President Trump believes journalists are the “enemy of the American people,” and last night in Montana he saluted GOP Rep. Greg Gianforte for body-slamming a reporter last year, despite Gianforte pleading guilty and apologizing.
Trump told the Missoula crowd there was “nothing to be embarrassed” about and calling him “my kinda guy.”
Trump’s outright praise for the assault came at a time of intense interest in press freedoms after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident who wrote a Washington Post column, inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey.
Trump, who once again went after the “fake news” called Gianforte up on stage and recounted the time he went after Guardian journalist Ben Jacobs, after he asked him a question about his health care plan.
“Greg is smart. And by the way never wrestle him. Any guy that can do a body slam, he’s my kinda – he’s my guy,” Trump said. “I shouldn’t say this, because I’ll – there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
The president said he was overseas when he first heard about Gianforte’s altercation with Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs and the speculation that it could hurt Republican chances in the election for the open at-large seat.
“I know Montana pretty well, I think it might help him,” Trump recalled thinking. “And it did.”
“He’s a great guy. Tough cookie.”
Last year, Gianforte attacked Jacobs by slamming him to the ground when the press was asking questions.
He initially falsely told the Gallatin County sheriff’s office afterward that the reporter “stuck a microphone in my face” and was “interrogating him in a very intensive way.”
But audio subsequently released by Jacobs and eyewitness accounts contradicted the lawmaker, who went on to win reelection.
Gianforte pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, paid a $50,000 fine to the Committee to Protect Journalists and issued an apology letter.
In a courtroom he pledged to do an interview with Jacobs, but never did.
The Guardian issued a statement from U.S. editor John Mulholland condemning Trump’s comments on Thursday night.
“To celebrate an attack on a journalist who was simply doing his job is an attack on the First Amendment by someone who has taken an oath to defend it. In the aftermath of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. It runs the risk of inviting other assaults on journalists both here and across the world where they often face far greater threats. We hope decent people will denounce these comments and that the president will see fit to apologize for them.”
Trump is struggling to defend Saudi Arabia as evidence mounts that it was behind the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.