A reporter warns the representative Gianforte not to lie about the attack of 2017

"Please inform your client that he and his spokespersons must stop telling lies about the assault, their own previous lies, the" settlement agreement "concluded between Ben and his client, or any other aspect of the case, "Genth wrote.

Gianforte spokesman Travis Hall declined to comment on the letter.

"Greg regrets what happened and takes full responsibility," Hall said in a statement.

Genth declined to comment, saying that the letter speaks for itself.

The attack on Jacobs has again become a campaign issue for Gianforte, who defends his siege against Democratic challenger Kathleen Williams. Williams recently released an ad with the sound of the Jacobs recorder fight, which said, "That's not what we are."

President Donald Trump also congratulated Gianforte for the attack at a rally last week in Missoula. "All the guys who can do slam – that's my kind," said the president.

Gianforte pleaded guilty to committing an offense after throwing Jacobs to the ground when the journalist attempted to ask him a question the day before Gianforte's special legislative elections in 2017 to end the term of Ryan Zinke, who was named secretary of the Ministry of Labor. # 39; Interior.

Jacobs agreed not to sue after Gianforte donated $ 50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists and wrote a letter in which he acknowledged that Jacobs had not initiated the attack. Gianforte first told the police that Jacobs had attacked him first, and his campaign had originally issued a statement repeating that Jacobs was the aggressor.

Gianforte told the Missoulian newspaper's editorial board that he had told the police what he had remembered about the assault – that Jacobs had attacked him first – and that he was bound by the settlement agreement not to talk about the assault, reported the newspaper earlier this week.

These comments led to Genth's letter. Gianforte's remarks seek to conceal his responsibility for the attack and his dishonesty about it, Genth wrote. Nor does the agreement contain a confidentiality clause and nothing prevents Gianforte from answering questions about the attack and his statement to the police, the lawyer added.

"By way of further misrepresentation about" the settlement agreement, "the representative Gianforte wanted to mislead the press and voters in the last few weeks leading up to contested elections," Genth writes. .

The renewed focus on the Gianforte attack comes with a postal vote being held in Montana. A Democrat has not occupied the seat of the House since 1997 in Montana, a Conservative state that has, in the past, voted for Democrats to be elected to positions across the country, including US Senator Jon Test and Gov. Steve Bullock.

Carroll College political science professor Jeremy Johnson said the president had done nothing to help Gianforte by talking about it last week. The recall could influence independent voters and radical voters in the race.

"It's now become another argument that Williams can use to argue his case," Johnson said.

Williams said Thursday that Montana voters should have conversations about health care, social security and rural issues – but instead end up talking about an assault of a congressman.

"The Montanans can do a lot better," said Williams. "Frankly, it's not the behavior of an American representative."