HELENA, Mont. — The head of the Montana Democratic Party on Thursday asked for a congressional ethics investigation into whether Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte lied to the police and the public when he assaulted a reporter last year.
The request by the party’s executive director, Nancy Keenan, comes exactly one year after Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs said Gianforte “body slammed” him for asking a question the day before Gian-forte won a special election for Montana’s only U.S. House seat. Gianforte, a former technology entrepreneur, is running for re-election in November.
Gianforte eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and said Jacobs did nothing wrong. But Gianforte initially told police that Jacobs instigated the attack, and his campaign spokesman at the time, Shane Scanlon, released a statement saying the same thing. Keenan’s complaints filed with the House Committee on Ethics and the independent Office of Congressional Ethics said those were false statements made in violation of House ethics rules that require Gianforte to “conduct himself at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House.”
The Ethics Committee and the independent ethics office, which refers matters to the committee, will review the request but are not required to launch a probe simply because the request was made.