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 Police in Jupiter, Florida, charged Corey Lewandowski, 42, with
intentionally grabbing and bruising the arm of Michelle Fields, then
a reporter for the conservative news outlet Breitbart, when she
tried to question Trump at a campaign event on March 8.
Republican front-runner Trump repeatedly defended Lewandowski
throughout a day of campaigning in Wisconsin. He also rescinded a
previous pledge to support the Republican presidential nominee if it
is not him.
"No, not anymore," he said when asked if he would honor his previous
pledge.
At a CNN town hall on Tuesday night, Trump said he would remain
loyal to his campaign manager and that Lewandowski would remain on
the job even though it might be more convenient on behalf of his
campaign to "terminate this man, ruin his life, ruin his family ...
ruin his whole everything and say: 'You're fired.'"
Trump also questioned Fields' original description of the incident
in which she said she was almost yanked to the ground by
Lewandowski. He wondered aloud if she had posed a threat to him
because she approached him with an ink pen.
 "She had a pen in her hand that could’ve been a knife," Trump said.
Police released a video of the incident showing Fields walking
alongside Trump and trying to question him. Lewandowski is seen
grabbing her arm and pulling her backward. Previous videos of the
incident had been obscured by people in the crowd.
At the time, Lewandowski called Fields "delusional" and said he
never touched her.
Campaign rallies for Trump, the billionaire businessman who leads
the race to become the Republican candidate in the Nov. 8
presidential election, are tumultuous at times and have been marked
by occasional clashes between protesters and supporters or security
personnel.
His pugnacious campaign style, which includes personal insults
directed at rivals and scathing criticism of protesters, has been
criticized for encouraging physical altercations at his rallies.
Trump leads rivals Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, and Ohio
Governor John Kasich in opinion polls and in the number of delegates
to the nominating convention, despite a concerted effort to stop him
by a Republican establishment worried he will lead the party to
defeat in November.
Cruz said Trump "of course" should ask for Lewandowski's
resignation.
"Look, it shouldn't be complicated that members of the campaign
staff shouldn’t be physically assaulting the press," Cruz said on
the CNN town hall.
Kasich said he considered such behavior "totally and completely"
inappropriate.
"If it was me, if I was in this circumstance, I would take some sort
of action, either suspension or firing," Kasich told reporters in
Wisconsin.
 WALKER ENDORSES CRUZ
Cruz picked up the endorsement on Tuesday of Wisconsin Governor
Scott Walker ahead of the state's primary next week. Walker, who
dropped out of the presidential race last year, called Cruz a
principled constitutional conservative.
"I'm all in," Walker said in an interview on WTMJ radio in
Milwaukee, adding he was not endorsing Cruz in an attempt to stop
Trump.
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"I just fundamentally believe if you look at the facts, if you look
at the numbers, that Ted Cruz is in the best position by far to both
win the nomination of the Republican Party and to then go on and
defeat Hillary Clinton in the fall this year," Walker said,
referring to the Democratic front-runner.
Walker joins a number of other more establishment Republicans who
have backed Cruz as an alternative to Trump, who has racked up a
strong delegate lead but alienated many party leaders with his harsh
views on illegal immigration, Muslims and women.
On his plane, Trump said Fields had been pursuing him after a news
conference and Lewandowski was trying to "get her off me." He
questioned whether Lewandowski had given Fields the bruise on her
arm.
"How do you know those bruises weren't there before?" he asked
reporters in Wisconsin.
Republican strategist Katie Packer, who runs an anti-Trump Super
PAC, said the incident and the charges against Lewandowski reflected
the candidate's lack of respect toward women.
"He doesn’t have the kind of values and the kind of temperament that
we should expect from someone who wants to be commander in chief,"
she said.
Lewandowski was charged with simple battery, defined under Florida
law as intentionally touching or striking a person against their
will. For a first offense, it is a misdemeanor in the first degree,
which carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison or a fine of
$1,000.
A court date was set for May 4, according to the police report.
Jupiter police said Lewandowski turned himself in, and he was issued
a notice requiring him to appear in court and then released. He was
not booked into the jail.
Lewandowski’s lawyer, Scott Richardson of West Palm Beach, Florida,
declined to comment on whether his client would step down as
campaign manager. Lewandowski will also be represented by Kendall
Coffey, a Miami lawyer, the campaign said.
Fields resigned from Breitbart less than a week after the incident,
citing what she said was the online news outlet's refusal to stand
behind her amid the allegations.
(Reporting by Emily Stephenson in Washington and Colleen Jenkins in
Winston-Salem, N.C.; Additional reporting by Alana Wise, Doina
Chiacu, Ginger Gibson, Steve Holland and Megan Cassella in
Washington, and Jonathan Allen in New York; Writing by John
Whitesides; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney)
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