It is not often when you get a he-said, she-said situation that explodes into national news with multiple opposing media outlets jumping on the story, to see actual footage that rebuts the majority of the original claim as well as the subsequent appearances on television news such as ABC News and Fox News as well as articles in the Washington Post, but here we have it.
In an article four days ago, Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields (now former reporter) took to the pages of Breitbart News to tell her story of how she was violated by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, in a piece titled "In Her Own Words."
I wasn’t called upon to ask a question during the televised press conference, but afterwards Trump wandered around, stopping at every reporter to take their questions. When he approached me, I asked him about his view on an aspect of affirmative action.
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.
The Washington Post’s Ben Terris immediately remarked that it was Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who aggressively tried to pull me to the ground. I quickly turned around and saw Lewandowski and Trump exiting the building together. No apology. No explanation for why he did this.
The very first sentence in that article states "I never sought to be part of the story."
In subsequent interviews on multiple outlets, including Fox News' Megyn Kelly, and ABC News, Ms. Fields claimed she was "violated," and this moment was "the worst experience she had gone through" aside from her father's death.
Ben Terris from the Washington Post witnessed the "event" describing it to Ms. Fields as "He just threw you down"
Here is the moment in question captured on camera: (Article continues after the clip)
This morning BuzzFeed reported that both Michelle Fields and editor-at-large for Brietbart, Ben Shapiro, have both resigned over this incident. Ms. Fields states "I do not believe Breitbart News has adequately stood by me during the events of the past week and because of that I believe it is now best for us to part ways."
Shapiro's statement includes the following:
Andrew built his life and his career on one mission: fight the bullies. But Andrew’s life mission has been betrayed. Indeed, Breitbart News, under the chairmanship of Steve Bannon, has put a stake through the heart of Andrew’s legacy. In my opinion, Steve Bannon is a bully, and has sold out Andrew’s mission in order to back another bully, Donald Trump; he has shaped the company into Trump’s personal Pravda, to the extent that he abandoned and undercut his own reporter, Breitbart News’ Michelle Fields, in order to protect Trump’s bully campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who allegedly assaulted Michelle. I spoke with Michelle the night after the incident. She told me her story. That story was backed by audiotape, eyewitness testimony from The Washington Post’s Ben Terris, physical bruises, and video tape.
You can hear Ms. Fields tell the story to Megyn Kelly and on ABC News in the video below (Videographer misspelled the word "claimed" in the beginning text, but it is the clips of Fields' subsequent interviews that are of interest.)
The person did touch Ms. Fields, but to call it an "assualt" or "violation," and to claim she "almost fell to the ground" after seeing the footage appears to be quite a leap. Does this incident justify Fields filing criminal assault charges against Donald Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski?
Feel free to weigh in below in the comment section.
