Michelle Fields, the former Breitbart reporter whose arm Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s top aide Corey Lewandowski grabbed, said Sunday that both the real estate mogul and his campaign manager “defamed” her.
Fields said on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” that she didn’t think it should’ve been such a “huge story” and it wouldn’t have been if she had received an apology, which Fields said was promised to her.
“The reason why it’s such a huge story is because Corey lied, Donald Trump lied, they defamed me and went on this huge smear campaign against me and I think it sheds light on the character of the campaign and I think a lot of people were surprised by their blatant lies about me,” Fields said. “That’s why it became a huge story. It’s the defamation, not so much the grabbing of the arm.”
Police in Jupiter, Florida, charged Lewandowski with a misdemeanor battery charge after former Fields filed a complaint against him with the police department. Lewandowski denied any wrongdoing and was repeatedly defended by Trump. A spokeswoman for Trump’s campaign went so far as to insist that Lewandowski wouldn’t be fired over the incident.
Palm Beach County State Attorney David Aronberg said in the news conference last week that there was “no reasonable doubt” Lewandowski grabbed Fields’ arm, but that there wasn’t a “good faith basis” to move forward with a case against him.
Lewandowski said Sunday that he was willing to talk with Fields, but it was “unrealistic” for him to apologize.
