CNN anchor Don Lemon and the Michele Bachmann campaign have apparently smoothed things over after a pair of altercations in Iowa last weekend. Lemon said on-air that he was shoved by Bachmann’s husband Marcus Bachmann and a pair of campaign staffers.
Later, CBSNews.com political reporter Brian Montopoli wrote a behind-the-scenes account of Iowa for The Awl that mentioned Lemon.
While in a tightly packed media scrum, Montopoli apparently saw Lemon trying to confront Marcus Bachmann about the previous incident:
A Bachmann staffer had asked reporters to stay behind a rope barrier erected to give Bachmann a path back to her bus; Lemon told his cameraman to start rolling, and then promptly stepped under it. The staffer tried to physically restrain Lemon, who stated that he was on public property, asked sarcastically, “Are you a police officer?” Eventually, an actual police officer came over and stood in front of Lemon. Bachmann and her security detail passed by in a blur, the candidate ignoring Lemon’s shouted questions.
Then came Marcus Bachmann. As he walked by, Bachmann turned toward Lemon and gave him a taunting look. “Oh, yes, you’re the one who elbowed me before,” he said. Lemon asked Bachmann if he wanted to talk about the incident. Bachmann turned his head away and kept walking, leaving Lemon clutching his microphone, his arm extended over the police officer’s shoulder.
A CNN spokesperson says “Don and a member of Bachmann’s team have spoken, and all is fine.”