Federal authorities arrested independent journalist Don Lemon in Los Angeles on Thursday evening, accusing him of breaking federal law during a protest of the Trump administration’s immigration policies at a church in Minnesota earlier this month.
A magistrate judge had rejected an earlier attempt by the Justice Department to sign off on charges against Lemon and other protesters — an extraordinary reproach of the case against Lemon, a former CNN host. But Justice Department officials had vowed to continue seeking charges against Lemon and had been expected to bring the case to a grand jury this week.
After the magistrate rejected the charges against Lemon earlier this month, Justice Department officials pressed Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz to sign off on charges against him and one of his producers. When Schiltz did not do so, officials unsuccessfully sought an order from the court of appeals.
In a letter to the appeals court, Schiltz wrote, “There is no evidence that those two engaged in any criminal behavior or conspired to do so.”
The federal indictment charging Lemon was not available on public court dockets Friday morning. Lemon, who was in Los Angeles to cover the Grammys at the time of his arrest, has said he was reporting on the protest when he followed demonstrators into the church.
“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” his attorney, Abbe D. Lowell, said in a statement. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable. There is no more important time for people like Don to be doing this work.”
Georgia Fort, an independent journalist in Minneapolis who said she had filmed the protest, said she was also arrested. She posted a live stream just after 6 a.m. Friday saying federal agents were at her door seeking to arrest her. According to Fort, the agents told her they had obtained a warrant for her arrest after a grand jury indicted her within the last day.
“It’s hard to understand how we have constitutional rights when you can just be arrested for being a member of the press,” she said.
Lemon followed demonstrators into Cities Church in St. Paul on Jan. 18 as they protested one of its pastors who they say also works as a local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official. The protest, which interrupted services, has become a flash point in the debate over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota and drawn broad condemnation from right-wing influencers who have demanded prosecutions of all the protesters involved.
Prosecutors have charged three protesters with conspiring to violate the congregants’ constitutionally protected rights to religious expression. But a U.S. magistrate judge refused to sign arrest warrants for another five people present during the protest, including Lemon and one of his producers, citing a lack of probable cause.
The post Don Lemon arrested by federal officials over church protest appeared first on Washington Post.
