ICYMI: Infamous Body-Slammer Greg Gianforte’s Campaign Gets Violent Again

Montana gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte’s closing message really packs a punch. Three years after Gianforte body-slammed a reporter, one of Gianforte’s senior staffers was caught committing a possible felony.

According to police, Gianforte’s political director and spokesman intentionally bashed a woman’s car with his truck last week. The events are reminiscent of Gianforte’s infamous assault on a Guardian reporter who asked Gianforte a question about his least-favorite topic, affordable health care. Gianforte initially lied to the police about the incident, but eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault.

Gianforte has been dealt a lot of blows in the final stretch of the election – on October 20, the Commissioner of Political Practices ruled Gianforte violated campaign finance laws, and referred the case to the local county prosecutor.

And last week, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was duped into filming a Cameo begging “Greg” to move back to his home state of New Jersey.

The Daily Beast: Greg Gianforte’s Political Director Attacked and Damaged a Woman’s Car: Police Report

Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) made headlines in 2017 when he attacked a reporter on the campaign trail during a special election for the seat he now holds.

Now one of Gianforte’s top campaign staffers in Gianforte’s bid for Montana’s governorship has allegedly committed a violent incident of his own, attacking a parked car, according to a police report.

An incident report filed by the Montana police says that Daniel Duffey, Gianforte’s political director and spokesman, bashed a parked car next to his pickup truck on Oct. 26, repeatedly slamming his truck’s door into the other vehicle. Duffey “opened his car door and struck the side of Vehicle 2 several times, causing visible damage to Vehicle 2,” the report from the Bozeman Police Department reads.

Duffey and the Gianforte campaign didn’t respond to requests for comment. But chatter about the incident circulated in political circles on Monday. And Duffey appears to have deleted both his Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.

[…]

Police were able to trace the damage to Duffey through surveillance video of the incident, according to Zollars. Duffey hasn’t been criminally charged in the case.

Zollars said she’s disappointed that Gianforte hasn’t contacted her or her daughter over the incident.

“Gianforte is our congressman, you would think we would get a phone call or something,” Zollars said.

[…]

Gianforte is running for governor against Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney (D-MT), in what’s considered to be one of the most competitive gubernatorial races in the country. Election handicappers have described the race as a toss-up, according to FiveThirtyEight. Gianforte also ran for governor in 2016 but lost to Gov. Steve Bullock (D-MT), who’s now running for the Senate.