Charlie Neibergall, File/AP
Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, was charged with misdemeanor battery on Tuesday for forcibly grabbing Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields on March 8 in Jupiter, Florida. According to the Palm Beach Post, Lewandowski turned himself in to police in Jupiter on Tuesday morning, about two weeks after Fields filed a complaint with the police. The Jupiter Police Department released this video of the incident on Tuesday:
Despite the new evidence, and multiple earlier reports that Lewandowski had grabbed Fields, the Trump campaign is still proclaiming Lewandoswki’s innocence, declaring in a statement that he “is absolutely innocent of this charge” and “will enter a plea of not guilty and looks forward to his day in court.” It’s hardly the first denial from the Trump campaign. Here is a list of those denials.
On March 10, two days after the incident, Trump’s spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, released a statement calling Fields’ allegations “entirely false.” She denied that there were any witnesses (which there were) or any camera footage (which we now have). The statement also implied that Fields had a “pattern of exaggerating incidents” in order to make herself “part of the news story.”
NEW: Trump campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks responds to allegations campaign manager assaulted Breitbart reporter: pic.twitter.com/LHRMKXzy3K
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) March 10, 2016
Later that day, Lewandowski began to attack Fields himself.
Michelle Fields is an attention seeker who once claimed Allen West groped her but later went silent. https://t.co/J86Ej42eYx
— Corey Lewandowski (@CLewandowski_) March 10, 2016
Trump accused Fields of being a fabulist. After a Republican debate that evening, Trump responded to a question about the incident by suggesting Fields invented the incident. “Perhaps she made the story up,” Trump said. “I think that’s what happened.”
Lewandowski continued his Twitter barrage the next day.
@MichelleFields you are totally delusional. I never touched you. As a matter of fact, I have never even met you.
— Corey Lewandowski (@CLewandowski_) March 11, 2016
After Lewandowski was charged on Tuesday, the campaign continued to defend him.
Trump Camp statement on Corey Lewandowksi charges pic.twitter.com/Oq6R0QP4rH
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) March 29, 2016
