NCS senior authorized analyst Elie Honig torpedoed the case towards unbiased journalist Don Lemon by President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice after Lemon entered his plea, saying it’s “doomed to fail!”
The political media world was shocked when information of Don Lemon’s arrest broke two weeks in the past. Federal brokers took Lemon into custody in Los Angeles over his protection of a protest at a St. Paul church.
Lemon was defiant then, and he was defiant Friday after he appeared in courtroom to enter a plea of “not guilty.”
On Friday’s edition of NCS’s The Lead, visitor anchor Erica Hill requested Honig for his evaluation, and the authorized eagle didn’t pull punches:
ERICA HILL: Elie stroll us by way of what you see right here primarily based on what we all know and what we have now seen Does the prosecution even have a case?
ELIE HONIG: I don’t suppose so in any respect, Erica! I feel this case is doomed to fail on one or each of two bases.
First of all, as Whitney stated, we discovered in courtroom at present that Don and his workforce are going to problem this on First Amendment grounds, that means he was functioning as a journalist to the occasions, not a participant in the occasions.
And it isn’t a criminal offense to cowl a criminal offense. I’ve learn this indictment line by line. One can take situation maybe with Don’s journalistic strategy right here, however I don’t see some extent the place he crosses that line from being a journalist.
He’s protecting it right here. You see he’s interviewing someone. He’s broadcasting over into being a participant. So that’s… Issue primary.
And then I feel he’s going to argue finally that this can be a vindictive prosecution.
It’s no secret how the president feels about, Donald Trump, in truth, about Don Lemon. In truth, when Don Lemon was arrested, the White House posted a victorious social media publish the place they made a pun on Don’s title and put up a picture of chains.
I feel that’s going to come again to hang-out them as a result of he’s gonna say, how rather more clear proof may you’ve gotten of a vindicative prosecution than that?