The story of Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, who claims Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski forcefully grabbed her arm and left a bruise, has been very bizarrely covered by her notoriously pro-Trump employer — editor Joel Pollak has ordered employees to stop speaking publicly about Fields, Breitbart chairman Stephen Bannon reportedly made several disparaging remarks about the reporter in conference calls with company leadership, and Breitbart spokesman Kurt Bardella quit his job rather than peddle management’s version of events.
Yet WND has apparently chosen to side with Breitbart management and against Fields. Cheryl Chumley writes in a March 11 WND article:
Breitbart, in a top-page post on its Friday online news page, acknowledged after viewing video that reporter Michelle Fields was probably wrong – Donald Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski most likely wasn’t the one who manhandled her at a recent rally.
The news site notes that “the altercation itself is not shown” and that “Fields quickly disappears from view, as if pulled back.” The site also suggests a security official who resembles Lewandowski may have been the one who pulled Fields away.
In a surprise twist on the fast-moving Friday story, Breitbart reported this, too: Fields filed a police report alleging criminal misconduct on the part of Lewandowski.
But first the acknowledgment: “In conducting our own due diligence,” Breitbart’s Joel Pollak wrote, “we have reviewed as much video footage and other evidence as possible, and present it in the interest of transparency. … The incident certainly happened. However, the person who made contact with Fields was likely not Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.”
Chumley even uncritically repeated a smear of Fields, highlighting a Lewandowski tweet that “Michelle Fields is an attention seeker who once claimed Allen West groped her but later went silent.” She did also note that a Breitbart reporter was suspended for criticizing Fields and that a statement claims tyhat “Breitbart continues to stand 100 percent with Michelle Fields” — which seems to be a tad untruthful given all the stuff that’s leaking out now.
Meanwhile, in addition to all the behind-the-scenes Breitbart drama now being reported, a new video has surfaced that appears to more clearly show Lewandowski grabbing Fields.
Despite the fact that the story is very much in flux, Chumley has not updated it, nor has WND published a separate update on Fields — meaning this slanted, outdated version is what’s standing as WND’s current final word on the subject.
Then again, terrible, biased reporting is WND’s modus operandi, so this is unfortunately not surprising.
UPDATE: Chumley has now written a follow-up article with the weekend’s events, including that Fields and editor-at-large Ben Shapiro quit Breitbart. Strangely, she ends it with mostly anonymous “social media” comments suggesting that Fields invented the incident to promote an upcoming book.