Breitbart reporter files charges against Trump campaign manager
A Breitbart reporter is filing a criminal complaint against Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski alleging that he grabbed her at a press conference this week, The Hill has learned.
The Jupiter Police Department confirmed in a statement shared with The Hill that it was investigating an alleged battery from Tuesday night at Trump National. The police report was filed Friday morning.
{mosads}Breitbart’s president and CEO earlier Friday rejected the Trump campaign’s claim that Fields may have made up the story.
“Breitbart News stands behind Michelle Fields,” Larry Solov said in a statement, adding that “Trump’s suggestion that Fields made up the incident Tuesday evening contradicts the evidence.”
Washington Post reporter Ben Terris wrote Thursday that he witnessed Fields being grabbed, identifying Lewandowski as the person who did it.
Fields on Thursday displayed bruising on her arm on social media and in an interview with ABC News. Fields and Terris can be heard in audio from the scrum Tuesday night immediately after the incident.
Breitbart on Friday published a piece suggesting that Lewandowski had been misidentified.
Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson insisted during an interview on Fox Business Network on Thursday that Lewandowski didn’t forcefully grab Fields’s arm but suggested that “someone probably did grab her.”
Breitbart issued statements Thursday defending the reporter as Trump’s campaign denied that the altercation took place, with Lewandowski personally firing off tweets including accusing Fields of being an “attention seeker.”
Trump himself addressed the controversy on Thursday night after the GOP debate, telling CNN’s Dylan Byers that there was no evidence to support the claim by Fields, saying that “perhaps she made the story up. I think that’s what happened.”
Fields told ABC she wanted Trump to imagine how she might be treated if she was his daughter.
Lewandowski tweeted directly at Fields late Thursday, calling her “totally delusional” and saying he had never met her.
– Updated at 12:08 p.m.
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