Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Montana Republican Official Who ‘Would’ve Shot’ Jewish Reporter Resigns

A Montana Republican officials has resigned after she said she “would’ve have shot” a reporter who asked pointed questions of Rep. Greg Gianforte last spring.

Karen Marshall, who serves as vice president of programs for Gallatin County Republican Women, said on a radio show that if Ben Jacobs would have approached her, “I would have shot him.”

Marshall argued that Jacobs, a reporter for the Guardian, “came on private property, came into a private building, and went into a very private room” and that his questions presented to Gianforte were “a setup. A complete setup. He just pushed a little too hard.”

In fact, Jacobs approached the lawmaker in a room set up for a TV interview.

On Monday, the Gallatin County Republican Women announced that Karen Marshall resigned from the organization’s board.

Gianforte, a Montana congressman, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault and donated $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists, but the case, apparently, is not over.

Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com or on Twitter @nathanguttman

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version