More Responses To the Arrest of Don Lemon
Abbe Howell, Don Lemon’s attorney, said his client “has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done.” Howell called the arrest an “unprecedented attack on the First Amendment” and a “transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration.” Lemon, the attorney said, will fight the charges “vigorously and thoroughly.”
The “true wrongdoing” in this case, according to Howell, is that the Department of Justice isn’t “investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters.” Others echoed that message, calling for the arrest of agents who fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti, as well as “anyone in the Epstein files.”
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Calling Lemon’s arrest “deeply troubling,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said, “No one should be arrested merely for holding a camera, asking hard questions, or telling the public what we have a right to know.”
Freedom of the press advocates also are speaking out. “This arrest is a constitutional violation, an outrage, an authoritarian breach, and utterly appalling,” said Katherine Jacobsen of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Lemon previously defied the DOJ, saying, “You’re not going to diminish my voice. Go ahead. Make me into the new Jimmy Kimmel if you want.” He was arrested Friday morning in Los Angeles, where he is covering this weekend’s Grammy Awards.
Lemon is expected to appear in court later today. If convicted, he faces more than a decade in prison.
Don Lemon Charged With Violating FACE Act
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi was reportedly “enraged” last week, after a magistrate judge declined to approve a federal charge against Don Lemon. An 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel then rejected an emergency petition from the Justice Department.
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Supporters of President Trump have pressured his administration to act, saying churches are private property.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Lemon violated the 1994 FACE Act, which protects churches from physical intimidation, and what’s known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, or “conspiracy against rights,” which protects the civil rights of U.S. citizens.
The Biden administration used the FACE Act to arrest peaceful anti-abortion protesters. Trump pardoned those individuals near the beginning of his second term in office.
Describing the “real conflict of law” involved in Lemon’s case, Professor Roy Gutterman said, “You have a right to protest in any public forum…But generally, you don’t have a First Amendment right to protest on private property or somebody’s house or a house of worship.”
Gutterman added, “Even with the First Amendment and even with the value of the story, even with the value of having media personalities present in this [church], I think [Lemon has] an uphill fight.”
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