The attorney representing Ben Jacobs, the Guardian reporter whom Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte assaulted on the eve of last year's special election, has warned the Montana congressman that Jacobs might seek to rescind their settlement agreement if Gianforte continues to lie about the incident. That could, in turn, expose Gianforte to legal liability for the attack.
This move came after Gianforte told the Missoulian that the statement he had given to the police the night of the attack "was my recollection of what occurred and I also am bound by my settlement agreement with Ben Jacobs to not talk about the incident." In that statement, Gianforte had told the cops that Jacobs had provoked the attack—an utter lie, and a particularly shameful one since several witnesses were present and the incident was also captured on audiotape.
However, Jacobs and Gianforte later reached a settlement in which Gianforte accepted responsibility for his actions and agreed to donate $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists, heading off a lawsuit by Jacobs. And despite what Gianforte now says, that settlement didn't have any sort of confidentiality provision requiring the parties not to talk about the assault.
In response to Gianforte’s new remarks, Jacobs' attorney sent a letter to Gianforte's lawyer on Thursday demanding that he "immediately cease and desist from further false and/or defamatory statements" about Jacobs and his interactions with him. The letter noted that not only were the congressman and his spokespersons "telling lies about the assault, [and] about their own prior lies," Gianforte’s new claims about a non-existent confidentiality agreement were also false.
Democrat Kathleen Williams, who is challenging Gianforte this year, recently began airing ads attacking her opponent over his appalling assault of Jacobs. Gianforte’s own self-serving commentary only threatens to give the issue even more traction.
Let’s eject Greg Gianforte from Congress. Please chip in $3 to Kathleen Williams today.
