Former CNN host turned independent journalist Don Lemon pleaded not guilty to federal civil rights charges Friday, following a protest at a Minnesota churchwhere an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor. Four others also pleaded not guilty in the case.
Lemon has said he was at the Cities Church in St. Paul to chronicle the Jan. 18 protest but was not a participant. The veteran journalist’s attorney said Friday he will fight defend Lemon’s 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,” Lemon said outside the courthouse after his arraignment. “The First Amendment, the freedom of the press, are the bedrock of our democracy.”
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the courthouse, chanting “Pam Bondi has got to go” and “Protect the press.”
Civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong was among the other defendants who pleaded not guilty. The prominent local activist was the subject of a doctored photo posted on official White House social media that falsely showed her crying during her arrest. The picture is part of a deluge of AI-altered imagery that has circulated since the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers in Minneapolis amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
