After his victory on Thursday in the election for the Montana House seat vacated by the appointment of Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Interior, Greg Gianforte told a crowd in Bozeman that he wanted to apologize for his alleged assault of The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs, the Fox News team that witnessed his assault, and the voters.
Gianforte began, “I need to share something from my heart here, and I ask you to just bear with me. When you make a mistake, you have to own up to it. That’s the Montana way.”
That elicited calls of “Amen, brother,” and “Hear, hear.”
Gianforte continued, “Last night, I made a mistake, and I took an action that I can’t take back. And I’m not proud of what happened. I should not have responded in the way that I did and for that, I am sorry.”
Someone in the audience yelled, “And you are forgiven,” promoting cheers.
Gianforte added, “I should not have treated that reporter that way and for that, I’m sorry, Mr. Ben Jacobs.” After more applause, Gianforte stated, “I also want to apologize to the Fox News team that was there and I’m sorry to each one of you that we had to go through this. That’s not the person that I am, and that’s not the way I’ll lead in this state.”
RNC chair Ronna Romney McDaniel released a statement calling Gianforte’s apology “a good first step toward redemption.” She stated, “Congressman-elect Greg Gianforte was right to apologize for his actions in Wednesday’s statement. Tonight’s apology was a good first step toward redemption and I hope Gianforte continues to work toward righting his wrong.” She said Montana voters “chose to send a conservative to Washington … Once again, voters responded to President Trump’s call to protect the hard work this administration has done to reform a burdensome tax code, cut onerous regulations and relieve hardworking taxpayers across the country from the rising costs of ObamaCare.”
Gianforte must appear in court for his misdemeanor summons on June 7; he could be sentenced to jail time but will probably be fined, as the incident was his first offense.
Video of apology below:
