Trump Congratulates Montana GOPer Greg Gianforte On ‘Great Win’

President Donald Trump takes a walking tour with G7 leaders, Friday, May 26, 2017, in Taormina, Italy. From left, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump, and German Chancellor... President Donald Trump takes a walking tour with G7 leaders, Friday, May 26, 2017, in Taormina, Italy. From left, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) MORE LESS
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President Donald Trump briefly congratulated Congressman-elect Greg Gianforte during his trip abroad Friday.

“Great win in Montana,” he told news photographers, according to a pool report.

Vice President Mike Pence added his congratulations on Twitter

Gianforte won the special election to the fill the seat of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke Thursday night, just a day after allegedly body slamming Guardian reported Ben Jacobs for asking questions about the GOP’s health bill.

Gianforte’s campaign originally contradicted the reporter’s account of the assault, blaming “aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist” for creating “this scene at our campaign volunteer BBQ.”

At his victory party, however, Gianforte issued a vague apology.

“Last night I made a mistake, and I took an action that I can’t take back,” he said. “And I’m not proud of what happened. I should not have responded in the way that I did, and for that I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have treated that reporter that way, and for that, I’m sorry, Mr. Ben Jacobs.”

This post has been updated.

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Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for pshah pshah says:

    That body slam probably brought a tear to his eyes. Reminded him of his campaign rally days.

    You remember, when the white nationalists had his front and the Russians had his back.

  2. Avatar for pine pine says:

    I caught some of Gianfortes "Victory " speech,And the people in the room were all in line with Trump.

    One person shouted out" you have nothing to apologize for " Wow !

    So I guess the 2018 election cycle will show us things we have never seen before,Batten down the hatches and buckle up.

  3. Exactly. The thing that Gianforte regrets is that he personally did the bodyslamming.

    The next time it happens, (and it will), a bodyguard will do it. Count on it. He’s now figured out that in the state of MT, there’s no price to be paid for it.

  4. Nazis.

  5. Trump is getting more and more detached from the real world. Check this out. There’s an embedded video that I can’t copy. It shows Trump abruptly getting up from his chair and walking mindlessly away from Netanyahu.

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