered a private office “without permission” and attributed the incident to “aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist.”
Funny, but Alexis Levinson didn’t report anything “aggressive” other than Jacobs being body-slammed. [And – in the UPDATE below – the audio of the altercation sorta kinda indicates that Gianforte is what Al Franken would refer to as a “lying liar.”]
So one is left asking what might prompt Gianforte to violently assault Jacobs?
Well, let’s read what Jacobs reported back on the 28th of April:
A Republican congressional candidate has financial ties to a number of Russian companies that have been sanctioned by the US, the Guardian has learned.
Greg Gianforte, who is the GOP standard bearer in the upcoming special election in Montana, owns just under $250,000 in shares in two index funds that are invested in the Russian economy to match its overall performance.
According to a financial disclosure filed with the clerk of the House of Representatives, the Montana tech mogul owns almost $150,000 worth of shares in VanEck Vectors Russia ETF and $92,400 in the IShares MSCF Russia ETF fund. Both are indexed to the Russian equities market and have significant holdings in companies such as Gazprom and Rosneft that came under US sanctions in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of the Crimea.
The holdings, while substantial, make up only a small portion of Gianforte’s wealth. The congressional candidate, who made a fortune starting a software company which was later sold to Oracle, has assets estimated to be worth between $65m and $315m, according to his financial disclosure.
We predict Gianforte is going to have more than anger management issues with which to deal in the very near future.
‘Nuff said.
UPDATE: Jacobs has posted audio of the confrontation.
UPDATE 2: Uh-oh. A FOX News Channel crew was in the room and witnessed Gianforte’s assault on Jacobs. They tell all here.
UPDATE 3: Fianforte has been charged with misdemeanor assault.
UPDATE 4: Actions have consequences. Major Montana newspapers have pulled their endorsements of Gianforte.
