Journalist Don Lemon was released from custody Friday after he was arrested and hit with federal civil rights charges for covering protests.<\/b>
\nJournalist 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.
\u201cI have spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now,\u201d 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 \u201csledgehammer\u201d to \u201cthe knees of the First Amendment.\u201d
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 \u201cknowingly joined a mob that stormed into a church.\u201d 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.
\u201cDon has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,\u201d his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. \u201cThe First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.\u201d
Attorney General Pam Bondi promoted the arrests on social media.
\u201cMake no mistake. Under President Trump\u2019s leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely,\u201d Bondi said in a video posted online. \u201cAnd if I haven\u2019t been clear already, if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you.\u201d
Since he left CNN, Lemon has joined the legion of journalists who have gone into business for himself, posting regularly on YouTube. He hasn\u2019t hidden his disdain for President Donald Trump. Yet during his online show from the church, he said repeatedly: \u201cI\u2019m not here as an activist. I\u2019m here as a journalist.\u201d He described the scene before him, and interviewed churchgoers and demonstrators.
A magistrate judge last week rejected prosecutors\u2019 initial bid to charge the veteran journalist. Shortly after, he predicted on his show that the administration would try again.
\u201cAnd guess what,\u201d he said. \u201cHere I am. Keep trying. That\u2019s not going to stop me from being a journalist. That\u2019s not going to diminish my voice. Go ahead, make me into the new Jimmy Kimmel, if you want. Just do it. Because I\u2019m not going anywhere.\u201d
Georgia Fort livestreamed the moments before her arrest, telling viewers that agents were at her door and her First Amendment right as a journalist was being diminished.
A judge released Fort, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy on bond, rejecting the Justice Department\u2019s attempt to keep them in custody. Not guilty pleas were entered. Fort\u2019s supporters in the courtroom clapped and whooped.
\u201cIt\u2019s a sinister turn of events in this country,\u201d Fort\u2019s attorney, Kevin Riach, said in court.
Jane Kirtley, a media law and ethics expert at the University of Minnesota, said the federal laws cited by the government were not intended to apply to reporters gathering news.
The charges against Lemon and Fort, she said, are \u201cpure intimidation and government overreach.\u201d
Some experts and activists said the charges were not only an attack on press freedoms but also a strike against Black Americans who count on Black journalists to bear witness to injustice and oppression.
The National Association of Black Journalists said it was \u201coutraged and deeply alarmed\u201d by Lemon\u2019s arrest. The group called it an effort to \u201ccriminalize and threaten press freedom under the guise of law enforcement.\u201d
Crews is a leader of Black Lives Matter Minnesota who has led many protests and actions for racial justice, particularly following George Floyd\u2019s killing in Minneapolis in 2020.
\u201cAll the greats have been to jail, MLK, Malcom X \u2014 people who stood up for justice get attacked,\u201d Crews told The Associated Press. \u201cWe were just practicing our First Amendment rights.\u201d
A prominent civil rights attorney and two other people involved in the protest were arrested last week. Prosecutors have accused them of civil rights violations for disrupting the Cities Church service.
The Justice Department launched an investigation after the group interrupted services by chanting \u201cICE out\u201d and \u201cJustice for Renee Good,\u201d referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
Lundy, a candidate for state Senate, works for the office of Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and is married to a St. Paul City Council member. Lemon briefly interviewed him as they gathered with protesters preparing to drive to the church on Jan. 18.
\u201cI feel like it\u2019s important that if you\u2019re going to be representing people in office that you are out here with the people,\u201d Lundy told Lemon, adding he believed in \u201cdirect action, certainly within the lines of the law.\u201d
Cities Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and lists one of its pastors as David Easterwood, who leads ICE\u2019s St. Paul field office.
\u201cWe are grateful that the Department of Justice acted swiftly to protect Cities Church so that we can continue to faithfully live out the church\u2019s mission to worship Jesus and make him known,\u201d lead pastor Jonathan Parnell said.
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