FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A reporter for a conservative news website filed a police report Friday alleging that she was battered at a Donald Trump press conference in Florida.
Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields filed the report with the Jupiter, Florida, police department. Police spokesman Officer Adam Brown released a heavily redacted copy of the report, saying specific details are confidential as part of an ongoing investigation.
On the Breitbart website, Fields has said she was forcibly grabbed by the arm and yanked as she tried to interview Trump after a Tuesday night press conference while the Republican front-runner mingled with reporters. She posted photos of her bruised arm.
Originally, Breitbart and The Washington Post reported that the 28-year-old reporter was grabbed by Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski.
The Post stood by its story on its website Friday, but Breitbart backed away. It posted a story saying video shows the “likeliest explanation” is that Fields was accosted by a security officer who was next to Trump and Lewandowski. Trump is protected at events by both Secret Service agents and private security guards.
“Given the similarity in appearance between Lewandowski and the security official, and given the fact that Lewandowski was walking on the other side of Trump from where Fields was at the time, the possibility of mistaken identity cannot be ruled out,” Breitbart reporter Joel B. Pollak wrote on the website.
Trump and his campaign have vehemently denied Lewandowski grabbed Fields.
Campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks described the accusation as “entirely false.”
“As one of dozens of individuals present as Mr. Trump exited the press conference I did not witness any encounter. In addition to our staff, which had no knowledge of said situation, not a single camera or reporter of more than 100 in attendance captured the alleged incident,” she said in a statement.
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