WHO’S WHO IN THE CAMPAIGN MANAGER BATTERY ACCUSATIONS
Michelle Fields
The journalist and political commentator now finds herself at the center of the story, with a tug of her arm becoming a presidential campaign issue.
Police say Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, on March 8 grabbed Fields’ arm as she attempted to interview Trump, pulling her away from the presidential hopeful who was walking out of a ballroom at the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter.
Fields, 28, maintained that the tug left finger-shaped bruises on her arm.
Jupiter police on Tuesday issued Lewandowski a notice to appear in court on May 4 to answer to the mis demeanor charge of simple battery.
That charge, plus a video of the incident released by police, has once again thrust Fields into the national media spotlight.
Fields first gained national attention in 2011 at a “Save Our Schools” rally in Washington D.C. Her questions about teacher tenure drew a sharp response from movie star Matt Damon. The video of the interview went viral.
Fields has appeared as commentator on FoxNews, Fox Business and other media outlets.
She hasworked for Reason.TV, been a correspondent for PJTV, a self-described center-right online news and commentary network, andwas a field reporter for The Daily Caller online news publication.
At the March 8 Trump event, Fields was working for a conservative news website, the Breitbart News Network. She has since left the company, along with several other staffers who were critical of the company and its coverage of the Trump campaign.
Trump on Tuesday was quick to back Lewandowski and took to Twitter to say the video of the incident shows therewas “nothing there.” Trump also implied that Fields exaggerated her earlier accounts of the arm tug.
Fields responded to Trump with Twitter messages of her own, saying her story never changed. “Seriously, just stop lying,” she wrote.
Fields, who lives in Arlington, Va., was born in Los Angeles and graduated from Pepperdine University in 2011, according to her website.