Tag: Representative Greg Gianforte

Trump Jr. calls Tester ‘a piece of garbage’ at Montana rally

Donald Trump Jr. blasted Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) at a boisterous rally in his home state on Friday, calling him a “piece of garbage” for sinking Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson’s nomination to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) earlier this year.

Trump Jr., who headlined a rally for Tester’s GOP Senate rival Matt Rosendale and Rep. Greg Gianforte (R), slammed Tester over Jackson’s failed VA nomination, saying the Democratic senator had “ruined this guy’s life” after a bitter confirmation process.

President Trump‘s eldest son accused Tester, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, of putting out “all sorts of baseless accusations” on the orders of Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.).

“To go after and try to assassinate with no proof, no basis, no nothing, a good man simply because my father wanted to elevate him and put him in charge of an organization,” Trump Jr. fumed. “When Jon Tester, who is this lap dog, does that, what happened?”

Trump Jr. argued that no proof of the allegations against Jackson has surfaced publicly since his nomination failed in April, adding Tester has yet to pay a political price for taking down the nominee.

“Where’s the accountability to Jon Tester who did that? Because that makes you a piece of garbage in my mind, and it should to all of you and anyone I know in this state,” Trump Jr. said.

“You have the chance to unseat someone who plays the game, he pretends he’s one thing and he does the opposite,” he added, noting that Tester was found to be the top recipient of campaign contributions from lobbyists in Congress for a time.

Jackson’s nomination was torpedoed after former members of the White House medical staff came forward anonymously with a variety of serious allegations, which Tester made public in embarrassing detail.

During an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Tester said “the word is” that on overseas trips Jackson would freely hand out drugs such as Ambien and Provigil, which help people fall asleep and wake up.

“These are called controlled substances for a reason,” Tester said. “That’s the reports we got from the twenty-some people who got a hold of us and said, ‘We have a problem, this doctor has a problem, because he hands out prescriptions like candy.’ ”

“In fact in the White House they call him the candy man,” Tester added.

Jackson eventually withdrew his nomination, but the White House is still looking for revenge over the episode.

The president made a similar attack against Tester when he hosted a rally for Rosendale last week.

Trump at last week’s rally acknowledged that Jackson “might not have been qualified” but praised him as “a doctor at a high level” and “a man that everybody respected.”

Tester also said on CNN that Jackson was allegedly drunk while on duty on overseas trip with then-President Obama.

“Adm. Jackson was the primary health-care provider for the president. If you’re drunk and something happens with the president, it is very difficult to treat the president,” Tester said at the time. “Multiple people told us this was the case on several different trips.”

Tester said that there “were comments” about Jackson being so drunk that he wasn’t able to respond to people who asked him to do things.

He also raised anonymous allegations that Jackson kissed up and kicked down.

“We were told time and time again that people above him he treated like gold and people below him he belittled,” he said.

The Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General opened an investigation into the allegations in June.

But Trump Jr. said Jackson never recovered and that Tester “ruined this guy’s life.”

“Where’s the proof?” he asked.

“This is what bothered me the most,” Trump Jr. said of Tester’s record in Washington. “To go out there on TV and attack a good man.”

“That to me is a character flaw.”

[The Hill]

Trump Says He Doesn’t Regret Remarks About Gianforte Assaulting Reporter: The Congressman is a ‘Tough Cookie’

President Donald Trump, to perhaps no one’s surprise, is completely standing by his jovial comments about a Republican congressman’s assault of a reporter.

Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) attacking Ben Jacobs became the subject of a Trump riff last night during a rally, in which the President actually said, “Any guy that can do a body slam, he’s my kind of guy.”

The White House Correspondents Association condemned Trump’s remarks, and today, as the President answered questions about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, one reporter asked, “Do you regret bringing up last night at your rally the assault on a reporter by a congressman?”

Trump said he doesn’t, adding, “That was a different world. That was a different league, a different world, no. He’s just a great guy.”

He talked about his “tremendous success” last night and said, “Greg is a tremendous person and he’s a tough cookie and I’ll stay with that.”

[Mediaite]

Trump Praises Rep. Gianforte For Assaulting Reporter: Anyone Who Can Body Slam is ‘My Kind of Guy’

 President Donald Trump praised a Republican congressman who body slammed a reporter last year, saying the lawmaker was “my guy.”

Trump, speaking at a rally in Montana, said Rep. Greg Gianforte, who pleaded guilty to assaulting a reporter who asked him a question, was a good guy.

“Greg is smart and, by the way, never wrestle him,” the president said, motioning as though he was slamming someone to the ground. “Any guy that can do a body slam — he’s my guy.”

He added Gianforte was a “great guy” and a “tough cookie.”

In May 2017, Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs said Gianforte “body slammed” him for asking a question during an event. Gianforte went on to win Montana’s only U.S. House seat despite the misdemeanor charge and two Montana papers — the Missoulian and the Billings Gazette — rescinding their endorsements.

Gianforte’s campaign initially released a statement claiming Jacobs had “aggressively shoved a recorder in Greg’s face” and instigated the attack. Gianforte later pleaded guilty to an assault charge and apologized for the incident, pledging a $50,000 donation to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Gianforte is in a battle against Democrat and former state legislator Kathleen Williams in next month’s election.

Guardian Editor John Mulholland denounced the president’s praise for the assault as an attack on the First Amendment.

“The President of the United States tonight applauded the assault on an American journalist who works for the Guardian,” he said in a statement given to CNN. “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.”

Mulholland continued, saying the rhetoric was dangerous, especially given the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who is believed to have been killed in the Saudi consulate in Turkey.

Mulholland said this “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.”

During the rally, Trump talked about learning of the assault and said he initially worried Gianforte would lose his election last year.

“I said, ‘Oh, this is terrible. He’s going to lose the election,”‘ Trump told the crowd. “Then I said, ‘Well, wait a minute. I know Montana pretty well. I think it might help him and it did.'”

Throughout his rally, the president made several remarks about Gianforte’s attack on Jacobs. He cited the incident when he mentioned comments by former Vice President Joe Biden, who said that if he’d known Trump in high school he would have “beat the hell out of” him.

The president challenged Biden during the rally, saying “He’d be down faster than Greg would take him down. He’d be down so fast. Faster than Greg. I’d have to go very fast. I’d have to immediately connect.”

[USA Today]

Media

Trump Talks Fighting Joe Biden: ‘He’d Be Down Faster’ Than Greg Gianforte Could ‘Take Him Down’

President Donald Trump fired off tough words at Joe Biden at a rally on Thursday night, boasting he would knock him down faster than Rep. Greg Gianforte could, the Montana Republican who attacked a reporter during his campaign for Congress.

After praising Gianforte for body slamming Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs, a crime for which the lawmaker was just sentenced, Trump brought up his feud with former Vice President Biden.

“How about Sleepy Joe Biden,” Trump said, while listing off his potential 2020 competitors. “Remember he challenged me to a fight.”

“And when I said he wouldn’t last long, he’d be down faster than Greg would take him down,” Trump continued. “He’d be down so fast. Remember? Faster than Greg. I’d have to go very fast. I’d have to immediately connect.”

During the 2016 campaign, Biden criticized Trump’s “disgusting assertion” about groping women on the access Hollywood Tape.

“The press always asks me: don’t I wish I were debating him,” Biden said in a speech. “No, I wish we were in high school—I could take him behind the gym. That’s what I wish.”

Those comments prompted a war of words between the two, with Trump saying Biden would “go down fast and hard, crying all the way.” Biden eventually said he regretted his comments.

[Mediaite]