Politico releases audio, transcript of encounter with campaign manager that Trump says never happened

Joe NewbyMarch 11, 2016

0 152 3 minutes read

trump denies On Thursday, Politico released an audio and a transcript of what it says is the encounter between Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and Michelle Fields, a reporter with Breitbart.com.

According to the report, Lewandowski allegedly grabbed Fields and nearly knocked her down. Trump, however, now claims the incident never happened and was made up.

Here’s the audio, courtesy of Politico:

Here’s a transcript, according to Politico:

Din of people talking, clanking of glasses, snippets of conversation, reporters telling one another to ‘move up a little’, greeting each other, saying ‘good to see you’ saying ‘OK good quote then’, then clearly action picks up as cameras start clicking.

Fields: “Mr. Trump, you went after the late Scalia for affirmative action, do you — are you still against affirmative action?”

Voice (allegedly Corey Lewandowski): “Excuse me, thank you.”

A few moments later (noise of the room can be heard)…

Terris: “You OK?”

Fields: “Holy sh*t.”

Terris: “Yea he just threw you down.”

Fields: “I can’t believe he just did that that was so hard. Was that Corey?”

Terris: “Yeah, like, what threat were you?”

Fields: “That was insane. You should have felt how hard he grabbed me. That’s insane. I’ve never had anyone do that to me from a campaign.”

Terris: “Can I put that in my story?”

Fields: “Yeah, go for it — that was really awful. That’s so unprofessional.”

Terris: “He really just almost threw you down on the ground.”

Fields: “He literally went like this and was grabbing me down. “I don’t even want to do what he just did to me. Oh my God, that really spooked me that someone would do that.”

Terris: “What threat were you?”

Fields: “Nothing. I was asking about affirmative action.”

Terris: “And he probably knows you, right?”

Fields: “Yeah, I don’t understand. That looks horrible. You’re going after a Breitbart reporter, the people who are nicest to you?”

Terris: “I know, I’m going to put it in my story.”

The two stop talking. Din/noise of people talking, glasses clinking continue through end of the recording.

Breitbart said that Washington Post reporter Ben Terris identified Lewandowski as the man who “pulled her away” from Trump, bruising her arm.

Here’s video of Trump denying the incident ever happened:

#Break: Donald Trump just told me he thinks that the Michelle Fields incident didn't happen. "I think they made it up."

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) March 11, 2016

Donald Trump on Michelle Fields incident: “The Secret Service are amazing people. They said absolutely nothing happened."

— Matt Viser (@mviser) March 11, 2016

When I asked Trump about the bruises on her arm, he said "Well I don't know how they got there" #GOPDebate

— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) March 11, 2016

Apparently, we’re not supposed to believe our lying ears nor are we to believe the multiple eyewitnesses.

Fields, not wanting to be part of the news, wrote:

I wasn’t called upon to ask a question during the televised press conference, but afterwards Trump wandered around, stopping at every reporter to take their questions. When he approached me, I asked him about his view on an aspect of affirmative action.

Trump acknowledged the question, but before he could answer I was jolted backwards. 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. Nonetheless, I was shaken.

The Washington Post’s Ben Terris immediately remarked that it was Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who aggressively tried to pull me to the ground. I quickly turned around and saw Lewandowski and Trump exiting the building together. No apology. No explanation for why he did this.

This is certainly no way to make friends or influence people. The Trump campaign would be better off issuing a simple and public apology for this incident.