The Lewandowski-Fields incident: A complete timeline

Corey Lewandowski was arrested Tuesday morning after he turned himself in for the misdemeanor charge, which was brought against him by former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields.

She alleged Lewandowski violently pulled on her arm when she tried to ask the GOP Republican presidential candidate a question shortly after a press conference held in Palm Beach, Fla.

Trump’s campaign manager was released Tuesday morning, and his court date has been set for May 4. His legal team defended him in a statement, and maintained he is totally innocent of all charges. They also said that he will enter a plea of “not guilty.”

“He is completely confident that he will be exonerated,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks and Lewandowski’s personal attorney, Scott Richardson, said in a joint statement.

The story of how the charges were brought against Trump’s top aide is convoluted, and it involves several players, including Lewandowski and Fields, a Washington Post reporter, Breitbart’s editorial board and the billionaire businessman himself.

Here’s a complete timeline of the events leading up to Lewandowski’s arrest:

MARCH 8: THE INCIDENT

Daily Caller columnist and Fields’ boyfriend Jamie Weinstein catches reporters’ attention with a tweet reading, “Trump always surrounds himself w thugs. Tonight thug Corey Lewandowski tried to pull my gf @MichelleFields to ground when she asked tough [question].”

Washington Post reporter Ben Terris corroborates Weinstein’s version of events.

Fields says nothing about the incident that evening. She remains silent the next day.

The Trump campaign does not respond to requests for comment. Breitbart does not mention the story at all on its website March 8 or 9.

MARCH 9: BREITBART SPEAKS

Breitbart CEO and president Larry Solov issues a tepid statement in response to inquiries about the alleged incident.

“It’s obviously unacceptable that someone crossed a line and made physical contact with our reporter,” it read. “What Michelle has told us directly is that someone ‘grabbed her arm’ and while she did not see who it was, Ben Terris of The Washington Post told her that it was Corey Lewandowski. If that’s the case, Corey owes Michelle an immediate apology.”

Separately, the Post’s Terris confirms in a statement to the Huffington Post that he saw Lewandowski grab Fields.

The Daily Beast publishes a report, titled “Breitbart Rolls Over After Reporter ‘Grabbed’ by Trump Aide,” wherein it alleges Lewandowski told Breitbart’s’ Matthew Boyle that he did indeed pull on Fields’ arm.

“Lewandowski acknowledged to Breitbart’s Washington political editor, Matthew Boyle, that he did manhandle Fields,” the report claimed. “Lewandowski’s explanation to Boyle, said these sources, was that he and Fields had never met before and that he didn’t recognize her as a Breitbart reporter, instead mistaking her for an adversarial member of the mainstream media.”

The Daily Beast article also claims Boyle gave Lewandowski a heads up when he heard Terris planned to question Trump’s aide about the Fields incident.

Lewandowski later cancels his informal meeting with Terris.

MARCH 10: IT HITS THE FAN

Breitbart publishes a blog post, titled “Michelle Fields: In Her Own Words,” in which Fields breaks her silence on the alleged incident. She recounts the story as told originally by Weinstein, says she was nearly knocked to the ground, and adds that the incident left her badly shaken.

Terris formally reports his version of events in a Post article, titled “Inside Trump’s inner circle, his staffers are willing to fight for him. Literally.” He also corroborates Weinstein’s claims.

Breitbart’s Patrick Howley demands in a series of tweets that Fields produce evidence of her claims, and maintains he has never been treated roughly on the campaign trail. He quickly deletes his tweets. He is suspended for publicly questioning Fields, but is reinstated four days later.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks responds to Fields and Terris, and accuses them of fabricating their story.

“The accusation, which has only been made in the media and never directly addressed with the campaign, is entirely false,” she said in a statement, adding that Fields has a history of exaggerating incidents so as to boost her personal image.

“We leave to others whether this is part of a larger pattern of exaggerating incidents,” Hicks wrote.

Lewandowski jumps on board the effort to brand Fields as a fabulist, and tweets a series of notes characterizing the then-Breitbart reporter as a liar and an “attention seeker.”

Fields responds to the Trump campaign by tweeting a photo of her bruised arm. The picture bears text that reads, “I guess these just magically appeared on me.”

Solov responds again to the controversy involving one of his staffers, and issues a more forceful statement.

“We are disappointed in the campaign’s response, in particular their effort to demean Michelle’s previous reporting,” he said. “Michelle Fields is an intrepid reporter who has covered tough and dangerous stories. We stand behind her reporting, her techniques, and call again on Corey Lewandowski to apologize.”

Politico obtains audio of the alleged incident, and media reporter Hadas Gold posts the transcript.

The Independent Journal Review also obtains the audio of the event, and they post it in full.

Both reports appear to corroborate Fields’ version of events.

Trump tells reporters later that evening that Fields is making up the story.

“This was, in my opinion, made up. Everybody said nothing happened. Perhaps she made the story up. I think that’s what happened,” Trump tells CNN after a GOP primary debate. “I heard that nothing happened. You know, we’re surrounded by Secret Service. We have many Secret Service. You see some of them here. When we left, I spoke to them. Nothing happened. This was, in my opinion, made up.”

MARCH 11: ESCALATION

Lewandowski takes things a step further and claims on social media that has never met Fields, let alone touched her in a violent manner.

MSNBC and C-SPAN circulate footage of the alleged incident. The new video appears to show Lewandowski pulling on Fields, but much of the footage is obscured. The video is deemed inconclusive.

March 29: Trump denies

Fields contacts the Jupiter Police Department. They respond by telling her they are “investigating an alleged battery.”

Trump’s campaign team again responds to the story by characterizing Fields as a liar.

“The accusation, which has only been made in the media and never addressed directly with the campaign, is entirely false. As one of the dozens of individuals present as Mr. Trump exited the press conference, I did not witness any encounter,” Hicks said in a statement.

“In addition to our staff, which had no knowledge of said situation, not a single camera or reporter of more than 100 in attendance captured the alleged incident. This individual has never met Corey, nor has the only reporter that supposedly identified him,” it added.

Breitbart News editor-at-large Joel Pollack, who once inquired about a position as a campaign speechwriter for the casino tycoon, publishes a lengthy blog post that concludes both Fields and Terris misidentified Lewandowski.

The right-leaning website’s spokesman, Kurt Bardella, tenders his resignation.

“I resigned,” he said in a statement. “I reached the point where I couldn’t do 100 percent of my ability to represent them both for them and me, and when you reach that point, it is time to move on.”

Later that evening, Bardella tells CNN’s Don Lemon that Breitbart’s top brass is lying about what happened to Fields.

“I think that they’ve been looking for a reason to disprove something, when all the evidence from a Washington Post reporter’s firsthand account, to the bruises on Michelle’s arm, to all the photos and video clips that we’ve seen strongly suggest that Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s campaign manager was the one who did this,” he said. “And there’s no reason to never support your own reporter.”

Lemon asked, “Are you saying they’re lying?”

“Yes, I am,” Bardella responded.

MARCH 13: EXODUS

Fields and former Breitbart editor-at-large Ben Shapiro also tender their resignations. Prior to exiting Breitbart, Shapiro was one of the few editors to defend Fields and demand the Trump campaign apologize.

MARCH 14: MORE RESIGNATIONS

Breitbart’s Jordan Schachtel and Jarrett Stepman announce their resignations following the editorial board’s failure to defend Fields.

The additional resignations come shortly after Breitbart published, and then deleted, a blog post criticizing Shapiro for quitting.

Editors at the right-leaning news site issued an apology claiming that the blog post, which included links to Shapiro’s old home address and phone number, was meant in jest.

“The article was written by me as part of an effort to make light of a significant company event, and was published as a result of a misunderstanding without going through the normal editorial channels,” Pollak said in a statement. “I apologize to Michelle Fields, my friend Ben Shapiro, and to everyone concerned.”

The number of Breitbart staffers who have resigned over the Fields flap now amounts to six.

The story then goes silent until Florida law enforcement officials follow up on Fields’ allegations.

MARCH 29: THE ARREST

Lewandowski is arrested and charged with simple battery.

The police investigation determined that, “probable cause exists to charge Corey Lewandowski … with (1) count of simple battery … in that he did intentionally touch Michelle Fields … against the will of Michelle Fields,” the official report said.

Law enforcement officials also release security footage clearly showing Lewandowski grabbed Fields.

Trump responds to the video by saying he doesn’t see evidence that Fields was nearly pulled to the ground, and maintains that Lewandowski is a good, decent man. He also tweets screen shots of the footage released on March 29, and claims Fields touched him repeatedly. The tweeted screen shots show no such thing.

Trump maintains he will continue to support and back Lewandowski. He also tells reporters that Fields, who had a pen on her at the time of the alleged incident, could have been carrying a weapon, including an improvised explosive device.

Pollack concedes he was wrong when he claimed Terris and Fields likely misidentified Lewandowski:

Hicks maintains Trump’s campaign manager is “absolutely innocent.”

“He will enter a plea of not guilty and looks forward to his day in court. He is completely confident that he will be exonerated,” she said in a statement.