Journalist Don Lemon was released from custody Friday after he was arrested and hit with federal civil rights charges for covering protests.
Journalist Don Lemon was released from custody Friday, January 30, after he was arrested and hit with federal civil rights charges over his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.
Lemon was arrested Thursday, January 29, while across the country in Los Angeles, while another independent journalist and two protest participants were arrested in Minnesota. He struck a confident, defiant tone while speaking to reporters after a court appearance in California.
“I have spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now,” Lemon declared.
The arrests brought sharp criticism from news media advocates and civil rights activists including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said the Trump administration is taking a “sledgehammer” to “the knees of the First Amendment.”
Lemon and others were indicted on charges of conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the January 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.
In federal court in Los Angeles, Assistant US Attorney Alexander Robbins argued for a USD 100,000 bond, telling a judge that Lemon “knowingly joined a mob that stormed into a church.” He was released, however, without having to post money and was granted permission to travel to France in June while the case is pending.
Defense attorney Marilyn Bednarski said Lemon plans to plead not guilty and fight the charges.
Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 following a bumpy run as a morning host, has said he has no affiliation to the organization that went into the church and he was there as a solo journalist chronicling protesters.
“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 lawyer, Abbe 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.
