Trump campaign manager accused of yanking Breitbart reporter

Donald Trump’s campaign manager is being accused of hurting a news reporter trying to ask him a question. Daily Caller’s Jamie Weinstein tweeted the accusation last night, saying Corey Lewandowski grabbed Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields and almost took her down.

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Politico has more about what happened, noting Fields was shaken up by Lewandowski:

Secret Service was starting to clear a path, when Fields was forcibly grabbed on her arm by Lewandowski, moving her out of the way and nearly bringing her down to the ground, a source who witnessed the situation told POLITICO.

Fields was clearly roughed up by the move, the witness said.

Breitbart CEO Larry Solov wants an apology:

“It’s obviously unacceptable that someone crossed a line and made physical contact with our reporter. What Michelle has told us directly is that someone “grabbed her arm” and while she did not see who it was, Ben Terris of the Washington Post told her that it was Corey Lewandowski. If that’s the case, Corey owes Michelle an immediate apology.”

This is beyond disturbing because not only is it assault, but it’s an assault on a female news reporter. I’m curious to see how some of Trump’s media supporters will try to spin this as they did when the Secret Service agent took down the TIME photographer. Yes, video appears to show the photographer swearing at the agent, but that doesn’t excuse the agent’s behavior. And just because Fields was asking Trump a question doesn’t mean she should have been pulled away. The fact more people aren’t angry about what happened is disturbing and shows just how far the “cult of Trump” has gotten. Imagine the outrage if this happened at a Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz rally? Or if Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton had staffers take down a reporter? Or if any of the other campaigns swore they’d open up libel laws to sue any publication which writes bad things about them? People on the Right would be rightfully going nuts. But since this is Donald Trump’s campaign (or, Odin help us, Donald Trump’s America) it’s a-okay because it’s the media which is getting hit. This is just beyond disturbing.

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But it isn’t just the TIME photographer attack or what happened to Fields which is a problem. This is something which seems to be happening over and over again at Trump rallies. Remember the video of the black woman being pushed around like a pinball at a Trump rally? How is that okay? Do Trump supporters seriously think it’s okay to push people around for disagreeing with them? Does Trump? He need to get control over his crowds so they don’t riot the next time someone barges in to complain about him. But this is the same Trump who likes to point out protesters and even suggested he might bring his own protester. It’s also the same Trump who has hired private investigators to go through rally crowds do ferret out dissenters and keeps the media in just one area. This is awful and shouldn’t be tolerated. If it’s bad for the Obama Administration to crack down on reporters, it’s bad when Trump does it.

Trump has to fire his campaign manager for this, right? Or will he just ask Lewandowski to apologize and call it a day? My hope is the does the former, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he only did the latter because it’s Trump. Whatever press is out there is all good for him. As long as he gets what he wants: the GOP nomination.

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David Strom 6:40 PM | April 18, 2024
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