we will get to that and, again, i think we are going to get ben jacobs himself live with us in just a moment. so that's all ahead. you will want to be here for that. fore we can get to that, though, before we get to ben, let me tell you about some other news we are tracking tonight. for one, we are following that story that ben jacobs was trying to ask greg gianforte about, for which he was rewarded with broken glasses and a trip to the emergency room. it's the big policy story in washington today that he was asking gianforte about. the republican plan to get rid of obamacare, to kill the affordable care act. that plan got its price tag today from the nonpartisan congressional budget office. you might remember the assessment, the cbo assessment of the last version of the republicans' health care bill said that version of the bill would throw 24 million americans off their health insurance. now we've got the estimate on the newer version of the republican bill, the one house republicans already passed a couple weeks ago, and the new estimate says that the new bill will not throw 24 mil

ben jacobs is an experienced, well-known reporter.'ll tell you just in terms of this building lots of people who work here at msnbc and at nbc know him

guardian reporter ben jacobs has been out in montana covering that race. and just after 7:00 eastern, jacobs tweeted the following. greg gianforte just body-slammed me and broke my glasses. ten minutes later, jacobs tweeted, there was a local tv crew there when gianforte body slammed me. audio is posting soon. naturally we reached out to jacobs, confirmed this was not a joke. we've also reached out to the gianforte campaign to get their version of events. we await a response. there were witnesses, however, and we have one of them on the phone right now. alexis levinson of buzzfeed was in bozeman and saw the confrontation. alexis, are you there? >> hey, i'm here. >> okay, alexis. what did you see? how did this go down? >> so ben and i drove over to this event. it's at the gianforte campaign headquarters. we walked in. it's a bunch of people making phone calls. we had both been requesting time with him. it was clear they were not psyched to give ben time and not entirely clear on why, but one of gianforte's aides indicated there was some sort of issue with s

we were the people who you could hear ben jacobs ask can i get your names? we were setting up to do an interview and arrived early to set up. we were in a room adjacent to a volunteer barbecue for his campaign that was about to happen and then he came in. we started talking and introduced himself and chitchat about bozeman in general when ben jacobson placed his recorder right up to him about here and started asking him questions about the cbo report on the republican healthcare bill and you heard what happened from there. i myself was standing about two feet d jacobs when it happened. there was a table in between. i saw the whole thing when he grabbed him by the neck both hands, slid him to the side. body slammed him and got on top of him and started punching and yelling at him and ben jacobs scrambled to his knees, grabbed his glasses and you heard him talk about his glasses being

get the hell out of here. >> jesus. >> get the hell out of here. >> and ben jacobs "the guardian" journalistjoins us. necessary bosseman, montana ben good to see you safe and sound. it appears the incident the alleged assault by gianforte has impacted the race but in some ways do you think make it's helped him. >> it's hard for me to -- hard for me to tell that part of the issue it's hard to tell in general because so many of the votes in montana were cast before election day that roughly two-thirds of the votes had been cast in advance. and he -- his assault on me happened you know on the day before the election. at about 5:00 in the evening. >> ben, listening to the audio, the situation seemed to escalate so quickly. can you walk us through what was going through your mind as it unfolded? >> what was going through my mind was it all happened very suddenly he grabbed my recorder i looked on and kuchzed while he was grabbing the recorder and thinking how unprecedented for a politician to start grabbing a reporter he is a recorder. which is don't -- i've reported on campaigns on capitol hill.

in the case of ben jacobs.ad been attacked by a democrat rather than a republican, i think ben jacobs would be the media darling of the right wing. he would be on every headline of breitbart, back-to-back coverage on fox news. because it is a republican, it's completely different. so everything seems very situation am. but this antagonistic relationship trump has with reporters, i don't think that's going away. i think the conservative base is going to continue to have that it's been like that for quite sometime. it's just stronger. >> it starts at the top, jason. starts at the top. this is donald trump who took some time out of his big boy trip abroad to make comments about gianforte. take a listen. going one step below that, less listen to the various republicans who refuse to reject gianforte even after he assaulted the reporter. had the head of the national republican campaign committees, the chair, said from what i know for greg gianforte, this is totally out of character. charlie dent saying, he was charg

to discuss today's special election and being body slammed by greg gianforte is the guardian's ben jacobs, first, you're fine, right? you're okay? >> i'm -- i'm -- i'm in as good shape as i could be under the circumstances. >> your glasses are broken. you did not get -- you did not break or fracture that elbow, right? >> i haven't broke or fractured the elbow. i just have to make sure the swelling and pain goes down. but i'm still -- yeah, as i told you last night, it's a good thing that it's not my pitching arm. >> yeah, you seemed last night and tonight kind of shaken up. >> yeah. no, it's been a very strange experience. i mean it's on one level it's surreal to be in the middle of a news story when your job is to report the news, not to be in the news. on the other hand, it's also, you know, i've asked hundreds if not thousands of politicians questions, and nothing like this has ever happened before. and yet this is something that's a basic question about the most important issue of the day, and it's -- you know, the basic important issue for voters to be aware of before the election. >

run-in with the law, witnesses including fox correspondent alicia acuna say gianforte body slammed ben jacobsfor the guardian, and then punched him. jacobs was trying to question gianforte about the g.o.p. american health care act. gianforte has not been cited for misdemeanor assault. he was also have the endorsements withdrawn from three different newspapers that had earlier endorsed up in this race. he could face up to six months in jail and a $500 fine for that misdemeanor assault. after that, three newspapers withdrew their endorsements and there was controversy at that point as to what was going to happen. at the end of the day, gianforte did win the race late tonight. let's go right now live to montana where our own alicia acuna yet is standing by with the very latest for us. >> hi, patty and peered about a couple minutes go think he was a five minute warning for greg gianforte to step up to the mic here in montana. it was pretty much election night headquarters for the campaign. to be quite frank about many people in the media we weren't quite sure there was going to be a party tonight

ben jacobs. >> well, apology to ben jacobs.where this goes next. >> it was very much an unexpected apology. >> it was indeed. we'll continue to follow events in montana. but for the moment let's turn our attention to the president. donald trump spent time on thursday in brussels. he certainly made his presence known. first it appeared he pushed one of the prime minister's out of the way. >> and then there was the uncomfortable handshake, and finally a scolding chastising speech to nato allies, much of which seemed to come straight from his campaign play book. >> nato members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations. but 23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they're supposed to be paying for their defense. this is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the united states. >> well, former l.a. city councilwoman wensy and you saw the pictures. the awkward handshake, what impression did the president create at the summit? >> well, this was supposed

they said he put his hands around ben jacobs' neck -- >> i have the quote. >> i want to share the quote. this came from that fox news crew that was there. ready, gianforte grabbed jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him. faith, keith, and i watched in disbelief as gianforte then began punching the reporter, to be clear at no point did any of us who witnessed this assault see jacobs sho any form of physical aggression toward gianforte. that's a powerful statement. and it's from a fox news reporter. >> you would think that this would lead to an immediate arrest but it hasn't. it took a while, a couple hours. the local sheriff has donated to gianforte's campaign and that may be one of the reasons why, you know, he hasn't just been brought in already. i think the larger issue is you mentioned it, what kind of world and society do we live in where a candidate thinks it's okay to choke is somebody. he didn't push him out of the way or slam a door in his face, he threw the guy down. you can't have this job if you don't have that degree of self-control. >>

in the campaign they put out very quick to call ben jacobs a liberal reporter.ake the parties off it, take the ideology off it. you listen to it right there. and if greg gianforte can't handle a reporter putting a tape recorder or a phone in his face, you're not going to like washington, dude. >> right. >> simple as that. so, in the end i mean you'll let the legal system sort it out but have a right to put your hands on anybody else. he wasn't putting his hands on you. keep your hands to yourself. >> and you have the witness account right there. once you started hearing the eyewitness accounts that's when you started hearing things change. we'll see what happens. >> did you see this? it is a, well, watch it, there it is a little presidential should have. did you see that? president trump pushed aside the prime minister of montenegro during the nato class photo today. >> a lot of people talking about this but i -- >> we'll talk about it a little bit on the other side. we have to go to break now. >> ♪ >> welcome back. fox's ron williams being honored area the tele

>> ben jacobs is a smart reporter. he was getting a question about a breaking news of the scoring of the health care bill. the audio tells the story. the campaign spin contradicts it, discounts it. it is a lie. it is an attempt to demonize jacobs as a liberal reporter. that speaks to the ugliness of what they are trying to tap into. the candidate flipped out to a question he did not feel comfortable answering. and the candidate, the republican candidate the night before election physical slammed ben jacobs to the ground, but started punching him. this is not behavior that is acceptable for any adult, let alone representing the people of montana. >> he caught an assault charge. david gregory, it is a no-brainer. the campaign can say whatever it wants. it is fabricating the story to cover the guy losing it over what this reporting was asking about. that is one component. doesn't seem to be much of a case in the defense of the assault charge. he lost his cool and did something stupid. he should go through the system. in t

that quote, tonight as greg was giving a separate interview in a private i was, the guardian's ben jacobsentered the office without permission, aggressively shoved a microphone in greg's face. he was asked to leave after jacobs to lower the recorder. jacobs declined and greg then attempted to grab the phone that was pushed in his face. jacobs grabbed greg's wrist and spun away from greg, pushing them both to the ground. it's unfortunate this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this scene at our campaign volunteer barbecue, end quote. joining me now on the story, charlie sykes is editor and chief of right wisconsin and msnbc contributor joy reid back was. charlie, as i mentioned, the sheriff also giving us the late-breaking information that they already had interaction with the candidate and the reporter. and they're looking at this as you would any other attempted potential battery case. according to what they've told us. your view of this on substance and politics with voters starting to come out tomorrow morning. >> well, you know, of course i didn't actually watch it.

ben jacobs. >> an apology and a win for the montana republican accused of body slamming a reporter. what message does it send to elect greg gianforte hours after an alleged violent outburst? >>> and the fbi taking a closer look at jared kushner, part of its russia investigation. what led authorities to focus on the president's top adviser and son-in-law? good morning, everybody, and welcome to "early start." i'm dave briggs. >> and i'm christine romans. it is friday, may 26th. it is 5:00 a.m. in the east. breaking overnight, montana has a new congressman, a new congressman with a court date. just 24 hours after he was charged with assault for apparently body slamming a reporter, the republican, greg gianforte, scores a decisive win over democrat rob quist. >> there are the final numbers. gianforte's victory celebration relatively subdued. he took a contrite tone, owning up to making a "mistake." joining us with the latest, cnn's ryan young in boseman, montana. good morning to you, ryan. what are you hearing from the people of montana regarding the message this might or might not sen

ben jacobs is an experienced,

quote, tonight as greg was giving a separate interview in a private office, the guardian's ben jacobstered the office without permission, aggressively shoved a recorder in greg's face and began asking badgering questions. jacobs was asked to leave after asking jacobs to lower the recorder, jacobs declined. greg then attempted to grab the phone that was pushed in his face. jacobs grabbed greg's wrist and spun away from greg, pushing both of them to the ground. it's unfortunate that this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this scene at our campaign volunteer barbecue. we should quickly add, however, a fox news team in the room says that's not what they saw. that network's report reads, quote, gianforte grabbed jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him. here in new york, our national political correspondent steve kornacki has come in to talk about this story tonight. and joining us by phone from bozeman, own garrick hake. talk about the contours of this race and if and how they might have changed tonight. >> well, brian, the politics

that's not really how ben jacobs described what happened to him when he spoke to our colleague chris hayes last night. >> i was hoping to get the most basic statement on the cbo report. i wasn't expecting -- i think i wasn't expecting detailed policy, but then again, i also wasn't expecting to be body slammed. >> did gianforte's aides or himself say anything to you after that? >> no. they asked me to leave between the police and the paramedics. i was not quite paying attention to anything else. >> reporter: and craig, as you know, as anyone who has covered capitol hill knows or anyone who has watched coverage on capitol hill tv knows, reporters getting in the face with politicians asking questions is pretty much par for the course. we'll know in a few hours, or maybe tonight depending on how the counting goes, whether greg gianforte will have that opportunity, still. >> to be clear, we still don't know how the congressman feels about the new health care bill since the cbo score came out. we still don't have is the answer to that question. >> reporter: they have not answered that. >>

ben jacobs is a political reporter for the guardian and was asking the candidate a question about the republican health cair plan. he was having -- healthcare plan. the scuffle was caught on tape by the journalist and by fox news reporting team. let's see a clip of that. >> cbs, we know you are waiting to make your decision about -- >> i will talk to you about that later. >> bus i was curious now. the last [indiscernible] you did the same thing. get the hell out of here. get the hell out of here. the last [indiscernible] >> you just broke my glasses. >> last time did the same thing. >> you just body slammed me and broke my glasses. >> i would also like to call the police. can i get you guy's names? >> all right. this incident threatening to up end an already close race for montana's lone seat. gym reports the reporter grabbed his list, but alicia who was in the room at the time backs up the reporter's account. >> keith ray lee and i were setting up for an interview. with greg gee forte, he came in the room, exchanged niceties and a couple minutes into the conversation another man walk

>> i can tell you i know ben jacobs. he's a very professional reporter. he trump campaign, so he's not a stranger to hostile candidates. all i know is what ben's tweeted, the audio we just heard, but that's obviously very disturbing, it's one thing to berate reporters at rallies, but to be physically accosted by a candidate, i find that disturbing. >> professor dershowitz, the fact that this is allegedly -- jeff, the fact that it's allegedly by a candidate himself, you might think okay, some aide to a candidate perhaps wants to try to get the person out of the room. >> remember during the trump campaign, cory lewandowski, there was this issue about whether he grabbed a reporter or not, and that faded away after the police got involved. this seems more serious. a body slam is more dangerous, clearly illegal, than what corey lewandowski did. but it's indicative of the atmosphere which we're living now. and i don't mean to make light of it. it's bad, it's not something that should happen. >> according to the tape, what set mr. gianforte off, was not about the

saying he doesn't know how he'll get the 50 votes he needs to get this done. >> thank you. >> we got ben jacobs on the phone and talk to him. he was the reporter in the center of that incident last night. ben, thanks for joining us. first things first, how are you feeling? >> i'm still making it. it's still been surprising and shocking set of events but i'm recovering. >> well, that's good to know. give us your side of the story. we heard that statement from the gianforte campaign saying you were the aggressor. tell us what happened from your perspective. >> i mean i think the statements i gave to the police, what the audio speaks for itself. the only thing in gianforte's statement is my name and place of employment. everything -- >> so walk us through what happened. you walk up. you want to ask a question about the cbo report. what happens next? >> that you hear exactly what happens, what happens in the audio and, you know, i never touched or came close to gianforte and it's -- it became -- it became, you know, something that turned on a dime into the type of encounter i never expected to have

ben jacobs. >> reporter: it's sad that some people just don't trust reporters.ked into the room, walked around yesterday, talking to the people in the room who were quite energized by this campaign. some of them actually kind of pointed toward this apology, showing the kind of man he was. they believe he's a strong christian man with a strong business background who's made a great living who they believe could go to washington and kind of make sense of things, and that's why some people said they were more drawn to him after this incident. now, we went to the grocery store and talked to other people and they said, look when they were standing next to their children, this is not the kind of behavior they want to see from them, but they do understand that this state votes red and they believed he was going to have a chance to win no matter what. of course, he still has a court date. he has to be in court before june 7th, so this is not over yet, guys. >> by no means is this over, though the election is. ryan young, thank you. >> sometimes you win the election and

ben jacobs made an audio recording of the incident that seems to back up his claim that the candidated him basically out of nowhere while jacobs was asking him question ises about health care. but gianforte's campaign released a statement saying it was basically the opposite, that ben jacobs apparently assaulted greg gianforte, that he grabbed his wrists, and the two of them end upped on the ground together. and it was the reporter's aggressive behavior that lead to the altercation. it's worth noting that ben jacobs' account was backed up not only by his audio recording, but by an eyewitness account by other people in the room, namely a pox news correspondent and camera crew. and also late last night, the montana sheriff for that county charged the republican candidate. charged gianforte. charged him with misdemeanor assault for allegedly body slamming the reporter. should it be noted that that sheriff is campaign donor to mr. gianforte. now, this all happened just hours before the polls opened for that special election. they open this morning at 7:00 a.m. local time. here is t thing,

there's no indication whatsoever he reached out personally to ben jacobs to actually apologize. gy for defaming him with a statement from his campaign that read, in part, and i quote here, jacobs grabbed greg's wrist and spun away from greg, pushing them both to the ground. both ben jacobs and another reporter who witnessed the assault, of course, categorically denied that happened and said the only aggressor was soon to be congressman gianforte, an assertion backed up by the audio of the assault. quote, it's unfortunate that this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this scene at our campaign volunteer barbecue. that statement, which we now know was a complete and total lie, a fabrication, that was issued by a person by the name of shane scanlon, gianforte's spokesperson. that's shane right there. we asked shane to come on the show tonight, and we've reached out to the gianforte campaign for comment with no reply. right now shane scanlon, as far as we know, has not apologized for his defamation. he has not apologized to ben jacobs for maligning him in public and

. >> the report, ben jacobs, is standing by with our exclusive with him. we'll hear from him in a moment. >> not something you expect to see. montana's only empty house seat, voters in montana go to the polls today and it was sparked by a question about health care. jacobs was trying for a response from the congressional budget office but the health care bill will lead to 23 million more insured in the next decade. the white house democrats fighting hard. good morning david. >> reporter: good morning, george. you know, we talk about covering the rough and tumble of politics. well, normally that's just a figure of speech, but in bozeman, montana, not so much. a special election to choose the state's one and only house member. the front-runner now facing criminal charges accused of body-slamming a reporter for asking a tough question. >> rp states that he was assaulted by greg gianforte and he states greg body-slammed him and kicked his arm. he has the recording of it. >> reporter: overnight, montana's republican candidate for congress, greg gianforte, cited

in the case of ben jacobs.een attacked by a democrat rather than a republican, i think ben jacobs would be the media darling of the right wing. he would be on every headline of breitbart, back-to-back coverage on fox news. because it is a republican, it's completely different. so everything seems very situation am. but this antagonistic relationship trump has with reporters, i don't think that's going away. i think the conservative base is going to continue to have that it's been like that for quite sometime. it's just stronger. >> it starts at the top, jason. starts at the top. this is donald trump who took some time out of his big boy trip abroad to make comments about gianforte. take a listen. going one step below that, less listen to the various republicans who refuse to reject gianforte even after he assaulted the reporter. had the head of the national republican campaign committees, the chair, said from what i know for greg gianforte, this is totally out of character. charlie dent saying, he was charged w

ben jacob. >> an apology, and a victory for the montana republican accused of body slamming a reporter. the overnight results and more of what greg gianforte had to say. >> and the fbi is taking a closer look at jared kushner as part of its russia investigation. what led authorities to take a closer look at one of the president's top advisers, and his son-in-law. good morning, to an early start. >> nice to see you, i'm glad to be back, i'm christine romans. we welcome all of our viewers here and around the world. breaking news, montana has a new congressman just hours after he was charged with assault for body slamming a reporter. he scores a decisive win over the democrat, rob quist. >> and the celebration was relatively subdued. he owned up to a mistake. joining us in bozeman, month month, good morning to you, good night, whatever it is. interesting, because it's not apparent if this assault on the reporter hurt or maybe even in some cases helped gianforte, what do you sense? >> reporter: well, good morning, dave, i can tell you sometimes it helped in this situation. we went inside w

once ben jacobs left, mr. g salman gianforte looked it up in our field producer was there and apologize. he apologized multiple times. and then his press guy he left and then came back and told us that he didn't see the whole thing. he's came counted toward the end after everything had happened into heard the noise. he asked us what it was that we saw. they could be a genuine question, him just asking what did you see. it could have been what it was a could be reporting as well? i really can't say. i know that we did have that exchange and then we were told the sheriff's department had arrived and we would talk to the sergeant. >> kimberly: they also released a statement that really did not match up with your eyewitness in a statement and observations by yourself, and also the producer. >> it didn't match. we noticed that immediately. when that statement was release released, the photographer in the field producer and i were sitting in an witness interview room at the sheriff's department, the justice center,

. >> well, ben jacobs, thank you for coming on to clarify this situation. good luck going forwards. i welcome you back to new day when you have the scoop and you are not the subject of the story hopefully. >> thanks. i hope not to be the subject of any more stories in the foreseeable future. >> you are making strong points on this one, ben jacobs. thank you. be well. >> thanks. >> hard to believe anybody dealing with a situation like that. >> he doesn't want to blame all politicians. he says he has good interactions with people on the right. he's not grand standing. he's not forwarding an agenda, but he did clarify facts. he was not in a private room. he did not interrupt a private discussion. he did not touch john forte and he didn't see this coming. he didn't even respond once it happened. he didn't even return force. i don't know how the guy escapes the charges except they are misdemeanor charges, which are pretty low level. >> let's discuss this with chris cillizza and david axelrod. david axelrod, what if this candidate with an apparent hair trigger wins today? >> they may have

once ben jacobs laughed, mr. gianforte looked at the three of us standing there. me, our photographer and the filled producer and apologized. he apologized multiple times. and then his press guy shane left and came back and told us he didn't see the whole thing. he came in toward the end after everything had happened and we heard the noise. he asked us what it was we saw. it could be a genuine question, him just asking, what did you see? it could have been to see what it was we were going to be reporting. i really can't say. i just know we had that exchange. then we were told that the sheriff's department had arrived and we needed to talk to the sergeant. >> kimerly: they released a statement that did not match up with your eye witness statements and observation by yourself, the cameraman, and the producer. >> it didn't match. we noticed that immediately. when that statement was release released, the photographer and the field producer and i were sitting in a witness interview room at that sheriff's department. we discussed how different it was from what we had se

>> i can tell you i know ben jacobs, all i know is what ben's tweeted, the audio we just heard, but that's obviously very disturbing, it's one thing to berate reporters at rallies, but this is a whole other thing. >> usually, you might think, okay, some aide to a candidate, perhaps wants to try to get the person out of the room. >> remember during the trump campaign, cory lewandowski, there was a question about whether he grabbed a reporter or not, and that kind of faded away after the police got involved. but a body slam is more dangerous, clearly illegal than what cory lewandowski did. it's bad, it's not something that should happen. >> according to the tape, what set mr. gene forte off. it's the health care bill, that's been a big issue in montana. in private, he praised the republican health care bill. the democrat opposes it. in public, he said i really don't want to take a position on it until we find how many people it will cover. this health care bill nationally only has 18%. so i wonder if he's feeling some heat about the health care bill, which has the potential to really hurt re

"the guardian" is saying, "the guardian" is deeply appalled by how our reporter ben jacobs was treated in the course of doing his job as a journalist in the montana special election. we are committed to holding power to account and we stand by ben and our team of reporters for the questions they ask and the reporting that is produced. what did you want to say? did you want to say something, jeff? >> we're getting a report there, the sheriff's press conference did take place and i think the sheriff said, i guess, quite appropriately, said, look, we're doing an investigation, we're going to talk to the people who were there and see what happens. and i think that's, you know, that's a cautious and appropriate statement. but the good news is, at least, is that they are going to do an investigation, because when somebody gets body slammed, whether it's a reporter or whether it's someone in a bar or someone at a ball game, this is a matter for law enforcement. >> he said he's going to interview gianforte, as well. but i mean, it's just -- it's just -- it's really, it's really sad that this h

a statement to that is now contra diktd by the journalist ben jacobs and also the audiotape of the encounterwitnesses who all happened to work for fox news and all back mr. jacobs account. mr. greg gianfortte was charged with misdeamnor assault. so far very few members of the republican party in montana or washington, d.c. have condemned the actions. all but the national republican congressional campaign committee said was quote we all make mistakes. one quote which apparently we're calling misdeamnor assault these days. after this incident a montana leader upon learning our reporter on the ground is from cnn told her you're lucky somebody doesn't pop one of you. just two weeks ago a different reporter was arrested in west virginia after he tried to ask tom price whether domestic violence would be considered a pre-existing condition. the senator sent a letter to the federal communications asked why he was man handled. as the editorial board of the billings gazette, we believe you cannot love america, love the constitution, talk about the importance of a free press and then pummel a reporter.

ben jacobs. [ applause ] >> that's not the person that i am.ot the way i'll lead in this state. >> we know! >> rest assured, our work is just beginning. but it does begin with me taking responsibility for my own actions. >> so, most political analysts expected him to win but it was closer than the recent presidential election. steve kornacki has more on how the election actually played out. pretty interesting stuff. >> all right. well, republicans, the bottom line is, they get the win that they wanted. the result they wanted out of montana. greg gianforte will go to congress now. he defeats rob quist in that special election. republicans will say, that's the story. a win is a win is a win. democrats will try to sell this as at least a moral victory and something that could be significant heading into the midterms in 2018. why? democrats say, look, donald trump won this state by 21 points last november in this election, it looks like a seven-point margin, a seven-point victory for the republicans. so, democrats will say, hey, we ate into the tru

he named ben jacobs in the apology. >> ron, to prove a.b.'s point. were despicable things to our kyung lah on the ground reporting about how they delighted in what was happening here. although there were witnesses and audio tape of the assault. here is one. my gop voter to me just now knowing i work for cnn. that audio made me cheer. she smiled as she walked in to vote for gianforte. the next one. montana gop voter, upon learning we're from cnn, you are lucky someone doesn't pop one of you. obviously violence is okay, i guess, when it is against journalists. >> i think it is deeper than that. my last book ten years ago was called "the second civil war." it was metaphorical. we are living through something like a slow-motion culture political civil war. each side in it feels the other is not only wrong headed, but a threat to the country. and the space between the two coalitions, they separated so much. look at montana. montana is roughly 85% white. 75% rural. 70% non college. you could not map the coordinates of where trump was strongest or where he

ben jacobs. i also want to apologize for the fox news team that was there. i'm going to washington to get things done. to drain the swamp and fight for montana families. >> he is contrite in the apologies. gianforte endorsed by president trump to fill montana's congressional seat which was vacated by the president's interior secretary. gianforte due in court next month. faces six months in jail if convicted. breaking news meantime in the investigation into the russian election meddling. the fbi is reportedly looking closely at the president's son-in-law. sources say investigators are, focusing on contacts between jared kushner and russian officials including meetings with russia's ambassador, and a russian banker. but nay point out that, kushner is not a target of the investigation and not accused of a crime. >> president trump in sicily gathering with world leaders for the g-7 summit. taking part in a full day of meetings expected to focus on terrorism, trade and climate change. ight when it comes to their financial contributions for defense. >> 23 of the 2

ben jacobs, reporter for the guardian says he was body slammed by greg gianforte. we recorded some audio earlier. hear now the entire clip. >> because you were waiting to make your decision about health care -- >> let me talk to you about that later. >> yeah, but -- >> speak to shane, please. sick and tired of you guys. the last guy did the same thing. get the hell out of here. the last guy did the same thing. you with the guardian? >> yes, and you just broke my glasses. >> the last guy did the same thing. >> you just body slammed me and broke my glass. >> get the hell out of here. >> i'd also like to call the police. can i get your guys' names? he just body slammed me. >> the campaign put out this statement quote tonight as greg was giving a separate interview in a private office, the guardian's ben jakens entered without permission, aggressively shoved a recording in greg's face and began asking badgering questions. after asking jacobs to lower the recorder, jacobs declined and jacobs grabbed greg's wrist and spun away pushing them both to the ground. it's unfort

as greg was giving a separate interview in a private office "the guardian's" ben jacobs entered the office without permission aggressively shoved a recorder in greg's face and jacobs 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. this morning the reporter who alleges the assault ben jacobs fired back. >> the only thing in gianforte statement that is factually correct is my name and my place of employment. i never touched or came close to gianforte. >> let's get to our nbc reporters mike viqueira on capitol hill, garret hake in bozeman, montana, where that incident occurred and peter alexander on capitol hill with breaking news of sorts on the fbi search and steve kornacki is here to break down that special election and the implications nationally. vick, let me start with you. republicans on the hill, they seem to be rejecting the violence, not so much the candidate, though. >> well, that's right, craig. i think the thing that shocks peopl

it had been ryan zinke's. >> he's accused of body slamming a reporter ben jacobs.d the incident. >> i'll talk with you about that later. >> i don't think there will be time. >> i'm sick and tired of you guys. the last time you came in here, you did same thing. get the hell out of here. get the hell out of here. the last guy did the same thing. are you with the "guardian? ". >> yes. and you just broke my glasses you guys did the same damn thing last time. >> you broke my glasses. >> after he was asked to lower his recorder, jacobs declined. he grabbed the reporter. jacobs grabbed greg's wrist and spun away from greg. you're shaking your head at the table because we're hearing two different versions of what happened there. >> yeah, we are. >> we'll talk than. >>> we're talking this story, the white house is dismissing a cbo office. it was voted on before a new cbo score came out reflecting last-minute changes. now the cbo report, a nonpartisan report, it was released yesterday, says 23 million more people will be uninsured under the house bill. that's not much differ

ben jacobs. to apologize for the fox news team that was there and i'm sorry to each one of you that we had to go through this. that's not the person that i am and it's not the way i'll lead in this state. >> reporter: gianforte was a strong favorite throughout the campaign and that continued even after he was charged with the misdemeanor assault wednesday. however, the last minute controversy unnerved republicans but it's unclear right now if any impact this body slamming incident had on the polls as many voters had already voted early. over to you, wisdom. >> all right, annie yu reporting. thank you very much annie. 4:50 is the time. also in the news this morning the white house is redoubling its efforts to eliminate all federal funding for cleanup for the chesapeake bay. in fiscal year 2018 budget $73 million has been wiped out. the decision has alarmed environmentalists who see the bay getting cleaner every day. this mom environmental scientists gave the bay a grade of c. the best backwards. m

here's what ben jacobs told msnbc earlier today. >> i tried to ask an important issue for voters.a major piece of legislation, making sure voters have the information they need. i don't know what i could have done differently. it just sort of -- i just tried to do my job and do my job the way i'm supposed to do my job. >> and joining us now david jolly, former republican congressman from florida and senior editor for business insider and msnbc contributor, thank you guys both for being here. david, i'll start with you. >> thank you. >> you have the disadvantage of not being at the table with us. it strikes me the republican party has a lose/lose situation in a lot of ways. either they lose a special election that wasn't on the target list of democrats' 23 congressional seats hillary clinton won the congressional district. >> right. >> or they have to serve with greg gianforte and somehow excuse his presence for the next couple of years. which is the worst -- >> joy, it is a remarkably low bar to be a republican candidate in trump america right now. he should lose. and republicans

while there are questions left unanswered by gop house hopeful altercation with guardian ben jacobs,estigations and records are shocking, disturbing and without precedent. that's why the billings gazette is doing something without precedent. we are rescinding our endorsement of him. >> we are seeing democrats running ads about this on facebook. >> as they should. >> sure, but john doesn't think it is a game changer but does it have an impact maybe not in montana but beyond? >> i think so. if you read the tea leaves, we had a win for democrats in new hampshire and new york, they were two flips from red to blue. you are seeing democrats pick up steam and momentum. this kansas, democrats came a lot closer. the john os awe race in georgia we almost clinched the 50% threshold to avoid a run off. we clearly have momentum and if this race is a nail biter and we come within striking of winning the seat it could be the beginning -- >> yeah, trump carried by 20 points. i don't know -- now it is to the detriment of democrats if for some reason the democrat wins, doesn't know how you pin it on t

and a reporter from "the guardian," ben jacobs, tried to press gianforte -- not even press so much asply ask a question for his stance on this now that the cbo has released that price tag, and the audio released speaks for itself. here's what happened. >> -- the cbo score, because you know you've been waiting to make your decision about health care until you saw the bill, and it just came out. and -- >> we'll talk to you about that later. >> but there's not going to be time. i'm curious -- >> speak with shane, please. >> just -- >> sick and tired of you guys! the last guy that came in here, he did the same thing! get the hell out of here! >> jesus! >> get the hell out of here! the last guy did the same thing. are you with "the guardian"? >> yes, and you just broke my glasses. >> the last guy did the same damn thing! >> you just body slammed me and broke my glasses. >> get the hell out of here. >> you'd like me to get the hell out of here. i'd also like to call the police. can i get your guys' names? >> hey, you've got to leave. >> he just body slammed me. >> you've got to leave. >> we

ben jacobs. i also want to apologize to the fox news team that was there.m sorry to each one of you that we had to go through this. that's not the person i am. it's not the way i'll lead in this state. >> gianforte is facing a misdemeanor assault charge for the incident in which his response to a journalist turned violent when he grabbed reporter ben jacobs and threw him on the ground. president trump, while in italy, expre expressed his pleasure with the outcome. >> a great win in montana. >> and eric, according to the sheriff's office, gianforte must appear in court by june 7. eric? >> eric: meanwhile, he's headed to capitol hill. once he's sworn in as a congressman, could he face any punishment in the house? >> still a big question. the u.s. congress has the power to decide whether or not to seat him. our senior capitol producer, chad pergram said there's no efforts to keep gianforte out and there's not been a legitimate question of seating someone in more than 30 years. he will likely be sworn in after the current recess in early june. paul ryan release

for his part, ben jacobs calls it the strangest moment in his life. with polls opening in just a few hours, the fallout for gianforte has been swift. three of the state's biggest newspapers have rescinded their endorsements, and democrats have already rolled out facebook ads attacking gianforte for the alleged body slam. >> the democratic candidate, rob quist, so far declining to comment on all this. one other thing worth noting here, the sheriff, brian goodkin, has confirmed he gave gianforte's campaign $250 -- i'm thinking it's $250,000. >> no, $250. >> okay, but he says it will have no bearing on his investigation. early voting has been under way for weeks and hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots have already been returned, so there's really no telling how wednesday's events will affect the election, but already you've got more than 250,000 votes already in. >> that's right, 259,000. >> but the polls open. you've got all these newspapers yanking their endorsements. unprecedented there and really bizarre events. >> well, look, he's got bigger p

>> guest: well, as you disclose, the reporter, ben jacobs, very diligently and the world mild-mannered is probably clichÉ. not an aggressive reporter. he's not the kind of guy who he jumps over the rope line. he was simply asking to respond to the cbo score of the american health care act and said he couldn't officially take a position on how much it costs. this is something we were waiting for. they were reporters waiting for this to dry. then just happen to push harder because he thought there wouldan be another chance. pushes you harder because as the fox news team that witnessed a sad comment he was playing the recorder to gianforte, pulled into the calm and asked him for questions. >> there were witnesses outside the candidate and his staff. >> guest: yes. there is the fox news team that was there to write about the story and had this not happened it would have interviews with both candidates and state of the race tape deal. waiting to reporters, wrote a column last night, there shouldd be a statement that contradicted it. they thought is unprovoked. they had to take a minute.ere