New Video Shows Trump Campaign Manager Grabbing a Reporter. Here Are All the Times the Trump Campaign Denied It.

It’s a long list.

Charlie Neibergall, File/AP

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Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, was charged with misdemeanor battery on Tuesday for forcibly grabbing Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields on March 8 in Jupiter, Florida. According to the Palm Beach Post, Lewandowski turned himself in to police in Jupiter on Tuesday morning, about two weeks after Fields filed a complaint with the police. The Jupiter Police Department released this video of the incident on Tuesday:

 

 

Despite the new evidence, and multiple earlier reports that Lewandowski had grabbed Fields, the Trump campaign is still proclaiming Lewandoswki’s innocence, declaring in a statement that he “is absolutely innocent of this charge” and “will enter a plea of not guilty and looks forward to his day in court.” It’s hardly the first denial from the Trump campaign. Here is a list of those denials.

On March 10, two days after the incident, Trump’s spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, released a statement calling Fields’ allegations “entirely false.” She denied that there were any witnesses (which there were) or any camera footage (which we now have). The statement also implied that Fields had a “pattern of exaggerating incidents” in order to make herself “part of the news story.”

Later that day, Lewandowski began to attack Fields himself.

Trump accused Fields of being a fabulist. After a Republican debate that evening, Trump responded to a question about the incident by suggesting Fields invented the incident. “Perhaps she made the story up,” Trump said. “I think that’s what happened.”

Lewandowski continued his Twitter barrage the next day.

After Lewandowski was charged on Tuesday, the campaign continued to defend him.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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