At an Oct. 18 campaign rally in Missoula, Mont., President Donald Trump praised a congressman who last year assaulted Ben Jacobs, a Baltimore native and congregant of Reservoir Hill’s Beth Am Synagogue who works as the political correspondent for Britain’s The Guardian.
Trump was referring to the case of Rep. Greg Gianforte, a Republican congressman from the Big Sky Country state who attacked Jacobs. Jacobs was treated at a hospital for an elbow injury, and his glasses — which he later donated to The Newseum in Washington, D.C. — were broken during the attack.
At the rally, Trump said, to cheers from supporters, “I had heard that [Gianforte] body-slammed a reporter. Any guy that can do a body-slam, he’s my kind of … he was my guy.” The commander-in-chief then mimicked a body-slam to gales of cheers and laughter from the crowd of about 8,000.
“I shouldn’t say this,” Trump said, “but there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.” The president called Gianforte a “tough cookie” and “one of the most respected people in Congress. … Greg is smart. And by the way, never wrestle him. You understand. Never.”
Trump said he was initially concerned that the assault might hurt Gianforte’s chances in the election. “Then I said, ‘Well, wait a minute, I know Montana pretty well, I think it might help him.’ And it did,” he said to applause.
This marked the first time that Trump explicitly praised the attack, which made international headlines last year. The remarks come at a time when the White House is under pressure over Trump’s refusal to condemn Saudi Arabia regarding mounting evidence that its crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, ordered the decapitation and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist and Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi.
The comments also come four months after a gunman stormed the newsroom of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis and killed five staff members, injuring two others..
In a statement issued last night, John Mulholland, editor of The Guardian, said, “The President of the United States tonight applauded the assault of an American journalist working for The Guardian. We hope decent people will denounce these remarks and that the president will see fit to apologize for them.”
Gianforte, now 57, attacked Jacobs in Bozeman, Mont., on the eve of a special election in March of 2017 after Jacobs asked the then-candidate about the Congressional Budget Office’s report on the Republican health care bill. Gianforte had been avoiding questions about the unpopular bill.
A crew of Fox News reporters witnessed the attack. According to their firsthand account, Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands as the reporter was posing questions to him. “He then slammed [Jacobs] into the ground behind him. [We] watched in disbelief as Gianforte then began punching the reporter,” the crew wrote.
Gianforte won the state’s lone seat in the House of Representatives by a margin of 54-40. He later apologized for the attack and announced a $50,000 donation to the Committee to Protect Journalists, part of an agreement to settle any potential civil claims.
In June 2017, Gianforte was sentenced to 40 hours of community service and 20 hours of anger management on assault charges, and assessed a $385 fine and a six-month suspended jail sentence by the Gallatin County justice court.
Gianforte also promised Jacobs an interview, but has yet to make good on the promise.
“When you make a mistake, you have to own up to it,” Gianforte told supporters at his Election Night rally. “That’s the Montana way.” Noting that he was “not proud” of his behavior, he said, “I should not have responded the way I did, for that I’m sorry. I should not have treated that reporter that way, and for that I’m sorry, Mr. Ben Jacobs.”
Last December, Jacobs spoke at Beth Am as part of the congregation’s four-part speakers titled “Press Freedoms Under Siege: The First Amendment & the Jewish Commandments.”
Jacobs, who grew up in Mount Washington, is a 2002 graduate of The Park School in Brooklandville and an alumnus of Grinnell College in Iowa. He earned a law degree from Duke University. Before joining The Guardian in 2015, he worked at the Daily Beast.
Beth Am’s Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg said he was “disheartened” to learn that the president praised the assault.
“Ben is a mentsch, a talented journalist whose restraint under physical attack by a candidate for high office was underscored by his poise in the aftermath of the assault,” Rabbi Burg said. “President Trump continues to make a mockery of press freedoms and the rule of law. This is just one more example of a president who delights in free speech when it suits him but does not hesitate to weaponize language and manipulate voters to advance his agenda.”
Rabbi Burg noted that Jacobs was merely “doing his job as a reporter.”
“It’s been a long time since an American present took so literally his position as a bully pulpit, but Trump regularly uses his words and tweets to bully, shame and incite others to violence,” the rabbi said.
Trump was in Montana campaigning for Matt Rosendale, a Republican who is hoping to unseat Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat. The president has repeatedly referred to the media as the “enemy of the people,” leading critics to worry that he might inspire more physical attacks on journalists.
Jmore Editor-in-Chief Alan Feiler contributed to this report.
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