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“There’s no question I’ve suffered damages,” Michelle Fields said. Michelle Fields on her part in the Trump drama, and a 'disappointing' investigation

Michelle Fields says she wouldn’t change how she has handled the events of the past month or so. She only wishes she could go back in time and decline the request to cover a Donald Trump news conference in place of a colleague who was sick.

Then, she told POLITICO over drinks at a Washington, D.C. hotel bar, she would never have come into contact with Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, and she would still have a job she loved as a reporter for the conservative website Breitbart.

Instead, she said, she has had to leave that job, move from her apartment because of threats and handle the publicity that comes with challenging a presidential candidate's campaign machine known for never saying sorry or backing down.

At that March 8 news conference at the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, Fields tried to get Trump’s attention to ask a question about affirmative action as he walked through the crowded ballroom toward the exit, surrounded by Secret Service. But as she asked her question, she was almost immediately moved out of the way by Lewandowski — with enough force to leave bruises on her arm, which she later documented with photos.

Her boyfriend, Daily Caller senior editor Jamie Weinstein, who joined Fields for her interview with POLITICO and has been public about his dislike of Trump, quickly tweeted a message, calling Lewandowski a “thug” and saying that he almost brought Fields down to the ground after she asked a question.

"I thought the best way to force an apology or some contrition was by making it public,” Weinstein told POLITICO.

Fields jumped in here, saying she doesn’t regret that Weinstein tweeted about the incident because ultimately, through the entire drama, it helped “reveal the character of [Lewandowski] and the Trump campaign."

And that tweet is where the drama and the media frenzy began. Fields placed most of the blame on the escalation of the events on the Trump campaign, for changing their story and questioning her character. She insisted that all she ever wanted was an apology, that she went to the police just to prove she was not lying. She said the media narrative got wrapped up in litigating the details of the case — how hard she was actually pulled, why such a simple act was considered battery, whether she touched Trump first — versus how the campaign was handling what could otherwise have been a quickly resolved situation. And she questioned the tactics and motives of the Florida state attorneys who brought charges against Lewandowski but ultimately declined to pursue a case.

Cases of run-ins between reporters and campaign staff are rare, but when they happen they seldom unfold into stories as big as the Fields-Lewandowski drama. Just a couple of weeks after Fields' dust-up with Lewandowski, (Charleston) Post and Courier reporter Emma Dumain tweeted that a Ted Cruz security officer "grabbed my purse to keep me from interviewing him and all but pushed me into a wall." A little over an hour later, perhaps learning from the Trump campaign, Dumain tweeted that all was well: She had received not only an apology from the campaign staff and an explanation from the security officer, but an apology from Cruz himself. And she got her interview.

But the Trump campaign is not like other campaigns.

The night of the incident, Fields said her editor at the time, Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle, assured her Lewandowski would apologize. But Fields said an apology never came. Lewandowski said last week that he actually tried to call Fields the night of the incident but that she didn’t answer.

"I never heard from Lewandowski,” Fields said. "He may have called from a blocked number [or a number she didn’t recognize], but then why didn’t he leave a message?"

Two days after the incident, a Trump spokesperson said no camera or witness captured the incident. Lewandowski suggested in tweets that Fields was "delusional" and questioned her past. Trump himself told reporters that he thought Fields was making it all up.

“The most stressful aspect of all this is seeing the presidential front-runner for your political party lie about you on television over and over again and feeling almost defenseless,” Fields said.

"I felt I had no choice, that I had to go to the police, just to have someone who was objective look at it and say here are the facts,” Fields said. "I felt like I had to do this because there were all these lies and smears being put out by the Trump campaign."

A few weeks later, the police charged Lewandowski with misdemeanor simple battery. Fields said the battery charge was not her choice — that it was the police’s choice what the charge would be — and that critics got caught up in the battery charge, saying it was an exaggeration.

"When I first spoke to the prosecutor I told them I just wanted an apology. I didn’t want to be in trial for over a year dealing with this,” Fields said.

Going to the police did drum up what Fields had been seeking: Surveillance video proving that something happened and an official authority, the Jupiter Police, determining that yes, Lewandowski did touch her. After the video was released, the Trump campaign’s story changed. No longer was Fields delusional. Instead, she was now depicted as either having exaggerated the incident or of having presented a bodily threat to Trump sufficient to justify Lewandowski’s reaction.

The latter argument was what ultimately got Lewandowski out of the case. The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office declined to pursue the charges, saying that while it was clear Lewandowski pulled Fields away, that no Secret Service agents reacted to her presence, and that a legal process could have been avoided had Lewandowski apologized; Lewandowski ultimately was subject to "a reasonable hypothesis of innocence” because he may have been acting to protect the candidate.

But beyond the outcome of the state’s case, which Fields called “disappointing,” Fields said the case was handled "unprofessionally" by the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office.

Washington Post reporter Ben Terris, who was heard on audio recordings with Fields immediately after the incident with Lewandowski, and who wrote his own account of the situation, was never interviewed by the state attorney’s office, Fields said. She also objected to the state attorney’s office using only the affidavit of a retired FBI agent provided by Lewandowski’s legal team to help it determine how the Secret Service protects candidates. (Fields said she was told the state attorney tried to reach out to the Secret Service but was unsuccessful.)

Fields also pointed out that though the assistant county state attorney, Adrienne Ellis, investigated the case, her boss, Palm Beach County State Attorney David Aronberg and his wife, Lynn, have socialized with Trump, and that as a result he should have recused himself entirely.

Lynn Aronberg runs a public relations firm, the website of which prominently displays several photos of her with Trump and Trump’s wife, Melania, (and several other celebrities and politicians). Aronberg addressed his relationship with Trump at a news conference last week, saying he’d been at events with Trump but there were “800 other people” there as well, and that he also has connections to other candidates, such as Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. Aronberg himself is a registered Democrat.

“I don’t know if it had anything to do with the decision not to prosecute the case, but I do think it’s a little strange, he sort of downplays it as if there isn’t that big of a connection, but they are at Mar-a-Lago so often. And it appears as though they are part of Palm Beach society,” Fields said. "This is a guy who’s going to run for office I’m sure, they want to cultivate those relationships, and Mar-a-Lago is definitely part of Palm Beach society. I imagine if I was in his position, I’m part of Palm Beach society, I’d feel a little ostracized if I prosecuted Donald Trumps’ campaign manager."

The Palm Beach State Attorney’s Office directed questions about Aronberg’s relationship with Trump to Lynn Aronberg, who denied having any business relationship with the Trumps.

"Donald Trump, his family and companies have never been clients of mine. I have a number of pictures, with clients and non-clients on my website,” Aronberg said in a statement.

The attorney’s office did not comment on Fields’ other complaints. A Trump spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment, though the campaign has said previously that “the matter is now concluded."

Fields said she’s still weighing whether she’ll pursue a defamation case against Lewandowski and Trump; her finances and the potential emotional fallout are factors. Though Lewandowski’s attorney has publicly warned her against doing so under threat of information about her past coming out, Fields said she has “nothing to hide.”

“There’s no question I’ve suffered damages,” Fields said. "I imagine there will be some interesting things that come out ... from the Trump campaign about how they handle this."

She didn’t hire anyone to handle public relations for her because she said she was afraid "of being used” by people with “ulterior motives” and political agendas. So she relied on her boyfriend, her mother and herself.

“I think I was handed a really unfortunate situation and just tried to do my best with that,” she said.

Plenty of critics have said Fields is just milking her brush with the Trump campaign to boost her own profile. Fields does have a book coming out in June, titled “Barons of the Beltway,” a project that has been in the works for more than a year.

But Fields pointed out she hasn’t mentioned the book on social media and never brings it up in interviews unless asked (as she was by this reporter). Fields said she’s still in discussions with her publisher about moving the release date, though it’s still currently scheduled for June.

“To be honest, I’m a little concerned about having to promote a book in the midst of all this,” Fields said.

And life for Fields since March 8 has been inarguably chaotic enough to make one wonder who would volunteer to participate in such a drama. After several news outlets accidentally posted the full text of her police report without redacting Fields’ personal information, she and her roommate were forced to abandon their apartment after receiving threats on her life, she said. Fields said police and other officials are investigating the incident, but that she is now constantly fearful for her safety.

As for her immediate future, Fields said there have been job offers, but that she is not making any decisions yet.

"I’m taking it day by day, but looking at my options,” she said.

Marc Caputo contributed to this report.

