UPDATED: Former CNN anchor Don Lemon has pleaded not guilty on federal charges after he and another journalist were indicted along with demonstrators who staged an ICE protest inside a St. Paul, MN, church last month.
Lemon entered his plea before a magistrate judge in St. Paul on Friday, according to local affiliates KMSP-TV and WCCO-TV.
Lemon told reporters afterward, “The events before my arrest, and what’s happened since, show that people are finally realizing what this administration is all about. The process is the punishment with them. … I will not be intimidated. I will not back down. I will fight these baseless charges, and I will not be silenced.”
The grand jury indictment charged Lemon and eight others with conspiracy against right of religious freedom at place of worship and another count of working to injure, intimidate or interfere with the exercise the right of religious freedom at a place of worship.
At the arraignment, prosecutors said that they obtained a search warrant for Lemon’s phone and still are in possession of it, according to KMSP. Lemon’s legal team also is seeking grand jury transcripts, the station reported.
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Lemon, a former CNN anchor who now is an independent journalist, was arrested in Los Angeles on January 30 and held until the next day. He was released without bail.
A magistrate judge and an appeals court earlier had rejected DOJ efforts to charge Lemon.
At the time of his arrest, Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said: “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable. There is no more important time for people like Don to be doing his work.”
Lemon livestreamed the protest at Cities Church in St. Paul last month, with demonstrators interrupting the services. Lemon has said that he “had no affiliation” to the protest organization. “I didn’t even know they were going to this church until we followed them. We were there chronicling protests,” he said.
During the livestream inside the church, Lemon told viewers: “I’m not going to get in the middle of it, because I’m not here as an activist. I’m here as a journalist.”
Lemon was arraigned along with four others who were charged, including Nekima Levy Armstrong, a social justice activist. They all pleaded not guilty.
The indictment, though, does not separate Lemon as a journalist from other co-conspirators. Also charged by Georgia Fort, another independent journalist who was covering the demonstration. Fort is scheduled to be arraigned next week.
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