Conservatives Call On Trump To Fire Top Aide Accused Of Roughing Up Reporter

UNITED STATES - MARCH 9 - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Crown Center Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C, Wednesday, March 9, 2016. (Photo By Al Drago/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Ro... UNITED STATES - MARCH 9 - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Crown Center Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C, Wednesday, March 9, 2016. (Photo By Al Drago/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS
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After Donald Trump’s campaign called allegations that campaign manager Corey Lewandowski roughed up a Breitbart News reporter “entirely false,” conservatives called on Trump to fire Lewandowski.

Ben Shapiro, an editor-at-large for Breitbart, led the charge, telling Politico: “There is no excuse for Lewandowski’s assault; he should be fired.”

Conservative commentator Dana Loesch tweeted that everyone should “demand Trump fire Lewandowski” and called on Breitbart to allow Michelle Fields, the reporter involved in the incident, to file charges.

RedState founder Erick Erickson tweeted “actual men should be outraged” about the run-in.

Sean Davis, a co-founder of The Federalist, said the campaign was trying to cover up a “brutal” assault.

Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich also tweeted about Lewandowski “seeking attention” after he posted a tweet suggesting Fields lied about being assaulted during the Occupy Wall Street protests.

Commentary editor John Podhoretz also had a strong response for Lewandowski after the campaign manager smeared Fields as an “attention seeker” who once claimed Allen West groped her.

Jamie Weinstein, a Daily Caller editor who is also Fields’ boyfriend, wrote Trump “surrounds himself with thugs.”

One notable dissenter was Breitbart reporter Patrick Howley, who called for Fields to release video of the incident and noted that the story was getting “a whole lot of attention” from the mainstream media in tweets that have since been deleted.

CNN reported Howley was “indefinitely” suspended from the conservative blog because of the remarks.

Fields wrote in a column on Breitbart that she “never sought to be part of the story” and that when she asked Trump a question after a Florida press conference, she was “jolted backwards” and nearly fell to the ground.

Ben Terris, a Washington Post reporter, told her that Lewandowski had grabbed her, Fields said.

Breitbart’s top brass was slow to condemn Lewandowski’s actions, and released a statement Wednesday night saying that “it’s obviously unacceptable that someone crossed a line and made physical contact with our reporter…if that’s the case, Corey owes Michelle and immediate apology.”

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