'Vindictive motivations': Don Lemon seeks to dismiss charges stemming from church protest
Lemon faces federal civil rights charges in connection with the incident.
Journalist Don Lemon is seeking to have the criminal case against him thrown out by a federal judge, according to a filing on Friday, and his lawyers are tying the charges to what they say is a "broader assault on the free press.”
Lemon was charged by the Justice Department after allegedly entering a church in St. Paul, Minnesota with a group of anti-ICE activists who disrupted services -- but Lemon maintains he was there in his capacity as a journalist.
The January church service came amid an immigration crackdown in Minnesota and the killing of Renee Good by a federal agent.
Lemon's lawyers argue that statements made by President Trump and current and former members of the Justice Department make clear it was a “vindictive prosecution," and decried the manner in which the investigation after Lemon’s arrest took place.
He was charged with two counts of federal civil rights violations including conspiracy against rights of religious freedom and had pleaded not guilty.
Officials say Lemon and other protesters occupied the church and Lemon "physically obstructed" parishioners as they tried to leave.
"Against this background of literally years of the President’s direct attacks, Mr. Lemon landed in President Trump’s crosshairs again for reporting on a story that the administration wanted to go away: the immigration surge in Minnesota,” according to the filing. At the same time, senior Justice Department officials expressed direct hostility to Mr. Lemon’s status as a journalist.”
The filing cites comments from former Attorney General Pam Bondi, then-deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division.
“One need not look further than the statements and actions of the President and senior leadership in the Department of Justice to see that this case is an attempt to punish Mr. Lemon for exercising his First Amendment rights as a journalist to provide truthful coverage of actions by this administration,” according to the filing. "The vindictive motivations of this prosecution were perfectly summed up by Dhillon’s vow to 'pursue this to the ends of the earth' and the completely unprecedented nature of the Attorney General—fighting to maintain her job—flying out to a district to personally manage a prosecution."
Lemon’s lawyers claim the Justice Department used "extraordinary channels” to pursue charges against him, and ignored his lawyers offers for a self-surrender.
“In what can only be described as an effort to punish and humiliate Mr. Lemon, the government ignored the request to arrange an orderly surrender and chose to deputize agents to his Los Angeles hotel—where he was covering the music industry’s annual awards show—to arrest him at midnight,” according to the filing. "Ironically, this is the exact practice that this Justice Department condemned the prior administration for engaging in against abortion facility protestors charged under the exact same statute as Mr. Lemon.”
During the post arrest investigation, the government submitted warrants for Lemon’s YouTube subscribers, which was rejected by a federal judge.
Lemon's attorneys say the government “circumvented” normal procedure for a search warrant they instead issued an administrative warrant. They say that's because a search warrant for his devices was rejected by a magistrate judge.
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