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Eric Trump insisted Friday on Fox News to say his father was just having fun this week by hiring representative Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) As "my guy" for assaulting a Guardian reporter the year last.
"It was not the guy who slammed his body against anyone," said the young Trump to his father. "He can have fun. By the way, that's exactly why my father won.
Gianforte attacked Ben Jacobs of the Guardian last year after Jacobs asked him about health care, snapping his body, hitting the journalist and breaking his glasses. Gianforte pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was fined and sentenced to community service and anger management. He also apologized for the attack.
President Donald Trump, however, hailed Gianforte's actions at a rally in Missoula on Thursday. "All the guys who know how to piss off, that's my kind," Trump said, adding that he rightly thought that the attack would help Gianforte win the special election for replace the Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke.
Trump's comments have been condemned by The Guardian, other journalists, US lawmakers, a spokesman for the British prime minister and people on Twitter. The president was already facing criticism for not denouncing the role played by the Saudis in the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post reporter. The Saudi government is now saying that Khashoggi was killed in his consulate in Istanbul earlier this month during a physical altercation.
Eric Trump told Fox News that his father became president because of the way he talks. "So many people were so tired of the little caged woman, the perfect, perfectly scripted politician who memorized his little mouthful of sound … they were not amused, and they had no charisma, they had no personality, "he added. I said.
The White House Correspondents' Association issued a statement on Friday condemning the president's praise for Gianforte's attack on Jacobs, saying: "All Americans should refrain from congratulations from the president for violently attacking a journalist who perform his work protected by the Constitution. "
The president's statement may encourage more attacks on journalists, The Guardian said.
Asked Friday on Trump's remark, a spokeswoman for British Prime Minister Theresa May said: "Any violence or intimidation against a journalist is totally unacceptable."
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