Judge Andrew Napolitano weighed into the alleged assault by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski on a female reporter and claimed that it was not criminal battery but was possibly “civil battery.”
Appearing on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co” on Wednesday, Napolitano said the case between Lewandowski and Michelle Fields is “not an appropriate use of law enforcement.” (RELATED: Trump Campaign Has ‘Total Confidence’ In Campaign Manager Despite Battery Charge [VIDEO])
Lewandowski was charged with simple battery — which is a misdemeanor — against Fields, who was a reporter with Breitbart at the time of the incident. Fields alleges that Lewandowski grabbed her on the arm by after at the conclusion of a press conference in early March. Trump has said that he is not going to fire Lewandowski, but has instead stood by him. (RELATED: Trump Campaign Manager Charged With Battery Over Grabbing Reporter’s Arm)
Napolitano claimed that what Lewandowski did was “not criminal battery. It may be civil battery.”
Adding, “This is no place for police and law enforcement. This is the moral equivalent of being jostled in a subway, of being bumped into by somebody who is trying to get across the street — something that happens to us everyday. Not every unconsented-to-touching is a criminal event and the police and law enforcement and prosecutors have no place getting involved in this.”
When asked about the fact that charges were filed, Napolitano claimed, “The prosecutor has what is called prosecutorial discretion. Which is the ability to say, ‘We’re not going to charge this person, with this event, under these circumstances.’ And the exercise of that discretion is not appealable. You cannot ask the court to order the prosecutor to prosecute someone.”
After disclosing that he has a “financial relationship” to Trump and that he knows, likes, and respects Fields since the time she worked at Fox News, Napolitano said, “This is not a criminal event. If she believes she was injured or harmed by what she says Mr. Lewandowski did, she can sue him civilly where the level of proof is lower and the police and law enforcement are not involved and she’ll have to proof to a jury what her harm was.”
Napolitano then said that is was it was “not an appropriate use of law enforcement. The courts in Florida, the police in Florida, the prosecutors in Florida ought to have better things to do to maintain public safety and protect our rights and property than this.”
Host Stuart Varney then asked, “Are you implying that the authorities in Florida had an ax to grind against Donald Trump?”
“I don’t know that to be so. I don’t know who the prosecutor is. I know they’re publicly elected in Florida. I don’t know [if] this prosecutor is involved in the presidential campaign at all but this is a case that should be dismissed by the courts and never filed in the first place.”
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg, the prosecutor of the Lewandowski and Fields case, is on Hillary Clinton’s Florida Leadership Council, according to the Palm Beach Post.
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