Michelle fields was grabbed last month. Here is Dave Ehrenberg explaining his decision this afternoon. In thee the evidence case is legally sufficient for the police to charge mr. Lewandowski, it is not Strong Enough to meet the legal burden of a conviction. It is not uncommon for an inner circle staff member to assist in clearing a safe pass wave. Pass way. That one be noticed agent was positioned directly behind ms. Field and appeared to show no concern over her actions. Mr. Lewandowski could have called this agents attentions to her movements before taking action himself if he considered her a threat. After the incident, mr. Lewandowski denied ever touching mrs. Fields in any way. Although these factors might undermine mr. Lewandowskis potential defense to live they do not outweigh the reasonable hypothesis of innocence based on the realtime facts and circumstances recorded on the video. Was released video of the incident with a wider shot of the room showing mrs. Fields ignoring Donald Trumps protective bubble while the rest of the press is being directed to another area. They factored that into their decision. Does this announcement put firmly lewandowski drama and finally behind him . John the people in the press have a tendency to believe everyone is innocent until Proven Guilty. Wereinute the charges brought, everyone assumed he would be tried and convicted. People have to remember, innocent until Proven Guilty. In this case it caused controversy when trump was going to a rough patch. I do not think that, even though there will be fallout from the way the charges were dropped, it will not have any impact on the chances that trump has of being elected. John i agree with your first point. What we on the program, made the point of innocent until Proven Guilty on the day it happened and that it was unprecedented. We never saw anything like this with a charge raised against the tempe manager of a president ial candidate. At that moment when things were going south for donald trump, starting with the way that he uzs treating heidi cr followed by the abortion comments, it caused trauma to falter in wisconsin. Of thet was part atmosphere in which the antitrump movement found traction. John i think that is trump is not the nominee, wisconsin will have proven to be an important context and that narrative, and this will be part of that turning point, even though Corey Lewandowski will not be formally charged. Mark there are questions about lewandowskis rule in the campaign now that Paul Manafort is part of the team. In howfluence of changes the campaign was structured with lewandowski being charged lead people to say that this would cause him to diminish in influence. Trumpsill by donald side, travels, is an influential player in the campaign. The fact that he will no longer face charges names that he could focus. Standing by him, and lewandowskis public praise and gratitude brings an already close relationship even closer. Thing. T is the opposite from has stood by lewandowski, but formal charges were filed and the prosecution, if it had gone forward, it would have been difficult for lewandowski to stay in the Campaign Going forward if he had been prosecuted. The alternative would have been huge for Corey Lewandowski and the campaign. Good, i think there is a message for Campaign Managers going forward, try to err on the side of not touching reporters that all. Lewandowskis attorney and donald trump himself spoke to them and offered their sides of the story. They said that the political pressure had no bearing on their final determination. This case has led to a lot of muscle lettering headlines. Lead it to a lot of not so flattering headlines. How much damage will do is due to trump . Will it have lasting effects . What trumpnk that making the case for his Campaign Manager, his friend, Corey Lewandowski, is inappropriate. That is political pressure in my judgment. An employer giving your side of the story in that way does not cross a line. As least as far as what i know in that moment. Think that it is not uncommon for prosecutors to decide not to go lord after someone is charged. I think it cant called and said these are facts that you might want that would be one thing, but it seems like he did more. He talks about what a good guy he was. I dont think he will pay a price for this because by his standards it is minor, but you can imagine the scenario if Hillary Clinton had called the prosecutor about her Campaign Manager and said he is a nice person, you can imagine them saying that was improper influence. John i talked about the wisconsin atmosphere. I think that there is a broader lewandowski, the prosecutors have not preceded. For republicans worried about donald trump at the top of the ticket, incidents of this kind that raise unusual and unprecedented drama and melodrama, it has reinforced they were predisposed not to want donald trump as their nominee, but it has created a miasma as part of the broader picture that makes people in the Republican Party that are queasy more queasy. These are the kinds of things that are likely to arise if he is the nominee. People want to stay away from this mess. Mark one thing that attracted people to donald trump in the town hall was his family. No drama. No drama obama. You will never hear anyone say no drama trump. That less drama. If you has less drama, republicans will be reassured. John next, we turned into the navy yard in my home borough of brooklyn where Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will team up. We will preview that after these words from our sponsors. Mark there are excitable types that are expecting explosives clinton and Bernie Sanders collide on the cnn debate stage this evening. If the past is any indication, clinton will swing at sanders on gun control and question his readiness to be president. Sanders could keep up his attacks on her judgment on things like super pacs and the iraq war when he is not pointing at wall street. Sanders is expected to land some for being paid to make a big speech. 20,000 for a 2013 speech at companiesne of the that sanders said was destroying the moral fabric of the country. What are you looking for from Hillary Clinton and the challenger, the kid from brooklyn, Bernie Sanders . John the most obvious thing is the only thing to say. Escalation in tengion and negativity, to some extent, in personal rhetoric since the New York Primary has gotten underway, i expect this to be the most contentious immigrant debate so far. It might be the last debate of consequence. If Hillary Clinton wins here and in the northeastern and midatlantic, this race could be over by the time we get to the next democratic debate. A lot on the line for Bernie Sanders especially. Mark she has won a lot of the debates that she has been in. Somethingo have happened tonight that she doesnt expect. Her team will be prepared for so many things. Unless he can come up with something that throws her and causes her to be seen in a different light, she will be fine. What do i expect . I dont expect him to come up with that. Every indication is that he is not prepared for this delay any other candidate would. He has been great in many ways. These are big moments, he has to rise to the occasion and create a paradigm shifting event. John the one debate she lasted 2008 was the question of drivers illegal immigrants. It was a question she didnt expect. She will expect everything sanders can bring. Just enough annoyance and irritation between these two that there is a chance things could get heated. Judging by how the clinton people reacted on television to the verizon paid speech thing, they didnt have a good answer, she better have a better answer. It could get charged if she doesnt have a good reply. Mark theyre both in a room where gasoline has been built on the floor and they are fighting with torches. Im not as sure as you that tonight will be a pop, it could be a physical. To be a fizzle. 27,000sanders packed supporters. Early as many celebrities it was a big night of music and speeches. A few people were witnessed not only feeling me bern, but smoking burning stuff. One speech in particular was causing Sanders Campaign a little bit of headache and heartache. It was made by a health care activist. He went too far in his the relationship between politicians and corporations. Here dr. Songs remarks and how sanders reacted in an interview. I agree that medicare for all will never happen. If we have a president that ever as to anything greater than the status quo. Medicare fraud will never happen if we continue to elect corporate democratic whores who are beholden to we heard it immediately. We responded. That is not something that we expected. He was a speaker at one event. He was one of many speakers. Unfortunately, we were not there to hear it. He would have spoken up immediately. Bernie sanders tweeted that the comment was inappropriate and insensitive. There is no room for language like that in our political discourse. Sanders, like a lot of candidates, and more than other candidate, has had a lot of surrogate foot in mouth moments. There is the one time at a rally when killer mike said a uterus does not qualify you to be president. Said that Hillary Clintons South Carolina win was ecig figured as winning wall when was as significant as winning wall winning guam. Sanders campaign has had more problems with surrogate. Why . Why is the Sanders Campaign having this trouble . Mark from a campaign that started from a standing start, they are wellfunded, but this is a flybynight slapdash organization. As are all campaigns, but it is not buttondown and button up. Reacteders people quickly. The problem is not that they have that they happen a lot, but he does not have a day to have half a new cycle of this. He has had trouble staying on message in a way that breaks through. He is consistent, but you have to mix it up. It is easy to have the same stump speech. He made no news. He said his normal stuff. That is disciplined, but this overshadows it and that is a problem. John we touched on it a little, there is a lot of frustration among sanders supporters top to bottom. Some of that has taken on a tone of hostility. This. D i have experienced we have given Bernie Sanders fair coverage on this show. We have interviewed him dozens of times. Yet, we are attacked more harshly by sanders supporters than Trump Supporters on twitter and elsewhere. There is a frustration with how the race is going. It has taken on a hostile tone in recent weeks that i think is a little different than other things i have seen in the past. Mark i think the press has the right to ask the question, as they do about donald trump. I they doing anything to create an environment where this harsh rhetoric is used . John there is a lot of it around. Mark a preview of the democratic debate. Anne gearan after these words from our sponsors. You to continue our preview of the democratic debate in brooklyn, anne gearan, a correspondent for the new york post. We were having backandforth that what we expected from the debate. Conflict galore. Mark thinks a fizzle. What do you think . Anne this has become a grudge match. It has not worked. They have tried to take a step back. Within the same news cycle, either they or someone siding with them starts at over. They are destined to buttheads tonight. Heads tongiht. There will be a lot of friction. John struggling to give an answer about her big payday from verizon. Does the campaign seemed to be worried about the verizon speech , or in general about the paid speeches . Anne they think it is water under the bridge. It is not for Bernie Sanders supporters. It is something that i expect sanders to bring up. She took a lot of money from this company that is now the subject of a strike in the middle of manhattan. They both went to the picket line yesterday. Much for his corporate message for that not to be the subject tonight. We asked question starting in october when sanders started to turn, when would he start to make the contrast more personal . He has done that more in the last week or so than ever before. He has not gone way over the line or as far as some think he would profit from doing, but he has never won a debate. Do think he will continue in that vein that he has exhibited on the debate stage, or that he will be trying to back away from it on the big stage . Anne weve seen him back away from it on the big stage a little. Withe very first debate, he appeared to take the email controversy off the table, which was surprising he will try to do Something Like that again. On tuesday,primary days away, is make or break for him. He knows it. He has to make a splash. And Say Something that puts her on the defensive. That is what he will be trying to do. Mark do think Hillary Clinton will go on the offense on the qualifications thing . Anne yes. She has to make a mark, too and cannot we seen being on defense the whole time. John i cannot remember candidates debating this many times without his or her spouse coming. President clinton is not coming tonight. Anne the Clinton Campaign is using bill clinton as a counterprogramming message. He goes where she is not almost all of the time. , except when he goes off message from time to time. Seen his presence in the same room when she is doing something political as a doubleedged sword. He can get the crowd riled up, but he becomes the focus of attention, not her. I think he feels the same way. You said a few times that he likes to step back and give her the limelight. This is one of those occasions. After the debate, we will eat pretzels. What are you going to be doing . Anne i will be getting on a plane with Bernie Sanders going to rome. He said that he still might see the pope . Anne the vatican has not ruled it out. The senior vatican Spokesman Says there are no plans for the pontiff, pope francis, to see Bernie Sanders. That is not the same thing as saying it wont happen. John some suggested that it will definitely happen. Anne there is a good chance. John would there be a picture . Anne probably. The vatican is pretty press friendly. There certainly are often photographs of the pope when he meets with people. That would be such of money moment for Bernie Sanders. I take him at his word that it will be meaningful on a personal level, meeting with someone with whom he feels a kinship on policy issues and would like to meet. That goes without saying. It seems obvious. It would be such a huge moment for him. It would validate and justify his taking 40 hours of of the campaign trail in new york to fly to rome to give, what on paper, is a 15 minute speech. Mark d love all at her throughout the campaign. You have followed her throughout the campaign. She has come to her adopted home. Is she campaigning like a hometown candidate . Have you noticed a different tenor . Anne yes. She has gone hyper local. She has managed to get, in true new york fashion, everyone from the Bureau President to the Deputy Assistant councilman to warm up for her. She knows them by name. She does the new york thing where she thinks 42 people. She talks about hyper local issues. She took a swipe at Bernie Sanders while he was having his gigantic rally. She was talking to a couple thousand people. In smaller crowd than he city of the bronx. She said, wouldnt it be nice to have a president that knows where coop city is. That could have been a swipe against the republicans, but, in context, it seemed to be a swipe against him. Are the clinton folks suspicious about the tax returns and if theres something there, or do they like to ride the issue . Anne people have drawn attention to the fact that they have not been released. They have been careful. I do not know what the spin machine is, but i do not detect that they are pushing the issue a great deal. People who are friendly with clinton have made the point that one reason that she has not released the whole thing is to not make an issue about the fact that he has not given much, or anything at all, to charity. Which she has and most people of means do. If he isnt, why not . Gearan, thank you. Have fun tonight. Joins us, alex wagner to talk about the president ial race. We will be back with her after these messages. Our showtime colleague, alex wagner. Mark i thought you were going to bring us pretzels. Alex there were none in the green room. It was some chips sunchips or bust. Did you watch the troubled family . I was wondering what your impressions were. Alex my favorite moment was the new York Observer this week. From Donald Trumps soninlaw. Is the season where newspaper endorsements have t than theye hef have in previous elections. I mean more of the bernie Hillary Clinton fight of the new york daily news, and their eventual endorsement of clinton. Do you think some voters discounted it because it was the soninlaw of the paper . Alex as with all things trump, you cannot discount. Conventional wisdom has been upended. Mark it goes out the doors fast as an empty pretzel box. Alex the term family is a fascinating family. I dont know that the more that america gets to know them the more they are endeared, but it is interesting to see the dynamics on display. Mark donald trump is talking about how the system is r igged. Do you think smart political move or whiny . Alex i think for his supporters, it is a