Don Lemon Tells Court DOJ Prosecution Is Vindictive

Journalist Don Lemon has taken his case to federal court, arguing that the Trump administration is trying to quiet him. The former CNN anchor asked a judge on Friday to throw out the felony civil rights and conspiracy charges he faces over his coverage of an anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church in January, the Hill reports. The filing says Lemon is the victim of "vindictive prosecution." His lawyers cited what they called a pattern of Trump's hostility toward Lemon, Justice Department officials' public criticism, and a White House social media post joking about the journalist's arrest.

Lemon, one of eight people indicted under a law protecting access to houses of worship, has pleaded not guilty and maintains he was present only as a reporter. "From war correspondents embedded with the military during the Vietnam War to journalists who entered the U.S. Capitol while covering the January 6 protests, our country has long recognized that the First Amendment protects the rights of the media to cover newsworthy events and that journalistic proximity to crime does not equal complicity," Lemon's filing says. "Journalists routinely go where crimes are occurring."