Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, stonewalling again, told Chris Wallace of Fox News that he wouldn’t apologize to Michelle Fields, despite the fact that he claims he tried calling her after she called him asking for an apology back in March, when Lewandowski grabbed her after a Donald Trump press conference. Lewandowski had told CNN, “I made a phone call to Michelle and I never heard back, and to this day I’ve never heard back from Michelle. So, it’s not that we didn’t try and reach out to get to the bottom of it, it seems to be that she wanted to inject herself into making it a story, and now I’m glad the story’s over.”
Fields has stated, “I have no record of him calling me. Certainly no message.” It would seem a normal person intending to apologize would persist, rather than do what Lewandowski did by calling Fields “delusional,” but the Trump campaign doesn’t exactly devote itself to the truth, as has been comprehensively documented before.
After the Palm Beach Police decided against prosecuting the battery charge Fields brought against Lewandowski, Fields intimated she would bring a libel suit against Lewandowski for smearing her reputation in the aftermath of the incident.
Wallace, working for a network which has seemingly instructed its employees to align themselves with Trump, (with some heroic exceptions like Megyn Kelly, Bret Baier and Dana Perino) clearly tried to minimize the initial encounter Lewandowski had with Fields, but still attempted to elicit an apology from Lewandowski to Fields.
The exchange went like this:
Wallace: Mr. Lewandowski, Corey, I’m going to call you that. Let’s start because I guess we have to with the saga over your encounter with Michelle Fields after a Trump news conference back in March. Here’s what she said: “Someone had grabbed me tightly by the arm and yanked me down. I almost fell to the ground, but was able to maintain my balance.” Here’s what you tweeted to Fields: “You are totally delusional. I never touched you.”
Wallace then showed the video of the incident, (continuing with Wallace’s tacit slam at Fields which ignored the bruises on her arm), “And here’s the video from that night, which shows you clearly did grab her, but not as violently as she said. Do you now acknowledge that you did touch Miss Fields, and that she is not delusional?”
Lewandowski: Well, no, what I acknowledge is the sum total of my relationship with Miss Fields was caught on that videotape. She is an individual I had never met before and never spoken to before, and candidly, I didn’t remember the incident. The whole incident lasted less than three seconds, and it was me moving from one location to another location. I would have remembered if I’d tried to violently throw someone to the ground or if there was an incident which would have been memorable. And there wasn’t. I tried to contact Miss Fields after I read on her boyfriend’s Twitter feed that something took place that evening, but to this day I’ve never heard from Mrs. Fields, or Miss Fields, so, you know, I am happy that the Palm Beach County district attorney decided not to move forward with any charges; I’m happy that this is behind us; I’m happy to move forward with the campaign.
Wallace: A couple of points I want to make: One, first of all, she says that she has no record that you ever tried to reach her, doesn’t have a record of your phone, doesn’t have a message that was left. In addition, as we both have pointed out, the Palm Beach prosecutor said that there’s not enough evidence and enough chance for success to actually go ahead and prosecute the case, but on the other hand, Fields has left open the possibility of a civil suit for defamation against you and against Trump. In the interest of avoiding unnecessary litigation, which I know Republicans don’t like, are you prepared, here and now, to apologize to Miss Fields for touching her and for saying that she was delusional?
Lewandowski: Well … here and now I’d like to say is again I’ve never spoken to Miss Fields. And so, I turned over my phone records to the Palm Beach County District Attorney’s office, it clearly shows I called her phone number that evening, when I got back and read about this on the Twitter feed. I’d be happy to have a conversation with her. But to apologize to someone I’ve never spoken to, and candidly don’t ever remember having any interaction with, I think is something that is a little unrealistic right now, but I have said, and would be happy to say again, it’s a person I’ve never spoken to. I’d be happy to have that conversation if we can put this thing behind us.