Saturday, March 12, 2016

The Trump “Scandal” du Jour: Who is Michelle Fields, and Why Should We Care?

 

Michelle Fields
 

By Nicholas Stix
 


The bruise, from the attempted murder of Michelle Fields.

 

In Jabin Botsford’s photograph, that’s Michelle Fields on the left, committing simple battery against Donald Trump, and Corey Lewandowski on the opposite side of Trump. Between Fields and Lewandowski is a bodyguard, who reportedly vaguely resembles Lewandowski (both have short-cropped hair).
 

[Re: VDARE: “A Paleoconservative Woman Reader Asks ‘Will Neocons and SJWs Ruin Breitbart, Too?’”]
 

Until a few hours ago, I had never heard of this young woman, who is an alleged reporter for the blog, Breitbart News. She just turned 28, only recently started working for Breitbart (when she was still 27), and has the dubious distinction of being the story, more often than she reports on a story. And when she does “report,” she writes about deep stuff like Facebook trends.

In the past, she claimed to have been groped by Lt. Col. Allan West, and beaten by NYC cops at an Occupy Wall Street riot. Her new cause célèbre is The Bruise.

She claims that while trying to get a question in to Donald Trump, as the candidate was leaving a Jupiter, Florida, press conference on March 8, that Fields had apparently avoided, Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, reached out and touched her—yanking her arm almost to death. According to Fields’ only witness, Washington Post operative, Ben Terris, immediately after the “incident,” “He really just almost threw you down on the ground." It is Terris who claimed that the attacker was Corey Lewandowski. Fields had no idea who grabbed her arm.

Funny thing about that witness issue. The alleged incident occurred in a crowded room, in which dozens of people would have witnessed it, but no one else did, and although people a few feet away were snapping away on various cameras and iphones in Fields' direction, no one else saw The Attack.

Various media outlets have undertaken a Warren Commission-style investigation, replete with photographs of the grassy knoll from every conceivable angle, yet no one (including yours truly) has been able to see a smoking gun, or anything else.

Terris’ Washington Post colleague, photographer Jabin Botsford, was caught lying, denying he had even been at the event. Botsford then changed his story, and said he hadn’t seen anything, and deleted the tweet in which he had denied having been at the event.

Yesterday, NPR operatives Amita Kelly and Danielle Kurtzleben, ran with the “story,” trying to weave Fields’ dubious claims together with the anti-Trump media’s narrative, whereby Trump is surrounded and supported by violent people.

Politico has audio and a rough transcript.

Fields is heard telling Terris, “Yeah, I don’t understand. That looks horrible. You’re going after a Breitbart reporter, the people who are nicest to you?”

That is generally true, but Fields is new to Breitbart (only since November), and so we don’t know what her angle is. And given both her personal history, and the ruthless internecine struggle among Republicans seeking to destroy Donald Trump, one may not assume, based on the mere fact that she is employed by the blog that she would be Trump-friendly.

Note that yesterday, Michelle Fields filed a police report with the Jupiter, Florida police, reportedly charging Corey Lewandowski, though she did not know who had allegedly grabbed her arm.

As some observers have noted, someone could have grabbed Fields’ arm by accident, and even if someone did yank her arm, it is unlikely that it was Lewandowski.

The Daily Beast clams to have a smoking gun video, which is actually from C-SPAN, but not only do I not see anyone “battering” anyone, the moment in which Beast operatives Andrew Kirell and Justin Miller assert that Lewandowski can be seen attacking Fields, all you see is the latter’s arm reach out for a second or less. You don’t see him touch anyone, and it would take a few seconds to do what Fields has charged him with.

So, what are the possibilities?

A ferocious attack by Corey Lewandowski? No.

A hoax, perpetrated by Michelle Fields and Ben Terris, the latter of whom works for a newspaper that hates Trump with a purple passion, and runs constant, “Trump = Hitler” stories? Maybe. The jury’s out.

An accident, in which Trump’s bodyguard reached out to catch the clumsy Fields, who has a history of tripping over her own feet? Possibly.

The most logical explanation is that the Secret Service agent saw a person who was not a staffer, relative, or friend of the man he was protecting put her hand on the candidate, and he yanked her arm away. Secret Service agents have a history of roughly handling the press. Just ask Hillary Clinton.

In any event, there is no evidence Corey Lewandowski committed any crimes against Michelle Fields, and the charge she made is so minor that the only reason this went anywhere is because her charge was related to Donald Trump.

Both Corey Lewandowski and Donald Trump say Michelle Fields is lying.

Latest word: Breitbart spokesman Kurt Bardella resigned yesterday, saying that Breitbart had lied about Fields.
 

Former Breitbart Spox: Breitbart is Lying About What Happened to Michelle Fields
 


 

Did the Washington Post Lie About the Michelle Fields Incident? (Crude Language; note updated information about police report)
 


 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anyone consider "self inflicted" bruising?This is a crock.
--GR Anonymous

Unknown said...

Apparently journalism is now porn for ugly whores. Attention whoring is not new, but the Net and Camera Phones have made getting away with it a lot harder. I hear she's going to Fox News now. Maybe she can get coffee for Megyn and find out who she has to sleep with to get a show on Fox News. Its certainly not talent or gravitas.

Nicholas said...

Joshua,

In search of her journalism career, I checked her Wikipedia entry, which is nothing but an advertisement for her, by some guy named “jloveness.” She graduated from Pepperdine in 2011, and became an instant celebrity. I could find no history of major stories, or any stories she covered.

Two-and-a-half months after she graduated, she was interviewed by Brian Lamb on CSPAN, for her thoughts on journalism. The following year, she gave a speech on TED, again on her sagely wisdom on journalism. Have you heard her speak? She sounds like a Valley girl.

The “stories” she breaks are all about her. And yet, she gets paying jobs from major outlets.

Oh, here we go: she “is the daughter of television and film writer Greg Fields.”

“In 2012, Fields gave a TEDx talk on her career and the future of internet journalism.[8] In 2015, The Hill newspaper named her one of the 50 most beautiful people in Washington, D.C.[9]”

In addition to daddy’s connections, she must have a big-time agent. There’s no other way I can think of explaining it, and getting on one of those lists when one is not beautiful or a movie star, often is due to a powerful press agent. After all, although she’s attractive, there are hundreds of stunning lobbyists, political aides, and media operatives in DC that are prettier than she is.