The big Montana energy conference organized by Sen. Steve Daines got off to an unexpected start last week, when the Billings hotel was evacuated as the fire alarm went off.  

A skirmish then broke out in which an unruly drunk apparently attempted to rob Daines’ chief of staff Jason Thielman, the Montana Republican confirmed to Heard on the Hill.  

“Our attorney general, who is the chief law enforcement officer with the state of Montana, Tim Fox, he literally grabbed the guy and restrained him, and took him to the ground until the police arrived,” Daines said in an interview. “I think it was someone who might have had too much to drink.”  

No one was injured in the altercation, Daines said, “but it created a little excitement.”  

That “excitement” involved Fox being “cold-cocked,” according to The Missoulian . The newspaper reported Friday that the alleged assailant called the attorney general’s office to apologize, conceding that he had been drinking.  

Contact Lesniewski at nielslesniewski@cqrollcall.com and follow him on Twitter at@nielslesniewski.

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