Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields and editor-at-large Ben Shapiro have resigned from the rightwing news site over its handling of an alleged assault on Fields by Donald Trump’s campaign manager.
Corey Lewandowski allegedly grabbed Fields by the arm and pulled her away from Trump when she tried to ask him a question at a press conference in Florida last week.
On Friday, Breitbart, which has been sympathetic to Trump throughout his campaign, published a long post in which it said “it is unclear that contact has been made” on Fields in video clips of the incident.
The 28-year-old, who published a post of her account on Breitbart, said she was left with finger-shaped bruises following the incident.
I guess these just magically appeared on me @CLewandowski_ @realDonaldTrump. So weird. pic.twitter.com/oD8c4D7tw3
— Michelle Fields (@MichelleFields) March 10, 2016
On Sunday night, Fields informed Breitbart News, which is chaired by Steve Bannon, of her decision to resign.
“Today I informed the management at Breitbart News of my immediate resignation,” Fields said in a statement first sent to BuzzFeed News. “I do not believe Breitbart News has adequately stood by me during the events of the past week and because of that I believe it is now best for us to part ways.”
Following the incident, Trump’s campaign issued a statement casting doubt on Fields’s account. Trump said: “Everybody said nothing happened. Perhaps she made the story up. I think that’s what happened.”
The incident was seen by another journalist, the Washington Post reporter Ben Terris, and appeared to be caught on video, and Lewandowski tweeted that she was an “attention seeker”.
The alleged assault sparked internal strife at Breitbart, founded by the late Andrew Breitbart, prompting senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak to tell staff to stop tweeting, speculating and defending Fields.
That did not stop Shapiro following Fields out the door and issuing a statement heavily criticising management for turning the news site into “Trump’s personal Pravda”.
“Andrew [Breitbart’s] life mission has been betrayed,” said Shapiro. “Indeed, Breitbart News, under the chairmanship of Steve Bannon, has put a stake through the heart of Andrew’s legacy. In my opinion, Steve Bannon … has sold out Andrew’s mission in order to back another bully, Donald Trump; he has shaped the company into Trump’s personal Pravda, to the extent that he abandoned and undercut his own reporter, Breitbart News’ Michelle Fields, in order to protect Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who allegedly assaulted Michelle.”
Shapiro accused the company of “tepidly asking for an apology” and attempting to “abandon” Fields by ordering staff not to talk publicly about the issue.
Kurt Bardella, Breitbart’s spokesman, was the first staffer to leave in the wake of the alleged rough handling of Fields.
