Actor and activist Jane Fonda spoke outside a U.S. federal court on Jan. 30 after federal agents arrested journalist Don Lemon in connection with a protest that disrupted a church service in St. Paul. Fonda called the case an attack on constitutional rights, urged Americans to “speak up,” and said, “They arrested the wrong Don,” while vowing to defend Lemon’s right to report.
Prosecutors say Lemon and others took part in a Jan. 18 demonstration inside Cities Church after activists learned that a pastor at the church worked for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A federal grand jury indictment accuses Lemon and co-defendants of conspiring to interfere with worshippers’ rights and of violating a federal statute that bars intimidation or obstruction tied to religious exercise, according to court filings described in public reporting.
Lemon has said he attended the protest as a journalist. Outside court in Los Angeles, he told reporters that the government arrested him “for…covering the news,” adding, “I will not be silenced.” His attorney, Abbe Lowell, called the prosecution an “unprecedented attack” on press freedom and argued that Lemon’s work falls under First Amendment protection. A judge released Lemon on his own recognizance and set a Feb. 9 hearing in Minneapolis, with restrictions on contact with witnesses and co-defendants.
Pam Bondi has defended the enforcement action as necessary to protect the right to worship and described the protest as an attack on a religious service. The case has also drawn pushback from press-rights advocates who warn it could chill coverage of protests on private property, especially after a magistrate judge previously declined to approve an earlier bid for charges, according to accounts from civil-liberties groups and legal observers.
