Reporter Michelle Fields, who pursued battery charges against Donald Trump’s now-former campaign manager, cut short a TV interview Tuesday night after the host pressed her about the contents of her new book.
During a segment on NewsMax TV’s “Steve Malzberg Show,” host Steve Malzberg read a passage from Fields’ book, “Barons of the Beltway: Inside the Princely World of our Washington Elite — and How to Overthrow Them.”
The excerpt, from a “note to the reader” at the beginning of the book, refers to the confrontation with Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski.
“I lost my balance and nearly fell to the ground,” Fields wrote. “That moment started a whirlwind I didn’t ask for and didn’t want, and a story that took on a life of its own.”
Malzberg asked Fields to explain what she meant, given that she pursued the charges and at the time gave national media interviews about them. Those charges were dropped by Florida’s attorney general in April.
“If I really wanted to use this [incident] to my benefit, there were tons and tons of opportunities for me to do that and I didn’t,” replied Fields. “But I have to run and I am on a tight schedule. I’m promoting my book and no, you do not want to talk about my book.”
“That’s in your book,” said Malzberg. “Michelle, that’s a quote from your book. Is it not?”
“No, that’s not from my book,” she said. “That’s not from my book. I wrote my book and finished my book a year ago.”
It was in March that Fields pursued the charges against Lewandowski, who grabbed her arm after a Trump press conference in Jupiter, Fla. Fields was trying to ask the Republican presidential candidate a question as he was leaving the area when surveillance video showed Lewandowski come from behind and pull her back.
Lewandowski was fired from the Trump campaign this week.
Fields did not return a request for comment from the Washington Examiner media desk.
