Trump's Campaign Manager Faces Simple Battery Charge Over Incident With Reporter

Donald Trump's campaign manager faces a charge of simple battery after a reporter accused him of grabbing her and bruising her arm at a Trump campaign event earlier this month.

Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is accused of grabbing Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields after a press conference on March 8, leaving fingerprint bruises on her arm. Fields first leveled the allegations against Lewandowski the day after the campaign event, and her account was corroborated by a Washington Post reporter who was also present. But video footage of the alleged incident was initially difficult to come by.

Lewandowski, the Trump campaign, and the GOP frontrunner himself have repeatedly denied that the incident occurred and questioned Fields' reliability.

— Corey Lewandowski (@CLewandowski_)March 11, 2016

Trump again denied that anything happened between Lewandowski and Fields on Tuesday.

Wow, Corey Lewandowski, my campaign manager and a very decent man, was just charged with assaulting a reporter. Look at tapes-nothing there!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)March 29, 2016

But on Tuesday, police in Jupiter, Florida, issued a "notice to appear" to Lewandowski, ordering him to appear in court in the state on May 4 to face charges of simple battery.

Marc Bujnowski, an investigator with the Jupiter Police Department, said in the report that he had interviewed both Fields and Lewandowski and watched security footage of the incident, which he wrote shows the Trump campaign manager grabbing Fields.

"Lewandowski then grabbed Fields['] left arm with his right hand, causing her to turn and step back. This motion cleared a path for Lewandowski to walk past Fields, allowing him to 'catch up' and get closer to Trump who was walking during this entire incident," Bujnowski wrote.

Jupiter police released a clip from the security footage, which appears to show Lewandowski grabbing Fields and yanking her backwards.

The police officer also confirmed that Fields had bruises on her forearm, which allegedly resulted from the encounter with Lewandowski. Fields posted a photo of those bruises on Twitter not long after the incident. "Fields showed me her left forearm, which revealed bruising from what appeared to be several finger marks indicating a grab injury," Bujnowski wrote.

I guess these just magically appeared on me — Michelle Fields (@MichelleFields)March 10, 2016

Bujnowski added that his investigation adds up to "probable cause" to charge Lewandowski with simple battery "in that he did intentionally touch Michelle Fields… against the will of Michelle Fields."

The Trump campaign, in a statement on Tuesday, said Lewandowski looks forward to proving his innocence.

"Mr. Lewandowski is absolutely innocent of this charge. He will enter a plea of not guilty and looks forward to his day in court. He is completely confident that he will be exonerated," the campaign said in a statement, pointing reporters to Lewandowski's attorneys.

Lewandowski has retained attorneys Scott Richardson of West Palm Beach and Kendall Coffey of Miami to help fight the charges, according to the Trump campaign. Coffey is a former US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. He resigned in 1996 after he was accused of biting a stripper during a dispute, according to Florida's Sun-Sentinel newspaper. Coffey represented Al Gore's presidential campaign in the 2000 Florida recount, is a frequent guest on MSNBC, and has donated money to the campaigns of both Bill and Hillary Clinton, including a $1,000 donation to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign as recently as September, according to federal election filings.

Lewandowski turned himself in at 8:10am on Tuesday, according to Jupiter police documents.

"He came in by himself, without us picking him up, and signed his notice to appear," Officer Joseph Beinlich, a spokesperson for the Jupiter Police Department, told the Washington Post.

Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson told CNN Tuesday afternoon that the campaign has "total confidence" in Lewandowski and believes he will be exonerated. Pierson said that even if he does not beat the charges against him, Lewandowski will continue to retain his job with the Trump campaign.

Pierson argued, as Trump himself did in a tweet earlier Tuesday, that Fields lied about the incident. Fields initially wrote in a post on Breitbart.com that Lewandowski grabbed her and "aggressively tried to pull [her] to the ground," she pointed out.

"That did not happen. It's not on the video and Mr. Lewandowski will be cleared of all charges," Pierson said.

The Jupiter Police Department documents make no mention of Lewandowski attempting to pull Fields to the ground, but the investigation found "probable cause" for charging Lewandowski based solely on the fact that he allegedly touched her against her will.

Pierson went on to argue on CNN that she has also been injured at campaign events as reporters and cameramen fight for position.

"I don't go and sue the television network because I have a cut on my arm from a camera," she remarked.

"If anything, perhaps campaigns — particularly presidential campaigns — should begin to change the rules about the type of access that the press gets from here on," she said.

Jupiter, FL, Police Documents in Corey Lewandowski Case

Follow Sarah Mimms on Twitter: @SarahMMimms