The Trump administration arrested journalist Don Lemon on Friday, after two federal judges found there was no probable cause that he committed a crime.
Fellow independent journalist Georgia Fort was also arrested.
In a 40-minute video, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner and I break down the facts of the St. Paul church protest and the likely (though still unknown) charges that they could be facing. We also explain why two federal judges rejected the government’s radical legal theories, which press freedom groups immediately denounced.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation’s chief of advocacy Seth Stern released this statement.
“The government’s arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort are naked attacks on freedom of the press,” Stern wrote. Two federal courts flatly rejected prosecuting Lemon because the evidence for these vindictive and unconstitutional charges was insufficient, and Lemon has every right to document news and inform the public. Instead of accepting that humiliating defeat, the government has now doubled down.”
“These arrests, under bogus legal theories for obviously constitutionally protected reporting, are clear warning shots aimed at other journalists. The unmistakable message is that journalists must tread cautiously because the government is looking for any way to target them. Fort’s arrest is meant to instill the same fear in local independent journalists as big names like Lemon.
“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. We’ve recently seen that even in the Trump era, public pressure still can work. It’s time to do it again. News outlets across the political spectrum need to loudly defend Lemon’s and Fort’s rights. Journalists are not making themselves the story, Trump is.”
Watch the full video at the top of this story.
