Now-former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields and her colleague, editor-at-large Ben Shapiro, have resigned from the website over its response to Fields alleged assault by Donald Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewadowski.
Fields and Shapiro informed Breitbart News chair Steve Bannon of their decision Sunday night.
“Today I informed the management at Breitbart News of my immediate resignation,” Fields said in a statement sent to BuzzFeed News. “I do not believe Breitbart News has adequately stood by me during the events of the past week and because of that I believe it is now best for us to part ways.”
Lewandowski allegedly grabbed Fields and pulled her away from the GOP frontrunner. The Trump campaign denied the incident and Breitbart published a story questioning Fields’ version of the situation. Joel Pollak, a senior editor-at-large, reportedly told staffers to stop defending Fields.
Fields also wrote on Twitter that she “can’t stand with an organization that won’t stand by me.” The site should be “ashamed” of “their treatment” of Fields, Shapiro said.
Shapiro issued his own statement, which accuses Bannon of shaping the company “into Trump’s personal Pravda.”
“Andrew’s [Breitbart] life mission has been betrayed. Indeed, Breitbart News, under the chairmanship of Steve Bannon, has put a stake through the heart of Andrew’s legacy,” Shapiro said. “In my opinion, Steve Bannon is a bully, and has sold out Andrew’s mission in order to back another bully, Donald Trump; he has shaped the company into Trump’s personal Pravda, to the extent that he abandoned and undercut his own reporter, Breitbart News’ Michelle Fields, in order to protect Trump’s bully campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who allegedly assaulted Michelle.”
Publicist Kurt Bardella was also shaken by the incident and resigned from working with Breitbart on Friday.
The handling of this situation could lead to more resignations, with contracts being the hold up for some disgruntled employees, according to Politico’s Hadas Gold.
More people want to resign from Breitbart, but the contracts are making it hard for some.
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) March 14, 2016
It appears the staff of Breitbart and many others support Fields and Shapiro, even if management doesn’t:
https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/709249176320794624
“No one wants to stand with Bannon,” a Breitbart source tells me. (more resignations are coming it seems) pic.twitter.com/DP1UiwzHQ2
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) March 14, 2016
The idea that editors would trust @MichelleFields reporting, but not her personal account (backed by video and audio) is astounding.
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) March 14, 2016
https://twitter.com/RosieGray/status/709234585939419136
Every single word of @benshapiro's statement is 100 percent true. Bannon is a bully and has been for years. https://t.co/Slf2tRvIYT
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) March 14, 2016