Don Lemon Indicted in Connection With ICE-Protest Protection

Don Lemon, a former anchor for CNN, was taken into custody by federal authorities on Thursday in connection along with his presence at a protest at a Minnesota church earlier this month.

Abbe Lowell, Lemon’s lawyer, confirmed in a assertion that his shopper was taken into custody in Los Angeles on Thursday night, the place Lemon was making ready to cowl the Grammys on Sunday. Lowell known as Lemon’s arrest an “unprecedented assault on the First Modification” and mentioned that the longtime journalist intends to struggle the fees towards him “vigorously and completely in court docket.”

On Friday morning, U.S. lawyer basic Pam Bondi issued a assertion saying that she directed the arrest of Lemon in addition to three others concerned within the church incident — Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy — “in reference to the coordinated assault on Cities Church in St. Paul.” FBI director Kash Patel confirmed that his brokers and members of Homeland Safety Investigations carried out the arrests.

The federal indictment fees the 4 with conspiracy and interfering with the proper to worship, alleging the defendants “entered the Church in a coordinated takeover-style assault and engaged in acts of oppression, intimidation, threats, interference, and bodily obstruction.” The indictment additionally names Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and William Kelly, three demonstrators who have been arrested final week in reference to the protest.

Based on the Minnesota Star Tribune, Crews is the co-founder of Black Lives Matter — Minnesota, and Lundy is an area activist and former legislative staffer. KARE 11, a Twin Cities NBC affiliate, recognized Fort as an impartial journalist. Fort shared a Fb Reside video to her account early Friday morning, telling her followers that federal brokers have been at her door. “They’re saying that they have been in a position to go earlier than a grand jury someday, I suppose, within the final 24 hours and that they’ve a warrant for my arrest.”

She continued, “That is all stemming from the truth that I filmed a protest as a member of the media.”

On January 18, a bunch of demonstrators interrupted Sunday providers at Cities Church in St. Paul after certainly one of its pastors was revealed to be related to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Per the Star Tribune, David Easterwood, the appearing director of the ICE subject workplace in St. Paul, was named in a lawsuit filed towards the company over its brokers’ aggressive techniques.

Lemon was on the scene of the protest, livestreaming footage of the demonstration the place folks may be seen coming into the constructing and chanting, “ICE out.” Within the seven-hour video, Lemon is heard narrating the scene he’s witnessing. “So, the protesters are confronting church members and leaders. They’ve stopped the service. Quite a lot of folks have left,” he mentioned. At one level, somebody off-camera may be heard asking Lemon one thing, to which he responds, “I’m not a part of the group. I’m simply right here photographing. I’m a journalist.”

The federal authorities initially failed in its try to levy fees towards Lemon for his presence on the protest. Politico reported final week {that a} federal Justice of the Peace decide rejected prosecutors’ transfer to deliver fees towards Lemon and his producer, citing a scarcity of proof. Choose Douglas L. Micko did finally approve warrants for Armstrong, Allen, and Kelly, who have been later arrested. Federal prosecutors then requested Patrick J. Schiltz, the chief decide of Minnesota’s federal court docket, to overrule Micko’s determination. Schlitz, who previously clerked for Supreme Courtroom Justice Antonin Scalia and is an appointee of former president George W. Bush, known as the motion “unprecedented,” whereas signaling that he didn’t consider Lemon had dedicated any crimes.

“The federal government lumps all eight protestors collectively and says issues which are true of some however not all of them,” Schlitz mentioned in a letter to the appeals court docket. “Two of the 5 protestors weren’t protestors in any respect; as a substitute, they have been a journalist and his producer. There is no such thing as a proof that these two engaged in any legal habits or conspired to take action.” The appeals court docket additionally rejected the administration’s request to arrest Lemon and others.

Media organizations and press-freedom advocates shortly condemned Lemon’s arrest. “As an alternative of prioritizing accountability within the killings of two Americans, the Trump administration is devoting its assets to arresting journalists. This habits has no place in the USA,” Katherine Jacobsen, U.S., Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator for the Committee to Shield Journalists, mentioned in a assertion.

Seth Stern, the chief of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Basis, mentioned the arrests of Lemon and Fort are “bare assaults on the liberty of the press,” noting that the courts rejected earlier makes an attempt to prosecute Lemon. “The unmistakable message is that journalists should tread cautiously as a result of the federal government is in search of any option to goal them,” Stern mentioned in a assertion. A CNN spokesperson mentioned that the arrest of Lemon, a former community worker, “raises profoundly regarding questions on press freedom and the First Modification.”

Nonetheless, the White Home is touting its arrest of Lemon publicly on social media: