Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields has filed a criminal complaint against Donald Trump’s presidential campaign manager after alleging that he manhandled her during a press conference earlier this week.
Fields formally filed assault charges Friday morning against Corey Lewandowski in Jupiter, Fla., where the incident occurred. Fields’ complaint was confirmed by Adam Brown, an officer in the Jupiter Police Department, and was first reported by the Independent Journal Review.
The latest development was reported around the same time Friday morning that Fields’ Breitbart colleague, Joel Pollak, published his own report suggesting Lewandowski was not the individual who grabbed Fields by the arm after she’d asked Trump a tough question at the press conference.
Citing footage of the press conference taken before and after the incident, Pollack claimed the presence of two men – Lewandoswki and a security official with “short-cropped hair and a suit” – is enough to cast doubt on Lewandowski’s involvement.
“Given the similarity in appearance between Lewandowski and the security official, and given the fact that Lewandowski was walking on the other side of Trump from where Fields was at the time, the possibility of mistaken identity cannot be ruled out,” he wrote, describing his own suggestion as the “likeliest explanation.”
The Trump campaign, which has refused to back down on its claim that Fields’ allegations are “entirely false,” linked to Pollack’s article about the incident in an email to reporters Friday afternoon. Following the GOP debate Thursday night, Trump himself told NBC News that “perhaps [Fields] made the story up.”
“I think that’s what happened,” Trump said.
Larry Solov, Breitbart’s CEO and president, also released a statement Friday about Fields’ allegation and the Trump campaign’s response.
“Breitbart News stands behind Michelle Fields. Even Donald Trump campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson said Thursday that ‘someone probably did grab her,’ i.e. Fields, though she claimed it could not have been Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski,” Solov said.
He added, “Trump’s suggestion that Fields made up the incident Tuesday evening contradicts the evidence, including her own injuries, an account from Washington Post reporter Ben Terris, and audio recorded at the scene.”
