Trump campaign ‘wholeheartedly supports’ Lewandowski

by Ben Kamisar - 03/29/16 1:35 PM ET

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign will stand by campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who was charged with battery Tuesday, the campaign’s top spokeswoman said.

The campaign “wholeheartedly supports” Lewandowski, Katrina Pierson said Tuesday on CNN’s “Wolf” just hours after the charges were filed.

{mosads}”The allegation is that he grabbed her aggressively, nearly throwing her to the ground,” Pierson said.

“That did not happen, it’s not on the video, and Mr. Lewandowski will be cleared of all charges.”

When CNN host Wolf Blitzer asked whether Lewandowski would remain in his position if found guilty, Pierson said he would.

“Yes, absolutely. Mr Lewandowski is an integral part of this team, the camp wholeheartedly supports him and will see him through the entire ordeal,” she said.

The Jupiter, Fla., Police Department charged him with one count of simple battery for allegedly touching Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields during an altercation in early March.

Police also released security footage that appears to show Lewandowski grabbing Fields.

Pierson said being “jostled or moved or hit” is common at events with large groups of journalists. She compared the altercation to when she received a cut on her arm from a news camera and suggested the possibility of restricting access to the press in response.

“You could start suing networks now for slashing your arm with a camera, which happened in my case. This is absurd, it is ridiculous and it will be beat,” she said.

“If anything, perhaps campaigns, particularly presidential campaigns, should begin to change the rules of the type of access the press gets from here on.”

During an additional segment on CNN, Pierson faced representatives from rival campaigns, who attacked Trump for the incident.

Ted Cruz campaign chairman Chad Sweet referred to a culture of “abuse” and called for the race to get back to the issues.

Sweet made a reference to Kendall Coffey, a lawyer identified by a Trump campaign statement as representing Lewandowski who resigned from his post as a U.S. attorney in 1996 after he allegedly bit a stripper at a Miami nightclub.

Pierson responded by denying Coffey’s involvement, instead noting the name of Lewandowski’s lead counsel.

“This is what I’m talking about, again trying to politicize an incident,” she said. “Scott Richardson is Corey Lewandowski’s attorney. … You just gave a false name of who is representing Corey Lewandowski.”

Coffey is listed in a Trump campaign statement as one of the lawyers representing the campaign manager.

Updated at 1:53 p.m.

Tags Donald Trump Ted Cruz