She was being pushy in trying to get to Trump and he had a grievance over that. He yanked her, completely inappropriate.
If those bruises aren’t connected it would be in keeping with a Breitbrat reporter mentality, to me. But I think management saw the video and said “Get serious” and refused to support her.
I understand that’s battery, but if a parent does that to a child it’s no misbehavior at all. I’ve never heard of that move causing bruising to a child.
Huh. Fields is Lewandowski’s child. Verrry interrresting.
I’m not clear. Are you defending Leandrowski’s actions as being different from Click’s, or are you saying Leandrowski hasn’t had his day in court yet, so it’s too soon to judge his behavior?
It is clear from the video that Fields was walking next to Trump. Lewandowski approaches from behind and to her right. He reaches out with his left arm at some extension in front of a SS agent. At that point, Fields stumbles backwards and towards Lewandowski, her feet shuffle to show she was off balance and had to quickly adjust. The SS agent cuts around Fields’ right. Lewandowski proceeds past Fields as she is resetting her feet. Fields continues forward. Ben Terris of the Washington Post (in the checked shirt) steps forward and appears to speak to Lewandowski, who is clearly looking back at him as they move off the screen.
What is not clear from the video: there does not appear to be any contact between Fields and Trump. This is not a continuous feed, it is possible there was contact, but certainly not anything in the form of her grabbing his arm and jerking him.
It is not clear where Lewandowski contacts Fields’ arm. From the angle we have, it seems more likely he grabbed her upper arm, but it is not visible. We can’t see what his right hand does, nor can we tell if he pulled her upper arm, then grabbed her forearm as he pushed past her. What we can see is her arm jerks back, and his left arm is folded up in front of his chest, and the back of her elbow is visible raised up as if her arm is cocked back high, not low. That is very consistent with his grip being on her forearm as he pulls her over enough to scoot past her.
Of course we cannot see how tight his grip was. However, we do have an instagram photo of bruises on her forearm taken shortly after this occurred.
Given all this, it is clear that Lewandowski did grab her, and that she was pulled off balance. Trump’s response is typical - deny, lie, blame the victim. Trump is afraid admitting it would make him look weak, so he can’t retract anything.
Someone will need to provide evidence that Fields did any manhandling of anyone. That video shows nothing of the kind. In fact, Trump’s response was to acknowledge her question, write something on his tablet, and continue as if she didn’t magically disappear from interaction. If someone had grabbed or even touched my arm to get my attention, I wouldn’t ignore it if they then disappeared and failed to continue walking next to me. I would at least glance around to see what happened. Nothing like that from Trump. No strong glare from him that she deigned to touch his sleeve, much less that she did anything rude like grabbing him.
I can see why Trump might not have noticed anything happened, if she didn’t grab him. One minute she’s there, then she isn’t, it isn’t his concern. But if she had done something aggressive to get his attention, I would expect some level of response to her, or even a glance at his SS or security detail to why they let some mere reporter grab at him so viciously. None of that happened.
I could conceivably see Lewandowski not think it very significant, that she was pestering Trump when he was on the move and not giving statements, that he pulled her back and continued on and didn’t feel it improper. However, denying any contact when cameras abound and were almost sure to uncover exactly what has shown up, some level of contact, means he’s an idiot or he’s guilty and trying to cover his ass.
As I said, she clearly is pulled off balance back to the left towards Lewandowski. Not thrown to the floor, and we can’t know how tight the grip is, but certainly enough to stop her forward motion and make her shuffle her feet awkwardly.
Really? How much force do you think it takes to create a bruise? How do you evaluate that there wasn’t enough force to cause a bruise, when clearly she is pulled off balance?
Likely he saw a reporter bothering Trump during “off time” and thought it part of his duties to shepherd Trump and keep people from pestering him, so he sped up and pulled her so he could cut in front of her. I doubt he intended to cause bruises or to throw her to the floor, though certainly a person getting pulled rapidly off balance enough to stumble could interpret that as being almost thrown to the floor.
The SS could always consider someone approaching their charge a threat. The point is that they did not, as they did not do anything to intercept or to question her. In fact, the SS guy behind her goes around her when Lewandowski reaches out in front of him.
What level of threat should they assign to a known reporter who has been seen in his presence previously? Should they think her pen might really be a bomb? That she’s secretly got a knife on her and is just looking for the opportunity to plunge it into his chest?
I wouldn’t expect a reporter to ignore being grabbed and jerked around when just trying to ask a question. I wouldn’t think it inappropriate when the people involved deny deny deny and attack said reporter’s character. I think said reporter needs to move forward with some legal action, or else those character assaults are let stand. Prove in court who is trustworthy and who is not respectable.
I don’t know what the range of potential punishments are for simple battery. It is likely a misdemeanor charge, and as such may be fined for a couple thousand dollars and maybe up to a week in jail. I suspect that the results would lead to a fine and no jail time. But that’s not the point. At this point, the issue is her credibility versus Lewandowski’s.
I fully expect the jury to find the bruises could be from that grab. It is reasonable they could dispute it, but would need more than a simple assertion that he didn’t grab her hard enough. She can show he grabbed her, which is enough to prove her case that he battered her by contact. Whether or not the accept the bruises as caused by this incident will only affect the punishment.
A judge is not going to be pissed over this at all. This is exactly what a misdemeanor court judge is there to adjudicate. Now if someone makes this a Supreme Court case there might be grounds to be pissed off.
The common law offense of battery is generally defined as a harmful or offensive touching, however slight, of the person of another. There are defenses, of course, like consent, self defense, etc.
One of the things I have not seen mentioned is the “reasonable person” defense insofar as that we all consent, by law, to touching that would not offend most people. For example, you tap me on the shoulder to tell me that my fly is unzipped, grab me by the arm and pull me back because I am about to step in a mud puddle, or pat me on the back because I am wearing the jersey of your favorite sports teams.
Consent is also implied by participating in events where touching is to be excepted. The most obvious examples are football and boxing. Nobody can state that he is battered because his boxing opponent punched him, or his football opponent tackled him. Less obvious are things like pushing and shoving in a crowded subway, or in a mosh pit at a rock concert.
In the same vein, if I am following a presidential candidate with people all around, including secret service, with people rushing here and there with schedules and traffic being directed, it is pretty clear that security staff and campaign managers will be touching, directing, or maybe grabbing people by the arm to keep the path clear or otherwise end questioning.
If he had punched her in the face or pushed her to the ground, then clearly that is not an impliedly consented touching. However, I think that there is a good argument that when you are shoulder to shoulder with a presidential candidate who is rushing from event to event, a reporter understands that she may be ushered away by staff.
In any event, if this does meet the technical definition of criminal battery, this interpretation of the law has fallen into desuitude unless one can point to other examples of a slight tug on the arm being prosecuted.
This is simply political bullshit.
Fields worked for Breitbart, she’s a conservative, it’s not like a Hillary or Bernie conspiracy.
Except that she wasn’t “ushered” anywhere; she was physically yanked off balance.
Has anyone ever heard Donald Trump apologize in any way, for anything, ever? It’s just not in the TRUMP[sup]TM[/sup] playbook. To him and his followers, the greatest virtue is certainty; no one cares if he’s accurate.
Of course they can, under certain circumstances. Implied consent does not extend to every touch in the ring or on the gridiron.
The types of touch, the circumstances, who is doing it, all of these things matter.
You go from “There can be implied consent” to “Therefore, Corey Lewandowski gets to touch people” to “Therefore, this is all political.” You’re missing lots of steps in there.
Intent is a required element of a simple battery charge in Florida so I think its an uphill battle to actually prove that Lewandowski had the intention of committing battery against this reporter, this case is just smoke.
The prosecutor Dave Aronberg is a Democrat and Hillary supporter, I think these charges are just politically driven.
Intent to batter, or intent to touch? There’s a difference.
I believe it would be the intent to batter
According to this website and several others I have read Michelle Fields was warned twice to stop touching Donald Trump or something to that effect, I think this would also have some bearing in a trial.
I’m sure depending on his intent and justification for touching the reporter, there are several possible defenses that could be argued, I guess we’ll have to see at trial which way it goes.
I’m reading more about the Florida battery laws, so obviously he intended to touch her, the question is did he have a valid defense? Defense of others is one such defense, she had all ready been given two warnings allegedly to not touch Trump, who legally, possibly could file battery charges against her, http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/trump-is-right-he-could-seek-to-have-michelle-fields-prosecuted/
Lewandowski could argue his actions were in defense of Trump
These are Bricker questions I guess.
Why would Fields care at all what Democrats might want her to do? I’m not familiar with her work, but she’s a Breitbart reporter, so I’m guessing she’s either conservative or very conservative.
I don’t believe that’s true. I believe you have to intend the touching, and the touching has to be harmful or offensive. I don’t believe you have to intend a touch-that-is-harmful-or-offensive. Intend the touch, not the offense/harm.
It’s a misdemeanor, how hosed can he be?
See, that bar study does come in handy sometimes! 
Well, let’s see. Florida has 174 collateral consequences for committing a crime of violence. Not all of them include misdemeanor charges, but some do. They include , for example, ineligibility for a concealed weapon permit, inability to volunteer in a school, and ineligibility for certain old-age retirement centers. Many of these are the same in NY (though DC is a little better for him). And the federal government has 177 collateral consequences for violent crimes, again only some of which are applicable to misdemeanor charges. Lots of things like inability to be licensed for certain sensitive positions or to receive certain government contracts.
Naturally, since he is white and wealthy, he will get some kind of deferred sentence or plead to a violation if push comes to shove (no pun intended!). But if he were to get the conviction, there are non-trivial consequences.
That is not at all what I said. What I said was that when you inject yourself into an appearance with a presidential candidate who is surrounded by secret service and people are rushing to get access to him, and the security detail is likewise rushing to get the candidate out of there and onto the next event, a reasonable person, a reporter, no less, understands that there will be minor pushing, shoving, and grabbing to direct traffic.
It does not give any member of the campaign staff, or the security detail the right to punch, kick, or shoot someone, but a tug or a grasp of the arm to direct the reporter to a different area of the event is, IMHO, a contact that is impliedly consented to when you voluntarily attend such an event. No, he cannot break or twist her arm, but what I saw on the video looks very common.
Also, do the police routinely charge others that use a similar level of force in public? They would be very busy indeed.
You imagine that police routinely overlook misdemeanor battery. I doubt it, but mostly because I doubt it occurs very often. People tend to rob or fight each other (which in most jurisdictions merits a higher charge) or commit domestic violence. You don’t hear very often of adults causing other adults minor injury outside the context of a romantic relationship or a fight.