A 30-year veteran journalist in handcuffs? The media world is reeling after federal agents intercepted Don Lemon in a Beverly Hills hotel lobby. From a chaotic church protest in Minnesota to a high-stakes legal battle over the First Amendment, this arrest is being called an “authoritarian breach” of the press. WATCH the fallout as the Trump Justice Department makes an unprecedented move against a former CNN anchor.
The veteran correspondent was apprehended in Beverly Hills while covering the Grammys, sparking a fierce debate over First Amendment protections and government overreach.
Journalist Don Lemon was detained on Thursday night in relation to a demonstration at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, according to his legal counsel.
Lemon was with scores of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement dissenters as they stormed into Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, earlier this month, disrupting a liturgy and leading to intense confrontations.
Court documentation related to his apprehension were not immediately accessible. Lemon is slated to appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday. Lemon was in Los Angeles to report on the Grammy Awards and was seized after 11 p.m. local time in a hotel foyer in Beverly Hills as he was departing for an event.
“Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was reporting on the Grammy awards,” his attorney Abbe Lowell declared in a statement early Friday. “Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally-guaranteed work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done. The First Amendment exists to shield journalists whose role it is to illuminate the truth and hold those in power accountable”.
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“Instead of scrutinizing the federal agents who slayed two non-violent Minnesota dissenters, the Trump Justice Department is committing its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case,” Lowell remarked. “This unparalleled attack on the First Amendment and obvious attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand. Don will fight these counts resolutely and thoroughly in court”.
Lemon, a past CNN personality, has asserted that he was present at the rally as a member of the press and not as a participant. In a video of the incident that he circulated on YouTube, Lemon says “I’m just here recording, I’m not part of the group… I’m a journalist”.
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday disclosed supplementary arrests alongside Lemon, including Trahern Jeen Crew and Jamael Lydell Lundy, which she said were “in connection with the organized attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota”.
Independent reporter Georgia Fort, who was filming the protest, was also detained.
“This is all originating from the fact that I filmed a protest as a member of the media,” Fort said during a Facebook Live this morning before she surrendered to agents.
“We are intended to have our inherent right of the freedom to record, to be a member of the press,” Fort said. “I don’t feel like I have my First Amendment right as a member of the press because now federal agents are at my door apprehending me for filming the church protest a few weeks ago”.
Attempted to charge Lemon previously
The DOJ initially sought to prosecute eight people, including Lemon, last week. A magistrate judge dismissed those counts against five of the people including Lemon, saying that there was scant evidence to charge. The judge, however, urged prosecutors to take the case to a grand jury and seek an indictment.
It is singularly uncommon for the Justice Department to criminally prosecute a reporter, though it is not without historical precedent. Those cases are heavily evaluated before the decision to file charges is made, and often encounter extended legal battles over whether the correspondent is protected by the First Amendment before the case reaches trial.
Still, senior DOJ officials immediately, and publicly, maintained that Lemon would face charges after the incident at the Minnesota church. Lemon did not have a right to be on the church’s private grounds, they’ve said, adding that interrupting a religious service may have hindered the churchgoers’ constitutional rights to practice their religion.
Press freedom advocates condemn arrests
Press freedom proponents denounced the arrests on Friday.
“These arrests under fraudulent legal theories for plainly constitutionally protected reporting are clear warning shots aimed at other journalists,” said Seth Stern, the chief of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation. “The unmistakable message is that journalists must tread warily because the government is looking for any way to target them”.
Stern told CNN “the remedy to this outrageous attack is not fear or self-censorship. It’s an even stronger allegiance to journalism, the truth, and the First Amendment. If the Trump administration thinks it can intimidate journalists into compliance, it is wrong”.
Katherine Jacobsen, the US, Canada and Caribbean Program Coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, said Lemon’s apprehension “should frighten all Americans”.
“As an international organization, we know that the treatment of journalists is an indicator of the status of a country’s democracy. The United States is doing poorly,” Jacobsen said.
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the nonprofit advocacy group Public Citizen, labeled the action against Lemon an “authoritarian breach” and an “appalling violation of the First Amendment”.
“Reporters in America are free to observe, document, and share data with the public,” Gilbert said. “This arrest is a constitutional violation, an outrage, an autocratic breach, and utterly appalling”.
