Trump Campaign Manager Won't Be Prosecuted: Reports

But he may still face defamation charges
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 14, 2016 12:44 AM CDT

The state attorney's office in Palm Beach County, Fla., will not prosecute Donald Trump's campaign manager for battery, according to multiple reports. Corey Lewandowski was charged with simple battery after former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields said he yanked her away from Trump during a March 8 rally, leaving bruises on her arm. Trump's social media director now says the case will go no further, reports Fox News. Fields says the state attorney's office asked Lewandowski to publicly apologize in lieu of prosecution, but it's not clear if he accepted the offer. "Prosecutor's office told me they would inform me of decision tomorrow," Fields tweeted. "If reports true, guess they decided to leak to reporters first. Ugly."

State Attorney David Aronberg is expected to confirm the reports at a news conference Thursday. Earlier this week, he told Politico that police in Jupiter, Fla.—where the incident took place—had a low "probable cause" to charge Lewandowski, but his office has "a higher standard to go forward with a prosecution." Several lawyers suggested a jury wouldn't consider the incident a case of battery. Fields says she may still pursue defamation charges after Lewandowski and the Trump campaign labeled her attention-seeking and questioned her integrity, per CNN and Fox. Trump has stood by Lewandowski over the past month, arguing Fields "broke through Secret Service" and "had a pen in her hand" which agents may have thought was "a little bomb." (More Corey Lewandowski stories.)

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