Trump stands by praise of “bodyslamming” lawmaker

WA S HINGTON» President Donald Trump on Friday stood by his praise for a Republican congressman who physically assaulted a reporter last year.

At a rally in Missoula, Mont., on Thursday night, Trump singled out Rep. Greg Gianforte, RMont., as a “tough cookie” and made light of the May 2017 incident where Gianforte bodyslammed a Guardian reporter who was seeking to ask him a question. “Any guy who can do a body slam ... he’s my guy,” Trump said.

Those comments — made as Republican leaders have sought to portray Democratic lawmakers and activists as an “angry mob” — prompted dismayed reactions from journalists and others shocked to hear the president make light of a reallife case of political violence. They came as the world recoiled from reports that the Saudi government might have murdered and dismembered dissident journalist Jamal Khassoggi in a Turkish consulate.

But Trump, speaking to reporters Friday in Scottsdale, Ariz., said he had no regrets. “Not at all,” he said. “That was a different league and different world.”

Trump also won support Friday from a Republican victim of politically motivated violence — House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, RLa., who was shot and badly wounded last year by a gunman who targeted a GOP lawmakers’ baseball practice.

“President Trump was clearly ribbing Congressman Gianforte for last year’s incident, which he apologized for last year,” Scalise said in a tweet. “It’s obvious he was not encouraging his supporters to engage in attacks, and not one person harassed the numerous media reporters who were present.”

Scalise went on to criticize the “mainstream media” for creating “a false equivalence between this and Democrat leaders in Washington regularly using threatening rhetoric to call on their supporters to harass Trump officials, supporters, and Republican members and candidates.”

Scalise has frequently criticized Democrats for encouraging aggressive and confrontational protest tactics in media interviews, socialmedia postings and opeds. He has been particularly critical of former attorney general Eric Holder Jr., who said this month: “When they go low, we kick ’em. That’s what this new Democratic Party is about.”