President Donald Trump — known for his contentious relationship with the press — joked Thursday that GOP Montana Rep. Greg Gianforte’s assault of a British reporter helped the lawmaker win his 2017 special election.
At a campaign rally in Montana, Trump gleefully recounted the attack on reporter Ben Jacobs of The Guardian, when Gianforte grabbed the journalist by the neck and threw him to the ground.
“Never wrestle him. Never. Any guy that can do a body slam, he’s my kind of…he’s my guy,” Trump told the Missoula crowd.
“We endorsed Greg really early, but I heard that he had body slammed a reporter. And he was way up…and I said, ‘Oh, this is terrible, he’s going to lose the election.’
“But then I said, ‘Well wait a minute, I know Montana pretty well, I think it might help him,’ and it did…He’s a great guy and a tough cookie,” Trump added.
The attack occurred the night before the election after a significant number of votes had already been cast during early voting or via absentee ballots, The Hill reported.
Gianforte pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of assault and was sentenced to a 180-day deferred sentence, 40 hours of community service, 20 hours of anger management and a $300 fine along with a $85 court fee.
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