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Corey Lewandowski: Trump campaign manager charged with alleged assault Corey Lewandowski: Trump stands by campaign manager amid battery charge
(about 7 hours later)
Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, was charged with battery on Tuesday over an incident involving a reporter during a rally earlier this month. Donald Trump has stood by his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who was charged with battery on Tuesday over an incident involving a reporter during a campaign rally earlier this month.
Police in Jupiter, Florida, released footage of Lewandowski grabbing the arm of Michelle Fields, at the time a Breitbart reporter, on 8 March. In the clip, Fields can be seen wearing a cream blazer in the bottom left of the crowd. Lewandowski appears to grab her arm and pull her back, while Trump continues to walk forwards. After initially denying that he had ever touched Michelle Fields, then a reporter for conservative news site Breitbart.com, footage released by police in Jupiter, Florida from Trump’s hotel shows Lewandowski forcibly grabbing her arm.
In a press conference on his plane Tuesday afternoon, Trump defended his top staffer. “I think it’s a very very sad day in this country when a man can be destroyed over something like that.” The reality television star, whose catchphrase on his show The Apprentice was “you’re fired,” nevertheless insisted, “I don’t discard people.”
Related: Trump's campaign manager has been charged, but his alleged victim is the one being punished
The Republican frontrunner also pushed back at the claim that Fields was physically hurt by Lewandowski.
He said of the bruises on her arm, “how do you know those bruises weren’t there before? I’m not a lawyer. But, she said she had a bruise on her arm. I mean to me, to get squeezed, don’t you think she would have yelled out and screamed? Take a look at her facial expression, her facial expression doesn’t change. You say there are bruises on her arm? How did they get there? Who put them there?”
The police report states: “Lewandowski grabbed Fields’s left arm with his right hand causing her to turn and step back.” Fields showed police her left forearm which “appeared to show a grabbing-type injury”, according to the investigating officer.The police report states: “Lewandowski grabbed Fields’s left arm with his right hand causing her to turn and step back.” Fields showed police her left forearm which “appeared to show a grabbing-type injury”, according to the investigating officer.
Trump said his campaign manager was “absolutely innocent”. He “will enter a plea of not guilty and looks forward to his day in court. He is completely confident that he will be exonerated”, the Republican frontrunner said. I guess these just magically appeared on me @CLewandowski_ @realDonaldTrump. So weird. pic.twitter.com/oD8c4D7tw3
The GOP frontrunner questioned the veracity of Fields’ complaint. Soon after the incident, Lewandowski tweeted that Fields was “delusional” and insisted that he had never touched her. He backed up this claim in an interview with Benny Johnson of IJ Review last week, to stand by his statement and insist he didn’t know anything about a police investigation.
Wow, Corey Lewandowski, my campaign manager and a very decent man, was just charged with assaulting a reporter. Look at tapes-nothing there! At a town hall meeting in Janesville, Wisconsin, Trump invited the crowd to pass judgement on the tape, pivoting a question from audience member on discipline in schools into a heated defence of Lewandowski.
Trump’s spokeswoman, Katrina Pierson, appeared on CNN to downplay the incident, saying it was standard for a bit of pushing and shoving to occur on the campaign trail and not something serious. “What did you think?” He asked the 1,000 assembled supporters inside the Janesville Convention Centre, calling for their opinion on the video.
“This is not different to when I’m in the middle of the scrum and get smacked by the television networks,” said Pierson, saying she wouldn’t sue the TV networks if a cameraman gave her a small cut. “She’s a liar,” one woman shouted back to applause.
“These types of things are not uncommon, to be jostled or moved or hit, from a campaign or a media person ... This is absurd, this is ridiculous, and it will be beat,” she said. Another woman shouted: “I watched it on the widescreen and there was nothing!”
Trump and Pierson both say that Fields changed her story, a claim the reporter denied on Twitter. “I can’t destroy a man’s life,” Trump said. “He’s got a beautiful wife and children and I’m not going to destroy a man for that.”
Why aren't people looking at this reporters earliest statement as to what happened, that is before she found out the episode was on tape? In a statement shortly after the incident, Trump initially said, “I did not witness any encounter. In addition to our staff, which had no knowledge of said situation, not a single camera or reporter of more than 100 in attendance captured the alleged incident” and questioned whether “this is part of a larger pattern of exaggerating incidents”. In addition to being witnessed by Ben Terris, a reporter for the Washington Post, there was also contemporaneous audio of the incident.
Earlier on Tuesday afternoon, Katrina Pierson, a Trump spokeswoman, appeared on CNN to insist that Lewandowski would remain as campaign manager even if he was found guilty of the misdemeanor charger.
“Yes, absolutely,” she said when asked by CNN. Pierson also suggested that campaigns “should begin to change the rules of the type of access the press gets from here on” after this incident.
Trump and Pierson both continue to insist that Fields, who declined to comment to the Guardian, changed her story, a claim the reporter has denied on Twitter.
Because my story never changed. Seriously, just stop lying. https://t.co/1fz9cBHOuTBecause my story never changed. Seriously, just stop lying. https://t.co/1fz9cBHOuT
Fields has said she was attempting to ask Trump a question when Lewandowski grabbed her. Two days after the incident, she wrote her account of the incident in a post on Brietbart. The incident occurred when Trump was leaving an election night press conference at his hotel in Florida. Fields attempted to ask Trump a question when Lewandowski forcibly grabbed her in front of Terris. Two days after the incident, she wrote her account of the incident in a post on Breitbart.
Trump acknowledged the question, but before he could answer I was jolted backwards. Someone had grabbed me tightly by the arm and yanked me down. I almost fell to the ground, but was able to maintain my balance. Nonetheless, I was shaken.Trump acknowledged the question, but before he could answer I was jolted backwards. Someone had grabbed me tightly by the arm and yanked me down. I almost fell to the ground, but was able to maintain my balance. Nonetheless, I was shaken.
Fields tweeted pictures of her bruised arm after the incident. She resigned from Breitbart a week later, stating that the rightwing website had not supported her. Trump read an excerpt of this account aloud at his rally in Janesville, Wisconsin on Tuesday in a mocking voice and claimed “her statement changed big league”.
I guess these just magically appeared on me @CLewandowski_ @realDonaldTrump. So weird. pic.twitter.com/oD8c4D7tw3 Lewandowski is scheduled to appear in court on 4 May, one day after the Indiana Republican primary.
Lewandowski has denied he touched her.
@MichelleFields you are totally delusional. I never touched you. As a matter of fact, I have never even met you.
But he turned himself in to Jupiter police around 8am on Tuesday, reports the Palm Beach Post.
Lewandowski is due to appear in court on 4 May, one day after the Indiana Republican primary. His lawyers are Scott Richardson of West Palm Beach and Kendall Coffey of Miami, one a former first assistant state attorney in Palm Beach County, the later a former US attorney for the southern district of Florida and a litigator in high-profile cases, including the 2000 presidential election recount.
The Associated Press contributed to this report