Journalist Don Lemon taken into custody after Minnesota church protest

By Kara Scannell, Hannah Rabinowitz, Brian Stelter, Liam Reilly, CNN

(CNN) — Journalist Don Lemon was taken into custody on Thursday night in connection to a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, according to his attorney.

Lemon was with dozens of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters as they rushed into Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, earlier this month, interrupting a church service and leading to tense confrontations.

Court records related to his arrest were not immediately available. Lemon is expected to appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday. Lemon was in Los Angeles to cover the Grammy Awards and was arrested after 11pm local time in a hotel lobby in Beverly Hills as he was leaving for an event.

“Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards,” his attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement early Friday. “Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done. The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”

“Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump Justice Department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case,” 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.”

Lemon, a former CNN anchor, has said that he was present at the demonstration as a journalist and not as a protester. In a video of the episode that he posted on YouTube, Lemon says “I’m just here photographing, I’m not part of the group… I’m a journalist.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday announced additional arrests alongside Lemon, including Trahern Jeen Crew and Jamael Lydell Lundy, which she said were “in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.”

Independent journalist Georgia Fort, who was filming the protest, was also taken into custody.

“This is all stemming 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 supposed to have our constitutional right of the freedom to film, 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 arresting me for filming the church protest a few weeks ago.”

Attempted to charge Lemon previously

The DOJ first attempted to charge eight people, including Lemon, last week. A magistrate judge rejected those charges against five of the people including Lemon, saying that there was insufficient evidence to charge. The judge, however, encouraged prosecutors to take the case to a grand jury and seek and indictment.

It is highly unusual for the Justice Department to criminally charge a reporter, though it is not without precedent. Those cases are heavily scrutinized before the decision to bring charges is made, and often face extended legal battles over whether the reporter is protected by the First Amendment before the case makes it to trial.

Still, senior DOJ officials immediately, and publicly, asserted 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 property, they’ve said, adding that interrupting a church service may have impeded in the churchgoers’ constitutional rights to express their religion.

Press freedom advocates condemn arrests

Press freedom groups blasted the arrests on Friday.

“These arrests under bogus legal theories for obviously 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 cautiously because the government is looking for any way to target them.”

Stern told CNN “the answer to this outrageous attack is not fear or self-censorship. It’s an even stronger commitment to journalism, the truth, and the First Amendment. If the Trump administration thinks it can bully journalists into submission, it is wrong.”

Katherine Jacobsen, the US, Canada and Caribbean Program Coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, said Lemon’s arrest “should alarm all Americans.”

“As an international organization, we know that the treatment of journalists is an indicator of the condition of a country’s democracy. The United States is doing poorly,” Jacobsen said.

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the nonprofit advocacy group Public Citizen, called the action against Lemon an “authoritarian breach” and an “egregious violation of the First Amendment.”

“Reporters in America are free to view, document, and share information with the public,” Gilbert said. “This arrest is a constitutional violation, an outrage, an authoritarian breach, and utterly appalling.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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