LOS ANGELES (AP) — Journalist Don Lemon was launched from custody Friday after he was arrested and hit with federal civil rights charges over his protection of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.
Lemon was arrested in a single day in Los Angeles, whereas one other unbiased journalist and two protest members had been arrested in Minnesota. He struck a assured, defiant tone whereas chatting with reporters after a courtroom look in California, declaring: “I will not be silenced.”
“I have spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now,” Lemon stated. “In fact there is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable.”
The arrests introduced sharp criticism from information media advocates and civil rights activists together with the Rev. Al Sharpton, who stated the administration of President Donald Trump is taking a “sledgehammer” to “the knees of the First Amendment.”
A grand jury in Minnesota indicted Lemon and others on fees of conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers in the course of the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, the place a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.
AP AUDIO: Journalist Don Lemon arrested after protest that disrupted Minnesota church service
AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani experiences on the arrest of Don Lemon after a Minneapolis church protest.
In courtroom in Los Angeles, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Robbins argued for a $100,000 bond, telling a decide that Lemon “knowingly joined a mob that stormed into a church.” He was launched, nevertheless, with out having to put up cash and was granted permission to journey to France in June whereas the case is pending.
Defense legal professional Marilyn Bednarski stated Lemon plans to plead not responsible and struggle the fees in Minnesota.
Lemon, who was fired from NCS in 2023 following a bumpy run as a morning host, has stated he has no affiliation to the group 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, stated in an announcement earlier Friday.
Attorney General Pam Bondi promoted the arrests on social media.
“Make no mistake. Under President Trump’s leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely,” Bondi stated in a video posted on-line. “And if I haven’t been clear already, if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you.”
Indictment describes Lemon’s livestream
Since he left NCS, Lemon has joined the legion of journalists who’ve gone into enterprise for themselves. He posts frequently on YouTube and has not hidden his disdain for Trump.
Yet throughout his on-line present from the church, he harassed: “I’m not here as an activist. I’m here as a journalist.” He described the scene earlier than him and interviewed churchgoers and demonstrators.
The indictment names 9 defendants together with Lemon. It says two of them posted their deliberate motion on social media the day earlier than and gave the others directions in a shopping mall parking zone the next morning.
Lemon began livestreaming and advised the viewers he was with a gaggle gearing up for a “resistance” operation in opposition to federal immigration insurance policies, in keeping with the doc. Lemon “took steps to maintain operational secrecy by reminding co-conspirators to not disclose the target of their operation,” the indictment says, and stepped away so his microphone wouldn’t by chance expose the planning.
During the briefing earlier than the operation, prosecutors say, Lemon thanked an activist who’s among the many 9 indicted for what she was doing and warranted her he was not saying what was happening.
Inside the church the defendants shouted slogans and blew whistles after the pastor was about to start the sermon and gestured in a hostile and aggressive method, in keeping with prosecutors, and the pastor and congregants perceived “threats of violence.”
Lemon advised the livestream he noticed a younger man who was frightened, unhappy and crying and it was comprehensible as a result of the expertise was traumatic and uncomfortable, the indictment says. The defendants then surrounded the pastor and Lemon “peppered him with questions to promote the operation’s message.”
‘Keep trying’
Last week a Justice of the Peace decide rejected prosecutors’ initial bid to cost Lemon. Shortly afterward he predicted on his present that the administration would attempt once more.
“And guess what,” Lemon stated. “Here I am. Keep trying. That’s not going to stop me from being a journalist. That’s not going to diminish my voice. Go ahead, make me into the new Jimmy Kimmel if you want. Just do it. Because I’m not going anywhere.”
Independent journalist Georgia Fort livestreamed the moments earlier than her arrest, telling viewers that brokers had been at her door and her First Amendment proper as a journalist was being diminished.
A decide launched Fort, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy on bond, rejecting the Justice Department’s try to hold them in custody. Not responsible pleas had been entered. Fort’s supporters within the courtroom clapped and whooped.
“It’s a sinister turn of events in this country,” Fort’s legal professional, Kevin Riach, stated in courtroom.
Discouraging scrutiny
Jane Kirtley, a media legislation and ethics professional at the University of Minnesota, stated the federal legal guidelines cited by the federal government weren’t supposed to use to reporters gathering information.
The fees in opposition to Lemon and Fort, she stated, are “pure intimidation and government overreach.”
Some specialists and activists stated the fees aren’t solely an assault on press freedoms but in addition a strike in opposition to Black Americans who rely on Black journalists to bear witness to injustice and oppression.
The National Association of Black Journalists stated it was “outraged and deeply alarmed” and warned of an effort to “criminalize and threaten press freedom under the guise of law enforcement.”
Crews is a pacesetter of Black Lives Matter Minnesota who has led many protests and actions for racial justice, notably following George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis in 2020.
“All the greats have been to jail, MLK, Malcom X — people who stood up for justice get attacked,” Crews advised The Associated Press. “We were just practicing our First Amendment rights.”
Church leaders reward arrests in protest
A outstanding civil rights legal professional and two different folks concerned within the protest had been arrested final 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 companies by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
Cities Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and lists one in every of its pastors as David Easterwood, who leads ICE’s St. Paul discipline workplace.
“We are grateful that the Department of Justice acted swiftly to protect Cities Church so that we can continue to faithfully live out the church’s mission to worship Jesus and make him known,” lead pastor Jonathan Parnell stated.
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Richer and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Dave Bauder and Aaron Morrison in New York; Giovanna Dell’Orto, Tim Sullivan, Steve Karnowski and Jack Brook in Minneapolis; Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed.