Screenshot: CNN

Speaking from his private plane Tuesday, Donald Trump defended campaign manager Corey Lewandowski against criminal charges of manhandling a reporter, saying that if the reporter was really hurt she would have screamed.

Trump—who admitted seeing security footage clearly show his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, grab the arm of Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields—also indicated he was still unconvinced she hadn’t made the whole thing up.

“How do you know those bruises weren’t there before? I’m not a lawyer. She said she had a bruise on her arm. I mean, to me, if you’re going to get squeezed, wouldn’t you think that she would have yelled out a scream or something if she has bruises on her arm?” Trump said. “Take a look at her facial expression. Her facial expression doesn’t even change. So you say bruises on her arm—how did they get there? Who put them there? I don’t know that he put them there.”

A curious reaction. For Donald Trump, the female reporter’s word—even when corroborated by his own security cameras—means nothing. Why didn’t she make a face? How did the bruises really get there? Why did she wear that if she didn’t want to get grabbed?

In any event, Trump says he intends to stand behind Lewandowski, even if he did bruise a reporter for no justifiable reason, because he feels it’s not a crime deserving of punishment.

“I’m sticking up for a person because I’m not going to let a person’s life be destroyed over somebody that we have on tape—and you just take a look at what people are saying when they see that incident on tape,” Trump said. “And no jury, in my opinion, no jury would convict a man and destroy a man’s life over what you witnessed.”

Donald Trump—just asking the hard questions.

[There was a video here]