Here’s a Comprehensive Timeline of the Entire Corey Lewandowski Scandal

Alex GriswoldMar 29th, 2016, 4:17 pm
 

Corey LewandowskiWith the colorful figures, changing excuses, and multiple reports involved, the story of the assault allegations against Corey Lewandowski is one for the ages. Here is a definitive timeline of every new development in the ongoing Michelle Fields-Lewinsky battle, from its genesis to Lewandowski’s arrest.

March 8, 10:58 PM: The first report of Lewandowski’s conduct comes from Fields’s boyfriend Jamie Weinstein, who denounces him as a “thug.”

Weinstein’s report is quickly backed up by WaPo reporter Ben Terris.

March 9, early morning: Brietbart issues a statement, calling on Lewandowski to clarify whether or not he was responsible and to apologize if he was.

Around this time, The Daily Best reports that two separate things happened. Breitbart spokesman Kurt Bardella angrily calls Fields asking her to rein in her boyfriend. Also, Lewandowski calls Brietbart’s Matt Boyle and expresses regret, saying he didn’t realize Fields worked for Breitbart. Bardella and Boyle strongly deny both claims.

March 10, 12:21 AM: Breitbart editor-at-large Ben Shapiro becomes the first Breitbart higher-up to speak out on Twitter, defending Fields.

March 10, 8:00 AM: Breitbart publishes Fields’ account for the first time: “Someone had grabbed me tightly by the arm and yanked me down. I almost fell to the ground, but was able to maintain my balance. Nonetheless, I was shaken. The Washington Post’s Ben Terris immediately remarked that it was Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who aggressively tried to pull me to the ground.”

March 10, 9:00 AM: Shapiro calls on Trump to fire Lewandowski.

March 10, 12:00 PM: Breitbart reporter Patrick Howley takes to Twitter to accuse Fields of fabricating the story, and is indefinitely suspended an hour later. It’s the first outward sign of an internal battle raging at Breitbart.

March 10, 1:54 PM: The Trump campaign finally responds, calling Fields a liar and claiming she has a history of exaggeration.

Fields had quite the response:

March 10, 1:54 PM: Lewandowski himself speaks out for the first time in a tweet accusing Fields of fabricating a sexual assault. “You are totally delusional. I never touched you. As a matter of fact, I have never even met you,” he later tweets at her.

March 11, morning: IJReview reports that Fields filed a police report with Jupiter, FL police about the incident. The Jupiter PD quickly confirms the development in a statement.

Around the same time Breitbart editor Joel Pollak runs a piece intended to prove that Fields actually wasn’t grabbed by Lewandowski, but by a Secret Service agent instead. Pollak is the first Breitbart higher-up to publicly doubt Fields’ story.

March 11, 2:52 PM: Video emerges clearly showing Lewandowski was the one who reached for Fields.

March 11, 3:30 PM: Kurt Bardella cuts ties with Breitbart. In interviews with Mediaite, CNN, and Fox News, he bashes Trump and accuses his former collegues of not defending Fields strongly enough.

March 13: Fields and Shapiro quit Breitbart in protest of the site’s treatment of Fields. At some indeterminate time, Shapiro’s father David Shapiro quits as well.

March 14, early morning: Breitbart responds with a bizarre piece mocking Shapiro, headlined “Ben Shapiro Betrays Loyal Breitbart Readers In Pursuit Of Fox News Contributorship.” The piece, which accused Shapiro of betraying Andrew Breitbart‘s widow and included angry quotes from Joel Pollak, was later deleted with an apology to Shapiro.

March 14, 2:23 PM: Two more Breitbart reporters, Jordan Schachtel and Jarrett Stepman, also announce their resignation.

March 14, 2:47 PM: Leaked messages indicate Breitbart writers were all but openly revolting against the site’s treatment of Fields, and that management banned reporters from publicly expressing their support.

March 15, 5:19 AM: Politico reports that Lewandowski has a long history of acting inappropriately towards female reporters and co-workers, including making “sexually suggestive and at times vulgar comments” at and about them.

March 15, 10:08 PM: In his most public display of support yet, Donald Trump takes the stage following Super Tuesday with Lewandowski behind him. “Good job, Corey,” Trump tells him during the speech.

March 17: Reports emerge that Fields had been dropped from her regular appearance on Fox Business’s Cashin’ In (host Eric Bolling is a staunch Trump supporter). In a statement, Fox said the two “mutually agreed to take her role as a guest panelist on a week to week basis.”

March 19, 8:30 PM: Lewandowski is caught on camera physically yanking a protester by the collar during a Trump rally. The Trump campaign responds in a statement by denying that Lewandowski pulled the protester, claiming it was the man next to him.

The man Lewandowski blamed would later be outed as an undercover Trump security staffer.

March 20: Trump defends Lewandowski during multiple appearances on the Sunday shows. “I give him credit for having spirit. He wanted to take down those horrible, profanity-laced signs,” he tells ABC.

March 21: Buzzfeed reports, citing multiple sources, that Lewandowski has a habit of getting drunk and calling up female reporters to hit on them. Others claim that Lewandowski made inappropriate jokes to them about which women in the press corps he would like to get with.

March 22: Lewandowski threatens to sue Buzzfeed over its booty call reporting.

March 19, 11:00 AM:: Jupiter Police officially arrest Lewandowski for simple battery. In a statement, the campaign declares that Lewandowski is “absolutely innocent of this charge.”

Jupiter Police also finally release video showing the moment of the grab:

March 29, 12:41 PM:: Trump himself responds, declaring the tapes showed there was “nothing there.”

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