WASHINGTON, DC — Former Breitbart News, Daily Caller, Fox News, PJ Media, and Reason TV associate Michelle Fields announced Sunday night that she is joining the left-wing Huffington Post website to cover the Donald Trump campaign.
Fields’ move completes the 180-degree transition that Fields and her new fiancé, Jamie Weinstein, have made in recent weeks from the top rungs of the Republican establishment to compromised positions in the expatriate pro-Hillary Clinton Right.
“After the tumultuous events of the last few months, I am ready to get back to writing and reporting on what is without question the most bizarrely fascinating presidential race of my lifetime (and, perhaps, any lifetime),” Fields declared in a statement published by CNN.
Fields is best known for claiming that Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski violently attacked her at an event before the Florida primary in March. Fields resigned from her job at Breitbart News before it became apparent that her account of events did not match up with video footage of the incident. She later filed a criminal complaint against Lewandowski, but a Palm Beach County prosecutor declined to pursue an indictment against Trump’s campaign manager.
Fields will now cover the Trump campaign for a website that used to place Trump coverage in its “Entertainment” section rather than its “Politics” vertical. Twitter users have been remarking on Fields’ apparent demotion from Politics to Entertainment:
Huffington Post routinely accuses Trump of racism, misogyny, and xenophobia in its articles. The publication even started adding a note to readers in each Trump article with messages such as, “Note to our readers: Donald Trump is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, birther and bully who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.”
Before the Lewandowski incident, both Fields and Weinstein were prominent members of the Republican establishment. Fields had achieved a rare Conservative Media trifecta, simultaneously working as a full-time Breitbart News beat reporter and a regular personality on the Fox News show “Cashin’ In” while also prepping a hardcover book for a major publishing company. Weinstein, meanwhile, had a ceremonial “Senior Editor” title at The Daily Caller and appeared regularly on Fox News while palling around with neoconservative power-brokers behind the scenes. They were ambitious, telegenic, and in love. They were going places.
Then Fields met Lewandowski. Here is what she wrote “in her own words“:
Trump acknowledged the question, but before he could answer I was jolted backwards. 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. I quickly turned around and saw Lewandowski and Trump exiting the building together. No apology. No explanation for why he did this.
Daily Caller paramour Jamie Weinstein sparked a national media conversation when he detailed the incident in his official role as Fields’ boyfriend:
Lewandowski initially denied ever touching Fields. He said on Twitter, “you are totally delusional. I never touched you. As a matter of fact, I have never even met you.” Lewandowski’s denial, and his refusal to apologize, only fanned the flames of the media scandal.
This reporter worked with Fields at Breitbart News and also with Weinstein at The Daily Caller. I questioned Fields’ initial account of events when the Lewandowski story was developing, sensing that her account was too outlandish to possibly be supported by video evidence, and also perceiving Weinstein’s undue influence on the case. For this, I was “indefinitely suspended” from Breitbart, effective immediately, by full senior management at Breitbart News in a statement drafted by then-Breitbart publicist Kurt Bardella. I accepted my uncertain fate and waited for more information to come out that could decide the course of my career.
But video footage of the incident was released showing that Fields’ initial account of events did not match up with what actually happened. Fields was revealed to have been touching Trump and was repeatedly warned by Secret Service to stop. Fields was not “yanked down” by Lewandowski. However, Fields did provide photographs hours later showing bruises on her forearm that she claimed were left there by Lewandowski. The video in question appears to show Lewandowski making contact with Fields’ bicep:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLmQtOvU4Bc
I was re-instated to Breitbart News after four days of suspension. Fields resigned from Breitbart News alongside three others, including Bardella and Trump critic Ben Shapiro, who left behind his ceremonial “Editor-At-Large” gig with this publication. Fields, Bardella, and Shapiro all disparaged Breitbart News and also the Donald Trump campaign in a relatively brief spurt of mainstream media relevance.
While this reporter’s career continues to soar thanks to the loyalty of supportive and patriotic Breitbart News readers, Fields and Weinstein have seen their GOP prominence dwindle.
Fields faced intense backlash as a result of her accusations against Lewandowski. Fields’ regular panelist status on Eric Bolling’s Fox News show “Cashin’ In” became a question mark, to be evaluated on a “week to week basis.” MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski called Fields’ case against Lewandowski “a joke from the beginning.” Fields also got into a slap fight with Fox News host Greta Van Susteren on Twitter after Van Susteren criticized Fields’ legal maneuverings against Lewandowski:
Writer Mike Cernovich mocked pre-sales figures for Fields’ Crown Forum book after her friend Betsy Woodruff promoted it on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/woodruffbets/status/725119701060296706
Fields appears to have grown comfortable on the Establishment Left, recently partying with Woodruff and others in celebration of Washington Post race reporter Wesley Lowery’s Pulitzer Prize:
Weinstein, meanwhile, has at least temporarily departed the Republican Party altogether. In a Daily Caller piece earlier this month, Weinstein pledged his support to Hillary Clinton in the general election:
In a White House race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, I’d prefer Clinton, just as I’d prefer Malaria to Ebola…
…For all Hillary Clinton’s many, many domestic and foreign policy faults and failures, she has not proposed dismantling the national security infrastructure America has built up since World War II or initiating destructive trade wars. Make no mistake, a Clinton presidency would be bad for the Republic. A Trump presidency would be potentially cataclysmic.
So if forced to choose between the Malaria and Ebola, I would hold my nose and pick Malaria. America can recover from political Malaria. It’s not so clear it can recover from political Ebola.
In political exile, Fields and Weinstein have at least devoted themselves to their relationship, announcing their engagement last week.
Fields’ entry on the website HowHeAsked.com delved into the nuances of a romance between pundits:
He would regularly debate and challenge me on every hot-button political issue in the news. We didn’t always agree, but every time we debated I learned something new about him and about the world. I fell in love with his mind. I fell in love with his heart. I fell in love with him….
…I went to Los Angeles to visit my family and to take a break from all of the presidential election coverage. Jamie flew into Los Angeles and arranged for us to take a helicopter to Malibu. We flew to a mountain overlooking the ocean. There was a picnic set up with champagne and desserts. When we got off the helicopter he got down on his knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. Afterwards he surprised me with dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel. When I arrived, both of our families were there to congratulate us.
In a matter of weeks, Michelle Fields and Jamie Weinstein have made a complete and utter departure from the party that they long aspired to dominate. Will they ever truly be accepted in the world of Hillary Clinton supporters? Will they ever be able to regain the juice they once had in their former Republican lives? And more importantly: how many #NeverTrump Republicans will follow them out the door?
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.