Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, has been charged with battery for allegedly grabbing a reporter and pulling her away from Trump earlier this month. Surveillance footage from Trump’s own golf club in Florida shows Lewandowski grabbing reporter Michelle Fields. The footage, released by the Jupiter Police Department in Florida, directly contradicts earlier claims by Lewandowski and Trump, who said Lewandowski didn’t touch Fields. Two days after the incident, Trump told CNN “perhaps she made the story up.” But Fields posted photographs of bruises she said were caused by Lewandowski grabbing and yanking her arm. She and a number of her colleagues resigned from the right-wing site Breitbart News, saying editors failed to defend Fields, instead publishing an article casting doubt on her claims. On Tuesday, Lewandowski turned himself in at police headquarters. He has been ordered to appear in court May 4. The charge could carry up to a year in jail. But speaking on his private airplane, Trump continued to defend his campaign manager—and attack reporter Michelle Fields.
Donald Trump: “If you look at her, my book and according to a lot of people, she’s grabbing at me, and he’s acting as an intermediary and trying to block her from doing that. The news conference was over. It was done. It was finished. And she was running up and grabbing and asking questions, and she wasn’t supposed to be doing that. And I think he should—I told him, I said, 'You should never settle this case. You should go all the way.' I think they’ve really hurt a very good person.”
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton criticized Trump, saying he bears responsibility for Lewandowski’s behavior.
Hillary Clinton: “I think there’s been a lot of rhetoric, as well as behavior, coming from Donald Trump’s campaign that is concerning to many people, including many women. And therefore, as people are making up their minds to vote here in Wisconsin and in the contests remaining, they ought to take a hard look at the example that candidates set, what words and actions they employ, and hold them responsible.”