Federal Agents Arrest Don Lemon Over Minnesota Church Protest
The former CNN anchor has said he was not demonstrating, but reporting as a journalist, during the interruption of a service inside a St. Paul church earlier this month.
Here’s a gift link to the story in NYT but not sure how long it will be valid.
Here’s a link to the same article on an archiving service.
The case was put before two judges but both denied a warrant. Lemon was arrested anyway. I’m not clear how that works.
A statement from Lemon’s lawyer, in part:
Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Mr. Lemon, vowed to fight the charges.
“Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards,” Mr. Lowell said in a statement. “Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done.”
Mr. Lowell added, “This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand. Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.”
The Trump administration has pursued two criminal charges against the church protesters and Mr. Lemon — conspiring to deprive rights and interfering with someone’s religious freedom in a house of worship. In the larger fight over the White House’s aggressive immigration crackdown in that city, the Justice Department has pushed hard to charge people who participated in or were at the church protest.
I put this in the Pit because seriously fuck all of this shit.
