Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields, who claims Donald Trump's campaign manager assaulted her, and longtime editor-at-large Ben Shapiro said early Monday they were leaving the conservative organization after it published a story doubting her claims.
"Today I informed the management of Breitbart News of my immediate resignation," Fields said in a statement 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."
Fields has filed assault charges in Jupiter, Florida against Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, claiming that he grabbed her arm hard enough to leave bruises while she was trying to ask Trump questions about affirmative action following a press conference.
Shapiro, in his statement, said that he was leaving the site because he believes the legacy of founder and namesake Andrew Breitbart "has been betrayed."
"Breitbart News, under the chairmanship of Steve Bannon, has put a stake through the heart of Andrew's legacy," said Shapiro.
"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."
Fields has said she did not see who grabbed her, but The Washington Post's Ben Terris said he saw the person and identified him as Lewandowski.
Shortly after the claims were made, Breitbart published an extensive report, using photographs, to cast doubt on her story. The Trump campaign has denied the incident, with Trump himself saying he believes she made it up and Lewandowski calling her
"delusional."
In the days after the Breitbart report, sources that Joel Pollak, a senior editor-at-large at the organization, told staffers to stop defending Fields and that some had been threatened with being fired for supporting her.
"Breitbart News not only stood by and did nothing outside of tepidly asking for an apology, they then attempted to abandon Michelle by silencing staff from tweeting or talking about the issue," said Shapiro.
"Finally, in the ultimate indignity, they undermined Michelle completely by running a poorly-evidenced conspiracy theory as their lead story in which Michelle and Terris had somehow misidentified Lewandowski."