ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Former CNN host turned independent journalist Don Lemon pleaded not guilty to federal civil rights charges today, Feb. 13, after a protest at a Minnesota church where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor. Four others also pleaded not guilty in the case.
Lemon insists he was at the Cities Church in St. Paul to chronicle the Jan. 18 protest but was not a participant. The veteran journalist vowed to fight what he called “baseless charges” and protect his free-speech rights.
“For more than 30 years, I’ve been a journalist, and the power and protection of the First Amendment has been the underpinning of my work. The First Amendment, the freedom of the press, are the bedrock of our democracy,” Lemon said outside the courthouse after his arraignment. “And like all of you here in Minnesota, the great people of Minnesota, I will not be intimidated, I will not back down.”
Dozens of supporters gathered outside the courthouse, chanting “Pam Bondi has got to go” and “Protect the press.”
Penalties upon conviction of the charges can range up to a year in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
Lemon had previously said through another attorney, Marilyn Bednarsk, that he planned to plead not guilty to federal civil rights charges over his coverage of the protest at a Southern Baptist church in St. Paul.
Protesters interrupted the service at Cities Church on Jan. 18 by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis last month. Lemon has said that he was not affiliated with the group and that he was there as a journalist to cover the event for his livestream show.
“I have spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now. In fact, there is no more important time than right now, this very moment for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable,” Lemon told reporters after his arrest.
The church protest drew sharp complaints from conservative religious and political leaders. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned in a social media post at the time that “President Trump will not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship.” Even among clergy who oppose the administration’s immigration-enforcement tactics, there was discomfort with such protests.
The 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act prohibits interference or intimidation of “any person by force, threat of force, or physical obstruction exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.” Penalties can range up to a year in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
Thompson is one of several former prosecutors who have left the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office in recent weeks amid frustration with the Trump administration’s immigration-enforcement crackdown in the state and the Justice Department’s response to the shootings of Good and Pretti.
Thompson, who is one of four lawyers registered to represent Lemon going forward, had been leading the sprawling investigation of major public-program fraud cases for the office until he resigned last month. The Trump administration has cited the fraud cases, in which most defendants have come from the state’s large Somali community, as justification for its immigration crackdown.
Associated Press journalists Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed.
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