Former CNN anchor Don Lemon has been released after his arrest stemming from his reporting of a protest at a Minnesota church. Marilyn Bednarski, his lawyer, said he later intends to plead not guilty.
“He’s committed to fighting this case,” she said.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Donahue allowed Lemon to be released on a no money bond. He’s been charged with violating federal laws by allegedly crossing a line from activity protected by the First Amendment to impeding others’ rights to practice their religious beliefs.
Under the conditions of his release, Lemon is barred from contacting any victims, witnesses or other defendants in the case. He must also receive permission for international travel, though he’s free to take a scheduled trip to France in June.
During Lemon’s brisk appearance in court, in which he wore a cream blazer and pants, the government moved to impose a $100,00 bond, keep him restricted to New York, Minnesota and Washington, D.C. and force him to surrender his passport. U.S. Attorney Alexander Robbins stressed that Lemon committed a “very serious felony” by participating in a “mob that terrorized people in a place of worship.”
The government has previously tried to charge Lemon in a steadily escalating campaign involving a string of highly unusual legal moves to strong-arm courts into conceding to its demands. Minnesota chief district judge Patrick Schiltz last week rejected a bid to allow the case, affirming a decision from a magistrate judge who turned down arrest warrants for five people, including Lemon, connected to the protests.
After, the government brought the fight to the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, a rare bid that, if successful, would’ve forced the judge to grant the government’s request. In a letter to the appeals court, Schiltz called the demand “unheard of in our district, or, as best as I can tell, any other district in the Eighth Circuit.” He stressed that there’s no evidence Lemon committed a crime.
At several points in the hearing, the court and Bednarski referenced that the Minnesota magistrate judge found no probable cause to issue an arrest warrant.
In response, Robbins pointed to an affidavit from an attendee at the St. Paul church where the demonstration took place, who said that the experience was “traumatic.” He said Lemon is a danger to the community, arguing that a $100,000 bond be required so the journalist “doesn’t feel emboldened to commit similar acts.”
Lemon’s prosecution sets up a case that will see free press and religious protections collide. Bednarski said that it will prove whether the journalist’s coverage of the demonstration was a “matter of legit First Amendment activity or something that crossed the line.”
The arrest has drawn widespread criticism as an attack on the First Amendment and an escalation of the government’s campaign to silence critics. “These arrests, under bogus legal theories for obviously constitutionally protected reporting, are clear warning shots aimed at other journalists,” said Freedom of the Press chief of advocacy Seth Stern. “The unmistakable message is that journalists must tread cautiously because the government is looking for any way to target them.”
Lemon has been charged with conspiracy against rights, which bars groups of people from intimidating others against practicing their religious beliefs, and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which aims to ensure access to reproductive health care facilities and places of worship. The government also brought a case against another journalist, Georgia Fort, who also entered the church to cover the demonstration.
Prosecutors will likely look to make the case more nuanced than it initially appears. Lemon, who now hosts a show on YouTube and other social platforms, livestreamed the demonstration that began outside the church in St. Paul and followed protestors as they went inside, saying that a church official also worked at a local ICE office. He proceeded to interview protestors, congregants and a pastor during the protest.
In one exchange, Lemon can be seen engaging in an increasingly contentious interview near the entrance with a church-goer, who said he felt “violated” by the protest.
“I’m not saying it’s pretty or messy or couldn’t be better, but that this is part of a much larger dialogue” in which those arrested by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement cause “a great deal of chaos and havoc and danger for American citizens,” the attendee said.
Lemon replied, “Do you believe that? Honestly let me talk to you just on the facts,” which elicits a response from the church-goer that the former CNN anchor is “not a journalist” and that the interview is over.
The former CNN anchor follows the attendee out of the church, saying to the camera “he doesn’t want to listen to facts.”
Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general overseeing the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in an interview on Newsmax that “journalism is not a shield when you are involved in a crime.” She added that the purpose of the demonstration “was to terrorize people” and that it’s “off limits to go into a house of worship.”
In the 8th Circuit ruling, Trump-appointee Steven Grasz wrote there was “clearly” probable to arrest Lemon and four others the lower court refused to charge but that the government should pursue other avenues to get the warrants authorized.
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