Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Trump Lauds Montana Congressman For Body-Slamming Jewish Journalist

President Trump applauded a congressman at a rally Thursday for assaulting a reporter last year, the Washington Post reported.

Trump was speaking to a crowd in Montana, where Rep. Greg Gianforte body-slammed Jewish journalist Ben Jacobs in May 2017, just days before a special election race.

The president mentioned Gianforte and cracked a joke: “By the way, never wrestle him.”

“Any guy that can do a body slam, he’s my kind of — he’s my guy,” Trump continued.

Jacobs, the Guardian’s political correspondent, was asking Gianforte about the GOP health-care plan when the Montana congressman grabbed him, threw him down and punched him, according to the Post. Although he pleaded guilty, Gianforte still won the election.

Trump’s comments were met with cheers from the 8,000-person crowd, the Guardian reported. This was reportedly the first time a U.S. president openly praised violence against a journalist.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

A message from our Publisher & CEO 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 [email protected], 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.