Former Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is blasting President Trump’s administration over the arrest of journalist Don Lemon and several other independent media members in connection with a protest at a church in Minnesota earlier this month.
“Today, Donald Trump and his administration are once again trampling on our rights and our freedoms. Journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were fulfilling their duty to the American people to report and inform, and they have been arrested for it,” Harris wrote in a statement posted on social media. “Donald Trump continues to consolidate power and show a flagrant disregard for the rule of law. This arrest is another affront to our rights and freedoms and should alarm and enrage us.”
Lemon was arrested Thursday in Los Angeles on charges in connection with the demonstration, which he and his producers filmed at a St. Paul church where anti-ICE protesters were disrupting a service because they believed the pastor there was a member of immigration enforcement.
A federal magistrate initially declined to take up charges against Lemon, who has argued he was not participating in the demonstration but rather covering the confrontation as a journalist.
A number of press freedom advocates and prominent Democrats have slammed the Department of Justice over the pundit’s arrest, arguing his detainment is the latest example of the Trump administration cracking down on unfavorable press coverage and commentary.
A former longtime anchor at CNN, Lemon launched a YouTube and social media show after being fired by the network, and he has used that platform to criticize Trump and his allies.
CNN in a statement called Lemon’s arrest “unacceptable” and noted “the Department of Justice already failed twice to get an arrest warrant for Don and several other journalists in Minnesota, where a chief judge of the Minnesota Federal District Court found there was ’no evidence’ that there was any criminal behavior involved in their work.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi and the White House, however, have argued Lemon was actively participating in a protest that violated the religious freedom rights of those at the church that day.
“Make no mistake under president Trump’s leadership, you have the right to worship freely and safely,” Bondi said in a video posted to her own social media. “And if I haven’t been clear already, if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5715827-kamala-harris-don-lemon-arrest/
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