GOP House hopeful Greg Gianforte charged with assault

BOZEMAN, Mont. -- The Republican candidate in the nationally watched election Thursday for Montana's sole congressional seat has been charged with misdemeanor assault.

He is accused of grabbing a reporter by the neck and throwing him to the ground.

Voters were deciding in the special election Thursday whether Republican Greg Gianforte or Democrat Rob Quist would fill the U.S. House seat left vacant when Ryan Zinke resigned to join President Donald Trump's Cabinet as secretary of the Interior Department.

Gianforte, who has tried to align himself with Trump, defended himself as the criminal charge was announced Wednesday, saying the reporter was being aggressive and grabbed him by the wrist in their exchange at his campaign office.

Quist declined to comment on the charge.

House Speaker Paul Ryan called for Gianforte to apologize.

Ryan said "that's wrong and should not happen."

But Ryan wouldn't say whether Greg Gianforte should be barred from joining the House GOP conference if he won Thursday's election.

Instead, Ryan said, "I'm gonna let the people of Montana decide who they want as their representative."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called Gianforte "a wannabe Trump."

"That's his model, Donald Trump," she said.

It wasn't clear how the last-minute curveball would affect the race -- which was seen partly as a referendum on Trump's presidency -- in part because more than a third of the state's registered voters cast absentee ballots before polls opened Thursday.

Gallatin County Sheriff Brian Gootkin made the announcement shortly before midnight Wednesday in a written statement, about six hours after the attack on reporter Ben Jacobs of The Guardian.

Gianforte would face a maximum $500 fine or six months in jail if convicted.

The statement added Jacobs' injuries did not meet the legal definition of felony assault.