US Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, has been arrested and charged with misdemeanour battery in Florida, the latest chapter in a raucous White House race marked by threats, insults and physical confrontations.
Police in Jupiter, Florida, on Tuesday charged Lewandowski, 42, with intentionally grabbing and bruising the arm of Michelle Fields, then a reporter for the conservative news outlet Breitbart, when she tried to question Trump at a campaign event on March 8.
"Mr Lewandowski is absolutely innocent of this charge," Trump's campaign said in a statement.
"He will enter a plea of not guilty and looks forward to his day in court. He is completely confident that he will be exonerated."
Campaign rallies for Trump, the billionaire businessmen who leads the race to become the Republican candidate in the November 8 presidential election, have been marked by rowdiness and occasional clashes between protesters and supporters or security personnel.
Manager Corey Lewandowski allegedly grabbed former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields (wearing white shirt at bottom C next to Trump in dark suit and red tie) Source: AAP
Trump's pugnacious campaign style, which includes personal insults directed at rivals and scathing criticism of protesters, has been criticised for encouraging physical altercations at his rallies.
The real estate mogul leads remaining rivals Ted Cruz, a US senator from Texas, and Ohio Governor John Kasich in polls and in the number of delegates to the nominating convention, despite a concerted effort by the Republican establishment to stop him out of fear he will lead the party to defeat in November.
Cruz picked up an endorsement on Tuesday from Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker ahead of the state's primary next week.
Walker, who dropped out of the presidential race earlier this year, said he backed Cruz because he was a principled constitutional conservative.
"To me, I'm all in," Walker said in a radio interview on WTMJ radio in Milwaukee, adding that he was not endorsing Cruz in an attempt to stop Trump.
"I just fundamentally believe if you look at the facts, if you look at the numbers, that Ted Cruz is in the best position by far to both win the nomination of the Republican Party and to then go on and defeat Hillary Clinton in the fall this year," Walker said, referring to the Democratic front-runner.
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