Corey Lewandowski was charged with simple battery of a female reporter.
Jim Young / Reuters
In a press conference in Florida Thursday, spokesman for the Palm Beach County State attorney Dave Aronberg announced that the state would not be prosecuting Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump's campaign manager.
Lewandowski was charged with one count of misdemeanor battery at the beginning of March, after then Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields filed a police report accusing him of forcefully grabbing her and nearly throwing her to the ground while she was trying to ask Trump a question at an event in Florida.
She Tweeted images of bruises on her arm she said she received from Lewandowsku. A Washington Post reporter saw the incident and said Lewandowski was responsible.
"Although the facts support the allegation that Lewandowski did grab Miss Fields' arm against her will … there is sufficient evidence to presume his innocence," Aronberg said.
He clarified that although the local Jupiter, Florida police had "probable cause" to charge Lewandowski, the state prosecutor did not have "enough evidence to obtain a conviction."
After charging Lewandowski, Jupiter police released a video from surveillance cameras showing Lewandowski reaching for and grabbing Fields.
Aronberg was expected to announce he would not pursue prosecution after sources leaked news of the decision to Politico.
Fields spoke about the leaked reports on Twitter, the day before the official announcement was made. She said prosecutors approached her about a deal, and that she had been open to the idea, but that Lewandowski had not yet followed through.
Lewandowski and the Trump campaign have not yet publicly commented on the decision.
In the press conference Aronberg denied that there was a deal in which they would drop charges in exchange for an apology, "though in these cases we always encourage an apology."
He went onto say that he has seen a draft of an apology the Trump campaign had written to Fields.
In interviews conducted by BuzzFeed News with more than half a dozen sources who have worked with Lewandowski.
He was accused of pushing a CNN reporter who tried to ask the candidate a question; physically confronting an aide for a rival campaign in a post-debate spin room; publicly shouting threats over the phone at a restaurant; making sexual comments about female journalists; and calling up women in the campaign press corps late at night to make unwanted romantic advances.
Lewandowski has denied all accusations.
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1Vo3Lxp
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