ST. PAUL, Minn. — Journalist and former CNN anchor Don Lemon pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges connected to his coverage of protests over federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota.
During the brief, highly procedural hearing, Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko reminded Lemon of his constitutional rights and asked if he understood the charges against him.
Lemon answered in the affirmative before the judge said he was free to travel unless he were to violate any state or federal laws.
A prosecutor also revealed on Friday that authorities seized Lemon's phone during the arrest and have obtained a search warrant.
Lemon’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said taking the phone was a possible "over-execution."
Lemon, now a freelance journalist, followed protesters who entered a St. Paul church on Jan. 18. He live streamed the demonstration against a pastor there who protesters said works for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"I wanted to say this isn't just about me, this is about all journalists, especially in the United States," Lemon said outside court.
"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, freedom of the press, is the bedrock of our democracy."
"I'd like to thank everyone again for their support," Lemon said. "To my colleagues, countless journalists around the world ... my family and my friends, you all have showed up for me in a real way, and I am extremely grateful for that. I feel it. I feel it. I feel it."
Lemon, 59, was arrested on Jan. 30, in a federal prosecution that's drawn criticism from news media and free speech advocates. A federal grand jury returned the indictment against him and eight co-defendants connected to that church protest.
Lemon pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The defense told Micko it seeks to get grand jury transcripts as Lowell said prosecutors took an “unusual” path secure charges against his client.
Before the grand jury action, a judge had declined to sign arrest warrants against Lemon and his colleagues.
“We have serious concerns about the application of these statutes to our client,” Lowell said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi called the church protest a “coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.”
Lemon was charged with conspiracy against the rights of religious freedom at a place of worship and injuring, intimidating and interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom at a place of worship.
The National Association of Black Journalists said the arrest of Lemon and fellow freelancer Georgia Fort are part of "the government’s escalating effort and actions to criminalize and threaten press freedom under the guise of law enforcement."
"A government that responds to scrutiny by targeting the messenger is not protecting the public, it is attempting to intimidate it, and considering recent incidents regarding federal agents, it is attempting to distract it," according to an NABJ statement.
Harmeet Dhillon, the Trump administration’s top civil rights official in the Justice Department, said that there's no precedent for using statutes to protect worshippers against journalists covering an event.
“In all these years up until I was the assistant attorney general for civil rights, nobody ever used that houses of worship part to prosecute protesters or criminals blocking access to a house of worship, so we’ve started to do that,” Dhillon has said.
Border Patrol and ICE agents have carried out raids in and around Minneapolis, leading to mass protests around the region. Border "czar" Tom Homan said Thursday that the immigration enfrocement operation there would end.
Federal authorities fatally shot Minneapolis residents Alex Pretti, 37, and Renee Good, 37, during these clashes.
Good appeared to be driving away from federal agents on Jan. 7 when she was fatally shot, while Pretti, a nurse who worked with veterans, was helping a woman who'd been shoved to the ground when he was killed on Jan. 24.
The Trump administration labeled both U.S. citizens as "domestic terrorists" with no immediate evidence the shooting victims had sought to harm federal agents when they were shot at close range.
Before taking office, Trump had complained about what he described as the weaponization of federal authority against political enemies.
Trump’s Department of Justice created a “Weaponization Working Group” meant to root out “abuses of the criminal justice process” by federal law enforcement.
The Trump administration has been scrambling to issue a report when the working group's leader Ed Martin, who took over in May, was removed from his earlier this month with no public explanation.
Selina Guevara reported from St. Paul, Minnesota, and David K. Li from Los Angeles.
