Did Trump’s campaign manager assault a Breitbart reporter ?
Trump’s campaign has been dogged by violence and accusations of violence. For example, a black protester was apparently sucker-punched at a Trump rally. And a Trump supporter was threatened at gunpoint at his home by a trio of men over a pro-Trump sign.
Feelings are high, and I don’t think Trump is necessarily responsible for either incident.
But there are things for which he is responsible. For example, I’ve already written about one incident where Trump advocated violence against protesters at one of his rallies. He said:
…he’d like to punch a protester in the face and fondly recalled the “old days” when “guys like that” who disrupted a political rally would “be carried out on a stretcher.””¦
Those are “mere words,” but uttered by a presidential candidate at a rally such words certainly constitute encouragement, although not technically “incitement.”
And Trump is also responsible for his reaction to the behavior of his own campaign manager. This latest incident where Trump’s manager is alleged to have used physical force against Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields is highly disturbing and is the story du jour. You can read a lot about it at that link and decide for yourself.
Here’s the reporter’s statement, and here’s an article that attempts to describe what happened, according to witnesses. Here is one of those witnesses—Ben Terris, a reporter for the WaPo who corroborates Fields’ story.
My best guess is that campaign manager Corey Lewandowski did in fact jerk reporter Fields (a woman, by the way, although I think the offense does not depend on her gender and would still exist as an offense were it a man) away with excessive and unwarranted force, and that he did not know she was from Breitbart, a fact which complicated things for both Trump and Breitbart because the latter is one of Trump’s biggest cheerleaders. So the whole incident is being under-reacted to by Breitbart.
The official reaction from Trump’s spokesperson Hope Hicks is highly characteristic—insinuate that the reporter is lying and trying to get attention, and a denial that anything happened or that there were any witnesses (ignoring that WaPo story by Ferris, as well as this one, and the bruise on Fields’ arm). Hicks also insinuated that Fields may have “a larger pattern of exaggerating incidents” and that readers should “recall she also claimed to have been beaten by a New York City Police officer with a baton.”
Fields’ boyfriend tweeted back this photo, saying, “Michelle getting pushed down by police during the Occupy Wall Street protests. Trump campaign serial liars”:
Sure doesn’t look fabricated to me.
[ADDENDUM: Breitbart (which, remember, has been one of Trump’s biggest supporters) has issued a new and stronger statement:
The Washington Post just published a very detailed, first-hand account from their senior reporter Ben Terris who is familiar with the campaign, the personalities involved, and was an eyewitness to the incident. We are disappointed in the campaign’s response, in particular their effort to demean Michelle’s previous reporting. Michelle Fields is an intrepid reporter who has covered tough and dangerous stories. We stand behind her reporting, her techniques, and call again on Corey Lewandowski to apologize.”
There’s also this commentary from Ace:
Breitbart.com obviously likes Trump a heck of a lot. And look how Trump is repaying that — by essentially humiliating them, not acknowledging at all the goodwill that Breitbart should have amassed with Trump.
Breitbart asked for the most minor of concessions that would save its own face (they have a responsibility to protect their reporters), and Trump responded by calling the reporter’s truthfulness into question, and calling into question a previous claim of having been hit with a police baton.
This requires Breitbart, in return, to issue another press release.
I imagine Team Trump’s next move will be to demand Michelle Fields apologize to “Mr. Trump.”
Trump doesn’t seem to care about how he treats his strong allies. Humiliating them, making them appear impotent.
Something to keep in mind, going forward. It’s not just his opponents he treats contemptuously — it’s his allies, too…
Anything that could hurt “Mr. Trump’s” brand must be destroyed.
I’ve been studying Trump’s life and his favorite m.o.’s from long before this campaign season, and this is exactly how I’ve noticed that Trump has rolled for many decades. Probably for his entire life.
Don’t ever expect it don’t change.]
1) There were plenty of cameras and cell phones rolling during and after the event. If there was such an incident, it should be on camera somewhere. We may have to wait and see on that.
2) The pic above does not show her being hit with a baton, but being grabbed by the police. So that does nothing to prove or disprove either side’s claims, really.
3) There has been a transcript presented of what was said between this woman and whoever was with her. I’m guessing the audio will eventually come out. That might be interesting.
4) I have now seen several short clips of the events surrounding that time period that show a very professional, yet clipped Corey. Saw no other man-handling. Your typical ‘helpers’ ensuring their guy (Trump) can get through the crowd and out the door by rebuffing requests for more questions.
To me, if true, this tells me more about Corey than Trump. We’ll see where it goes…
“I watched as a man … grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the way.” Wash Post reporter Ben Terris
Giving Terris, a reporter for an actively hostile paper toward Trump, the benefit of the doubt… It shouldn’t have happened and Trump’s bombast does confer upon him some responsibility. That said, unless we wish to allow technicalities to define meaning, grabbing an arm and yanking someone away is NOT “assault”.
What an Egyptian Muslim mob did to CBS reporter Lara Logan in Cairo square is assault. What Muslim men did to many German women on New Years Eve is assault. This incident does not reach that bar.
Politico: Exclusive: Transcript of female Breitbart reporter allegedly being roughed up by Trump campaign manager
Geoffrey Britain:
Your Trump-apologia continues.
Grabbing an arm and yanking someone down so that they almost fall, and causing a bruise, is most definitely an assault and/or a battery or a combination of the two, depending on the jurisdiction (see a definition of the terms here). Neither offense must rise to the level of a near-murder, and a sexual offense as well, as it did in the case of Lara Logan.
You are actually saying that yanking away a reporter asking a question, almost knocking her down in the process, and causing bruises on her arm, is not an assault or a battery, or both?
Tell it to the judge, Geoffrey. But apart from the legal definitions, this is not okay no matter who did it or whether the victim was a man or a woman.
Plus neo-neocon, the flailing attempts at coverup or dismissal make the whole thing stink the higher.
Trump is a bully who encourages others to bully.
K-E:
Absence of a video is not proof on non-occurrence. If a video must be present or something is assumed not to have occurred, and that’s the new standard, I weep for the ability to determine truth.
And that photo of the police officer certainly supports her claim. Note also that we don’t even know if she claimed a baton hit her; Hicks does not link to anything Fields supposedly said. Note also that in the photo a baton appears to be in the left hand of the police officer directly in back of Fields and seems to be contacting her right arm (unless I’m wrong about what a baton is or what I’m seeing there; I can’t see it all that well, but that’s what it appears to be to me).
Lastly, I wrote in the post that Trump has encouraged violence against protesters at his rallies, and also this: “And Trump is also responsible for his reaction to the behavior of his own campaign manager.”
That is exactly what he is responsible for, and what he has done is to let his spokespeople insinuate that Fields is lying and that she lied previously too. Breitbart (which, remember, has been one of Trump’s biggest supporters) has issued a new and strong statement:
There’s also this commentary from Ace:
I’ve been studying Trump’s life and his favorite m.o.’s from long before this campaign season, and this is exactly how I’ve noticed that Trump has rolled for many decades. Probably for his entire life.
Don’t ever expect it don’t change.
I did not say an absence of a video means it didn’t happen. I said that there were so many cameras there, I would assume someone got it on camera and that eventually that would come out.
I am allowed to be suspicious if there were a million cameras and phones everywhere and the incident, which would attract attention, did not get filmed somehow. That is what she is dealing with.
Not every incident at every point in time will be caught on camera, but sort of hard to believe that with all the people, cameras and cell phones during THIS particular incident there is no video.
K-E:
Please see my comment right above yours.
Trump is certified to lose in November.
Even Ted Cruz sees it.
Heck, most of this ‘house’ sees it.
The GOP is going to have to stop open primaries.
The (Democrat?) activists are ‘poisoning the well.’
And very deliberately so.
neo,
Trump-apologia? Please. Insisting upon an objective evaluation is not evidence of ‘apologizing’. You obviously disagree as to my degree of objectivity but when have I ever indicated insincerity? Sincere disagreement deserves the respect it is due.
No, it was not an assault. Technical definitions that violate common sense are bad law. Which is NOT a defense or an apologetic. Merely offering the opinion that it was not ‘an assault’ is not an implication that it was ‘OK’.
Trump’s responding verbal assault upon Fields’ character is despicable. It’s also stupid. Criticism could have easily been disarmed with a quick expression of regret. This, plus the David Duke/KKK incident and other gaffes are layering doubt about Trump. He’s his own worst enemy.
Geoffrey Britain:
You are using your own idiosyncratic definition of the term. I’ve already given you the definition legally (which varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction), but even by the vernacular definition, an unwanted touching that throws someone down forcibly and bruises that person’s arm is an assault. It is violent, and it is physical (although even words can be enough), and it is an attack. In fact, if someone does it to a spouse, it is considered abuse.
What is alleged to have happened to Fields is not an enormous assault, but it most definitely is an assault, and it is not a “technicality” to say so.
Hi Neo,
In the photo you posted, it looks like the cop on the left is grabbing her arm from underneath, as if she was falling over and he’s trying to catch her. The cop behind her is leaning forward and his left hand (non-baton) is behind her as if he’s reaching down to catch her from falling as well.
The guy in the grey hoodie seems distracted with his bundle and there’s a guy in a black jacket leaning over what appears to be a car, possibly to catch her as well. They do not appear to be reacting in a way that suggests the cops were shoving or beating the crowd.
Now there is a guy in a black hoodie that seems to be grabbing the grey hoodie guy’s shoulder and has another arm on the back of the bald guy looking away. He might have been the one shoving people.
And the cops’ non-baton arms are not in a position you would expect if they were swinging a baton or shoving people. Generally you keep your non-swinging arm up to protect yourself. You don’t shove with your baton arm because the baton can be grabbed. And look at all the cameras behind them as well. It would be pretty ballsy for someone to take a swing with that many cameras over his shoulder.
I think this reporter may be from the Brian Williams school of journalism, always claiming they were in harms way.
Neo,
It seems so obvious that the woman is NOT being pushed down in the photo that I’m surprised that you cannot see that the boyfriend’s claim is false.
Also, it looks like the image is from a framed photo, as if someone wanted to keep the photo as some sort of trophy. Don’t you think that is bizarre?
Geoffrey:
You seem to have explanations for Trump incidents, statements, falsifications that Neo has detailed. I doubt your veracity regarding Ted Cruz, are you a T-bot wanna be?
Those who ardently support DJT or even tepidly attempt to explain away his YUGE!!! negatives are enabling the possibility of the next pen and phone dictator. Don’t worry, be happy for a moment.
GB,
I have never met you face to face, but I have read your posts at this blog over the years; and I feel I have some basis to say you are a thoughtful, very intelligent, wise, and dignified person. My advise is ease off your explanations for the horror of trump. I say this as a ‘blog friend’. Dignity is a terrible thing to waste.
Oh, I need to add, forget about grabbing an arm, or yanking. A single finger touching Mrs. parker without her consent earns a consequence.
Audiofile of Fields and Terris in the aftermath of the assault has shown up online.
i am disgusted with trump apologists.
All trump had to do was keep walking.
All he had to do if his manager did this was let the manager go.
i cannot read another word from apologists. They are dead to me.
link to a photo showing that the campaign manager was on the opposite side of Trump and the accuser:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CdRH_kuWIAAE0vI.jpg
Here’s a twitter page with the same photo:
https://twitter.com/modujo/status/708211221724463104
If the reporter was grabbed, it was probably by the secret service agent standing next to her and the WaPo pajama boy.
Michelle Fields was grabbed, so there is no “if” to discuss. Lewandowski can easily have traversed the three feet separating him from Fields in the purported “defense” or dismissal photo and grabbed Fields with his right hand on her left arm. Such a motion would take less than a second’s time. So, boxty, fail. Best perhaps to quit while you’re ahead.
neo,
“You are using your own idiosyncratic definition of the term.”
I am using the common sense definition of the term that was commonly used and understood before everything became a micro-aggression. If I am in an argument with someone and they push me back a step, that in and of itself is NOT “an assault”. (yes I know that legally it is) It may be prefatory to an assault but in and of itself, an ‘unwanted touching’ fails to arise to that common sense characterization.
“an unwanted touching that throws someone down forcibly and bruises that person’s arm is an assault.”
Here we get to the heart of my objection, which is the exaggeration I detect. Witness Ferris, right there and watching, never said that Fields was thrown down forcibly. The Beast article failed to identify the ‘witness’ that said that she was thrown down. Ferris said she was yanked away from Trump. That leads me to surmise that Fields stumbled, lost her balance and fell down.
Yanking someone such that they stumble and fall is indefensible and, defending that action is not my intent. Claiming that a stumble was an intentional throwing to the ground is an unsupportable exaggeration, quite probably motivated by subjective bias.
IMO, there is no need to exaggerate and is even counter-productive. Trump is digging his own hole without any help from anyone.
parker,
What dignity is there in silence, when faced with assertions with which one disagrees?
“A single finger touching Mrs. parker without her consent earns a consequence.”
I agree, provided that the charge is supported by fact and that the consequence is proportional to the offense.
sdferr,
Neo’s photo establishes that the reporter is a fabulist on par with Brian Williams, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton.
The campaign manager could have covered the three feet to grab the reporter and violently yank her to the ground, but it’s not likely he would have pushed the Secret Service agent out of the way to do so in front of all the cameras and reporters. Also note that the Secret Service agent has the same build and haircut as the campaign manager.
The simpler and more logical explanation is that she lied, or the ss agent grabbed her because she was reaching out to touch/grab Trump’s arm.
Your TDS is blinding you.
The questions raised about the assault on Michelle Fields — such as when, who, in what manner, and possibly in retrospect, why — have initially little to do with Donald Trump or anyone’s opinion of Donald Trump as a candidate for high office. Initially, again. First things first. So Lewandowski acts on his own, by means of his own judgment and will. Only much later in the development of this story will people arrive at questions — other questions — concerning Donald Trump and his choices, such as why he would choose to assert falsehoods about an incident he may not have observed, and certainly had no physical part in making. Or why, without evidence, he would choose to smear the offended party in the case, rather than face forthrightly the unjust actions of his subordinate.
Boxty has it exactly correct; the policemens’ hands in the photo indicate an attempt to support the lady NOT to shove her. The lady’s boyfriend is unhinged and Neo’s Trump- hatred may be clouding her ability to clearly see the obvious in the aforementioned photo.
Richard:
First of all, I already said I can’t see the photo well enough, and don’t think it shows well enough what is actually happening, to come to a definitive conclusion. I don’t think you know, either. We also don’t even know what Field alleges happened, and whether she mentioned a baton. But something is clearly happening at the hands of police, and it doesn’t look like it’s a warm fuzzy hug.
Secondly, nothing I have ever said indicates “hatred” of Trump. That’s the usual thing that people say when someone criticizes their favored candidate—and uses evidence from the candidate’s own mouth and deeds to base the criticism on.
Criticism does not equal hatred. In fact, I’ve explicitly stated that I had no preconceptions about Trump and no particular feelings about him prior to researching him during this campaign.
And the video of the incident begins to emerge. Evidently I was mistaken to assume Lewandowski would use his right hand to grab at Fields, when it appears he pivoted to use his left hand instead. But now the questions renew: why does Lewandowski lie about never touching Fields? And why does the Trump camp attempt to gaslight its followers?
sdferr:
That’s why I said that it’s Trump’s reaction to the incident that’s important.
But there is one way in which the incident itself does potentially reflect on Trump, which is that one of Trump’s selling points is that he chooses “the best people.” If his own handpicked campaign manager is a thug, that reflects on him.
Indeed it is Trump’s reaction which gives everyone a look into his ways. I only form those rhetorical questions for the sake of his followers, on the off chance they may choose to examine what they presently do not. This isn’t to say I expect them to undertake such an examination, but only to say they can afford themselves the opportunity. In their choices and actions, they too reveal something of themselves.
sdferr,
Unfortunately, that video fails to show Lewandowski actually grabbing and yanking Fields, so its only value is in showing that he was the one to grab her arm.
I agree with neo that, “it’s Trump’s reaction to the incident that’s important”. It’s telling as it speaks to Trump’s character.
Thanks for the response Neo;perhaps Trump hater was a bit harsh. As a recent primary Rubio supporter, I have no interest in defending Trump, but I have a dedicated interest in truth and fairness to all. Besides the supporting hand positions, please study the faces of the 2 policemen. There is no evidence of aggression and even a hint of concern on the left policeman’s face. I love your pursuit of the unvarnished truth in all that you write and I sense your emotions might be getting the better of you re: Trump. Just an observation…
Richard:
I’m not sure how my emotions can be “getting the better of me” when I wrote the following about that photo, which is a pretty tentative and tepid statement on my part (“appears to be”; “seems to be”: “unless I’m wrong about what a baton is or what I’m seeing there; I can’t see it all that well, but that’s what it appears to be to me”):
A lot of room there for further evidence that nothing whatsoever is happening there on the part of the police. Why do you think she’s falling, by the way? Did she slip on some ice?
Here is an account of the incident with the police at the time, and here is video of Fields talking about it shortly after:
I just found that report and video a moment ago. Make of it what you will.
I’m glad you still appreciate the blog. This has been a rough campaign season with a lot of angst to go round.
So the lady admittedly placed herself and her cameraman between the on rushing protestors and the policemen attempting to clear the street and gets knocked over in the ensuing clashes and blames the police and not the lawbreaking OWS mob? Wow, what a story to tell about police brutality when you are the victim.Based on this video,in this case she achieved precisely what she intended- a very manipulative unsympathetic figure in my opinion.
And yes, I love the blog and have recommended it to my friends…
Richard:
Reporters cover stories. You may think them pushy, because they are. I think she was covering the protests and got mixed up in the violence that occurred. That doesn’t mean she was trying to elicit violence.
In fact, she’s on the right, not the left, and she came to the protests (as she said in the video interview) with the assumption that the protesters were the violent ones. She said what she observed was quite different than what she had expected.
Nor did this story get enormous coverage at the time. It certainly escaped me, and I tend to pay attention.
Do you really think that she intended to go there and get hit by a baton in order to get a bit of attention? I think she went there to aggressively cover a story, as reporters do.
Nor does any of this have a thing to do with what happened with Trump’s manager, or with Trump’s reaction to the entire incident. She wasn’t making stuff up in either case, she was just being a pushy reporter (not literally—figuratively) and she got pushed, literally. And then accused of being a liar.
I know a little bit about police work from a previous life when SDS protests were prevalent. Using batons to nudge, and corral large bodies of angry protestors was SOP at the time.I believe the permit was confined to the city park and the policed were ordered to clear the streets. Logic would dictate a high probability of some bumps and bruises to be suffered by the recalcitrant mob challenging the police in their unlawful actions; the lady placed herself in harm’s way because the protestors precipitated the confrontation.I think I’ve beaten this horse to death, n’est pas?
Richard:
No, we haven’t beaten the horse to death. The baton barely touched it, and besides I think the horse is lying.
As I said, the point is not what happened at the Occupy protest, or whether reporters should be able to cover such things without putting themselves in harm’s way, or how hard the baton hit her. The point is that Trump said she lied, and she apparently didn’t lie about either incident. He didn’t say “oh, she should have expected to be hit, because she was covering a protest” or “oh, if she gets near me, she should expect to be pushed down.”
Ace says:
“Trump doesn’t seem to care about how he treats his strong allies. Humiliating them, making them appear impotent.
Something to keep in mind, going forward. It’s not just his opponents he treats contemptuously – it’s his allies, too…
Anything that could hurt “Mr. Trump’s” brand must be destroyed.”
Points I’ve been making to the Trump supporters at Breitbart for many months.
In the beginning of this campaign, both Trump and Cruz did not attack each other. They hold many similar positions, and it was obvious what a great team they could make. Then someone with an ax to grind, maybe a Trump supporter or even another leftist in a service position like the one who leaked Romney’s 47%, leaked that Cruz had said in a private meeting he didn’t think Trump had the temperament to be president.
That seemed like pretty mild criticism, but instantly Trump proved Cruz’ point by going into full public character assassination mode, shouting every time he could “INELIGIBLE CANADIAN”, “LIAR!”, “NASTY”, “EVERYBODY HATES HIM”. Months before, he had even said he believed Cruz citizenship had been looked at every which way and wasn’t a problem!
How much damage could a rice paper thin skinned, grudge-holding person with an obsession for retribution do with all that power? What’s he going to do when Putin or the Ayatollahs or the ChiComs tell him to eff off? Have his Joint Chiefs find this triad thingie he had just heard about somewhere and shoot it at them?