Don Lemon Defends Journalism After Arrest

[ad_1] by Mary Spiller January 31, 2026

Minnesota journalist Georgia Fort was additionally launched.

Former CNN anchor and now impartial journalist Don Lemon forcefully defended his profession in journalism on Jan. 30 after being launched from federal custody a day following his arrest for reporting on an anti-ICE protest in a Minnesota church, vowing that the incident wouldn't silence his work.

A U.S. district decide ordered Lemon launched on his personal recognizance, with no financial bond required, in accordance with The Hill. Lemon faces accusations stemming from a protest at a Minnesota church, the place authorities declare worshippers’ constitutional rights had been disrupted.

Talking outdoors a downtown Los Angeles courthouse, Lemon thanked supporters and framed the arrest as a direct problem to press freedom. “I cannot cease now. I cannot cease ever,” Lemon mentioned. “In actual fact, there is no such thing as a extra essential time however proper now, this very second, for a free and impartial media that shines a lightweight on fact and holds these in energy accountable.”

Lemon argued that federal authorities focused him for doing his job. He mentioned the Division of Justice despatched officers to arrest him “for one thing I’ve been doing for the final 30 years, and that's masking the information.” He added that the First Modification “protects that work for me and for numerous different journalists who do what I do,” insisting, “I cannot be silenced. I look ahead to my day in court docket.”

Throughout Lemon’s court docket look, U.S. Lawyer Alexander Robbins accused him of taking part in what he described as a “mob that terrorized folks in a spot of worship.” As a part of his launch circumstances, Lemon is barred from contacting witnesses or alleged victims and should search court docket approval to journey outdoors the USA.

The costs are tied to a protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, the place demonstrators believed the pastor was linked to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minnesota. The Trump administration has sought costs in opposition to Lemon and 7 others associated to the incident. Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi described the occasion as “a coordinated assault on Cities Church,” although no sealed federal indictment has but been made public.

Lemon, who was dismissed from CNN in 2023 after years as a prime-time host, now runs “The Don Lemon Present” independently on YouTube and Substack.

His arrest drew swift reactions from distinguished figures. Former Vice President Kamala Harris known as it “one other affront to our rights and freedoms.” Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote that “arresting journalists is what occurs in tin-pot dictatorships,” including, “We should struggle again in opposition to authoritarianism.”

ICE is occupying communities and taking pictures Individuals.

Now, former CNN anchor Don Lemon has been arrested for masking what ICE is doing.

Arresting journalists is what occurs in tin-pot dictatorships.

We should struggle again in opposition to authoritarianism.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 30, 2026

Lemon was not alone. Minnesota journalist Georgia Fort was additionally launched Jan 30. Trahern Jeen Crews, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Minnesota, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, who works for the Hennepin County Lawyer’s Workplace, had been additionally taken into custody and launched.

“To all of the media that made an announcement on behalf of me, thanks a lot,” Fort mentioned shortly after her launch. She added, “Documenting what is going on in our group will not be a criminal offense.”

“I must be protected underneath the First Modification…do now we have a structure, that's the urgent query.”

Georgia Fort has been launched and has a message for the nation:

"Do now we have a Structure? That's the urgent query. Documenting what is going on in our communities is NOT a criminal offense.”

Her arrest violates the First Modification. Drop the fees NOW!pic.twitter.com/Gre0DU07fu

— Energy to the Individuals ☭🕊 (@ProudSocialist) January 30, 2026

The Minnesota Society of Skilled Journalists echoed that sentiment, exhibiting their help of Fort and Lemon by stating that journalists have “the duty to look at and report occasions within the public curiosity,” no matter the place a protest happens.

The group continued to sentence the arrests, stating, “It isn't unlawful to doc a protest in opposition to the federal authorities. The truth that the protest came about in a church doesn't negate journalists’ First Modification rights to report.”