An executive board member of the Gallatin County Republican Women has resigned after telling the host of a statewide radio program she would have shot the reporter Republican Congressman Greg Gianforte assaulted this spring.
Karen Marshall called into Northern Broadcasting Network’s Voices of Montana show during an interview with Democrat John Heenan, who is running for his party's nomination to challenge Gianforte for Montana’s lone seat in the U.S. House next year.
Marshall told the radio show’s host that what happened on the eve of the special election last spring, leading to Gianforte pleading guilty to assaulting Guardian newspaper reporter Ben Jacobs, was "a complete set up."
Marshall told Voices of Montana that she attended the barbeque in Gallatin County, where the assault happened.
"I was there. I’m a friend of Greg’s. If that kid had done to me what he did to Greg, I would have shot him. That kid came on private property. He came into a private building. And went into a very private room," she said.
The event where the assault took place included several other media outlets, and at the time of the assault Gianforte was about to do an interview with Fox News.
Marshall made her statements last Thursday. On Monday, a post on the Gallatin County Republican Women Facebook page stated that Marshall had submitted her letter of resignation.
The Gallatin County Republican Women website no longer lists Marshall as a member of its executive board.
Neither the Gallatin County Republican Women or Karen Marshall responded to requests from Montana Public Radio for a comment on this story.
A spokesman for Greg Gianforte told Lee Newspapers last Friday that the congressman disagrees with and repudiates Marshall's comments.
