The Con praising Gianforte last night - Gianforte committed a crime

[Tanuki]

15. Gianforte also lied about it at the time and falsely accused the victim of having grabbed him first

and having knocked him down. Fortunately a tape surfaced which proved what really happened. Trump probably admires Gianforte for reflexively lying and slandering someone else as a way of deflecting responsibility for his own criminal behavior.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/17/greg-gianforte-guardian-reporter-ben-jacobs-assault

"US congressman Greg Gianforte misled police after his assault of Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs in May, falsely stating that Jacobs had initiated physical contact and that the “liberal media … is trying to make a story”, according to the police incident report.

The records, made public on Friday, provide new details on the violent altercation that occurred on the eve of a special election to fill Montana’s sole seat in the US House of Representatives. Jacobs had approached the then candidate at his Bozeman campaign headquarters to ask a question about the Republican healthcare bill when Gianforte threw him to the ground and punched him.
......

Shortly after the assault, Gianforte’s campaign spokesman, Shane Scanlon, placed the blame for the violent incident on Jacobs, releasing a statement that said the reporter “grabbed Greg’s wrist, and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground”.

“It’s unfortunate that this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this scene at our campaign volunteer BBQ,” Scanlon said.

That narrative was soon contradicted by audio of the incident captured by Jacobs, as well as the eyewitness accounts of a team of Fox News journalists. Jacobs decried the statement as “defamatory”, and Scanlon was condemned by the political press for lying about the incident."