Journalist Don Lemon and six other people associated with a protest that interrupted a worship service at a Minnesota church have been charged with violating two different federal laws that are designed to prevent disruptions to Americans‘ rights
Seven people, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon and another journalist — have been charged with violating two different federal laws in connection with the protest that interrupted a worship service at a Minnesota church earlier this month.
The group that barged into a worship service that Sunday was upset that the head of a local field office for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement serves as a pastor. The protest was quickly denounced by President Donald Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi and other officials, as well as many religious leaders.
Lemon and a local reporter were covering the protest on Jan. 18 at the Cities Church in St. Paul. Those two and five people who helped organize the protest have all been charged in complaints, but the full details of the allegations against them haven’t been released yet because parts of the case files remains sealed.
The arrests of Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort are especially troubling for legal experts and media groups who worry about the chilling effect on coverage of the Trump administration.
David Harris, a University of Pittsburgh law professor specializing in criminal law, said the charges against the protesters are more tenable, given the federal laws against disrupting the free exercise of worship. “A court will have to sort that out,” he said.
But charges against reporters are troubling, he said.
“Charging journalists for being there covering the disruption does not mean they were part of the disruption,” Harris said. “Don Lemon and other journalists are the way that we the public are finding out what is happening in these spaces,” he said. “They are our eyes and ears. The message that is being sent is that journalists like Don Lemon and others should feel intimidated from doing this.
