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Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, was charged with battery
Tuesday by the police in Jupiter, Fla., who said he
had grabbed a reporter as she tried to ask the candidate
a question. The charge stems from an incident on March
8 that attracted days of news coverage and became
a distraction for Mr. Trump's campaign as his victories
in the March 1 Super Tuesday contests gave way to more mixed results.
It occurred after a news conference at Trump National Golf Club,
as Mr. Trump made his way out of a crowded room and the reporter,
Michelle Fields of Breitbart News, a conservative website, sidled up to him.
Ms. Fields said she was trying to ask Mr. Trump about judges
and affirmative action when Mr. Lewandowski grabbed her roughly.
She posted on Twitter a picture of finger-shaped bruises on her arm.
Mr. Lewandowski denied touching her and called Ms. Fields delusional.
But Ms. Fields pressed charges three days later, according to a police report.
The investigating officer, Detective Marc Bujnowski, took statements from
Ms. Fields and a Washington Post reporter, Ben Terris, who said he had
witnessed the incident. The detective also obtained security video footage
from the Trump golf club, which he said parallels what Fields had told me.
Mr. Lewandowski, Detective Bujnowski wrote, grabbed Fields left arm with
his right hand, causing her to turn and step back.
Indeed, a series of still photographs captured from security cameras
at the golf club, released on Tuesday by the Jupiter Police Department,
appears to corroborate Ms. Fields's version of events: Mr. Lewandowski
can be seen reaching for and then grabbing her arm,
tugging at her clothing as he pulls her; he then walks ahead of her,
close behind Mr. Trump. The entire incident takes less than four seconds.
Mr. Lewandowski turned himself in at the headquarters of the
Jupiter Police Department at 8:10 a.m. on Tuesday.
He was given a court date of May 4 at North County Courthouse
in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He came in and signed the notice to appear
himself, on his own will, said Officer Joseph Beinlich,
a spokesman for the department. Officer Beinlich described the appearance
as a brief interaction, and said that after handling the paperwork,
Mr. Lewandowski walked out the door. A spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, Hope Hicks, said
Tuesday that Mr. Lewandowski was absolutely innocent of
this charge; that he would plead not guilty; and that he
had not actually been arrested, but had merely been issued a notice to appear.
But Officer Beinlich said otherwise. A notice to appear is an actual arrest, he said.
Mr. Lewandowski is known as a combative and sometimes divisive figure
in Mr. Trump's orbit. He has been known to scream and curse at reporters
with regularity, putting some on a blacklist for coverage he considers unfavorable.
On March 19, video of a Trump rally in Arizona appeared to show Mr. Lewandowski
grabbing a protester from behind by his collar and pulling him backward.
(Ms. Hicks denied Mr. Lewandowski had done so.)
In 1999, as chief of staff to Bob Ney, then a Republican representative from
Ohio, Mr. Lewandowski was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor when
he brought a pistol into a congressional office building. He said at the time
that it had been an accident. The police seized the weapon, prompting him
to sue unsuccessfully in federal court, claiming he had been
stripped of his gun without due process. Mr. Lewandowski is being represented by Scott
N. Richardson of West Palm Beach, formerly the first assistant
state attorney in Palm Beach County, and Kendall B. Coffey of
Miami, a former United States attorney for South Florida.
Mr. Coffey, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton,
resigned his federal prosecutor's post in 1996 after an investigation
into allegations that he had an altercation at a topless bar after losing
an important drug case. He is representing Mr. Trump in a dispute
involving another of his clubs, in Doral, Fla., according to The Miami Herald.
Ms. Hicks did not immediately respond to an email asking whether
Mr. Trump was paying Mr. Lewandowski's legal fees.
In two midday Twitter posts on Tuesday, Mr. Trump
defended his campaign manager in definitive terms.
Wow, Corey Lewandowski, my campaign manager and a very decent man, was just charged with
assaulting a reporter. Look at tapes-nothing there!" he wrote in
one. In another, Mr. Trump appeared to raise questions
about the veracity of what Ms. Fields has said, asking why people
were not looking at her earliest statement as to what happened, from
before she found out the episode was on tape.