Press freedom groups file congressional ethics charge against Gianforte

"Aaaadrian!"

It's never a good idea to push a journalist to the ground and pound him like you're in the schoolyard and he called your mother a bad name.

A number of press freedom groups have filed a congressional ethics complaint against Rep.-elect Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) for allegedly body-slamming a reporter who was asking him a question.

It's also indefensible. I don't care if you're on the left or the right--you don't attack a member of the press because you didn't like the question or simply had a bad day.

PEN America, Free Press, Society of Professional Journalists and Reporters Without Borders filed a formal complaint with Congressional ethics officials on Friday. The report comes about a week after the incident in which Gianforte went 'all Rambo' body-slamming Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs.

The question Jacobs asked Greg "The Crusher" Gianforte was about the recent Congressional Budget Office estimate of the GOP's health bill, a question that should really piss off any Republican who didn't like the question.

Gianforte was charged with assault, and the case is still pending in Macho County, Montana.

But seriously, this is unacceptable in the U.S.A.

"A member of the House hasn't physically assaulted someone this severely since the Civil War [how is it that a war can be 'civil'] and we are unaware of any historical precedent for a lawmaker beating up a reporter," said Gabe Rottman, PEN America's Washington Director in a statement. "While Rep. Gianforte's apology was necessary, it was hardly sufficient."

The incident occurred the night prior to the special election for Montana's only U.S. House seat. Not surprisingly, because the district in question has gone red for years, Gianforte beat Democratic challenger, Rob Quist.

The groups filed the complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics and also wrote to the House Ethics Committee calling for an open investigation within 30 days of any member being charged with a crime, according to a statement.

True to form, the libtards also sent a letter to President Trump claiming that his inflammatory verbiage directed at the media have been followed by violence against journalists. 

If a tree falls in the forest . . . it's Trump's fault . . . everything is Trump's fault.

Gianforte was totally out of line and should not be sworn in just because he's a Republican. Someone has to take the moral high ground and you know it's never going to be the left. We cannot have this kind of behavior in the US.

I don't believe Quist should win on default either. The district that elected Gianforte obviously wants a Republican and that's who needs to get that seat.

If we are happy he won because he's a Republican, then we're no better than they are.

Something is terribly wrong with the country of late and it isn't Trump's fault--I believe it's the fault of the Obama administration and his dividing us along different demographics. So on one level, you can understand how angry both sides can become, but there's no excuse for physical violence unless you want to start an uncivil war.


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