Michelle Fields on Breitbart Editors Downplaying Her Assault: 'It's a Shame'
The Breitbart reporter who alleged that Donald Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski grabbed her arm forcefully at an event this week is finally giving her side of the story.
Michelle Fields, whose account of the altercation has been corroborated by Washington Post reporter Ben Terris as well as by video that appears to support her story, took to Fox News to answer Megyn Kelly’s questions about the event.
Kelly also asked Fields about her reaction to the response from her employer, the conservative site Breitbart, which called into question Fields’ telling of the story at first, claiming that it probably wasn’t Lewandowski who had grabbed her. Fields said:
“I think the facts show that this happened, and it’s a shame that my bosses have decided to come out against the facts.”
Fields filed criminal charges against Lewandowski, and says she is still waiting for an apology she was promised. Judging by his and Trump’s reaction so far, it’s probably not coming anytime soon.
Update: Buzzfeed News reports that Breitbart senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak ordered staffers stop defending Michelle Fields, according to internal Slack chats:
“STOP tweeting about the story. Stop speculating about the story,” Pollak told staffers in one message, and reminded them that “you were given explicit instructions.”
“You may wish to defend your colleague, and that is commendable — but keep in mind that when you do so, you are also putting other colleagues under direct public pressure, so you are actually hurting some to help another,” Pollak said in one of the chats. “That is why we have to be patient, and coordinate our responses.”
Breitbart has not yet responded to the report.
