House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said he wouldn’t block Greg Gianforte from sitting in Congress should the GOP candidate win a special election in Montana on Thursday, just hours after a reporter said he was body-slammed by the politician.
“I think he should apologize,” Mr. Ryan said at his weekly press briefing, where he didn’t refer to Mr. Gianforte by name, instead calling him “the gentleman.”
Mr. Ryan said, however, it’s up to the voters of Montana if they want to elect Mr. Gianforte.
“I’m going to let the people of Montana decide who they want as their representative. That’s not our choice,” Mr. Ryan said.
The Republican candidate is in a tight race with Democrat Rob Quist.
A reporter for the Guardian, a British paper, said he was attacked by Mr. Gianforte Wednesday, and other reporters on the scene backed up his account. The candidate was charged with misdemeanor assault.
In the wake of the incident, several newspapers withdrew their endorsements of Mr. Gianforte.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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