HELENA, Mont. (AP) - The Latest on the booking of U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte (all times local):
1:45 p.m.
A Montana county attorney says he won’t release a mug shot of Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte that was taken Friday when he was booked and fingerprinted after pleading guilty to assaulting a reporter in May.
County Attorney Marty Lambert said he asked the state attorney general for an opinion on whether mug shots should be considered confidential criminal justice information.
Lambert says Attorney General Tim Fox declined to issue an opinion.
Travis Hall, Gianforte’s communications director, says Gianforte has fulfilled the terms of his settlement in the case, which included 40 hours of community service, 20 hours of anger management counseling and a $50,000 donation to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Hall says Gianforte is focused on serving the people of Montana.
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1:15 p.m.
Montana U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte has been photographed and fingerprinted after pleading guilty to assaulting a reporter on the eve of the special election that put him in office.
Gallatin County jail records indicate the booking process Friday took 23 minutes, beginning at 6:37 a.m. A jail spokeswoman confirmed he was booked and released.
Gianforte’s attorneys had argued against him having to be booked because he was not formally arrested for attacking Ben Jacobs, a reporter for Britain’s the Guardian newspaper.
Justice of the Peace Rick West on Monday ordered the Bozeman Republican to be booked by Sept. 15 or be held in contempt of court.
It’s virtually guaranteed that Democrats would use a Gianforte mug shot to persuade people to vote for their candidate if the congressman seeks re-election in 2018.
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