Transcript of Breaking: Trump Arrests Journalist Don Lemon in Major Attack on First Amendment

We have breaking news right now. The United States government, the Trump Justice Department, has arrested Don Lemon, a journalist, for his role in what they say are riots at a Minneapolis church, when in reality, as I've been saying for a long time, Lemon was just there as a journalist, trying to show the world what was happening inside of a church protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was not engaging in, coordinating with, or protesting himself. And as a result, Lemon is now facing criminal charges in the federal court system, facing several years in federal prison. Don Lemon was taken into custody overnight, and I have the details for you right now. Let me tell you something. This is a very serious day in the United States of America. The Trump Justice Department is now going after journalists. Make sure to like, comment, share, and subscribe. The more you like, the more people see, and people need to see this today. If you want to support my work, make sure to subscribe to my sub stack by clicking the link below. Right now, it has never been scarier to be a journalist based on this arrest alone. Don Lemon's attorney, Abby Lo, released the following Statement.

Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy Awards. Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done. The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable. There is no more important time for people like Dawn to be doing this work. Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful protesters, the Trump Justice Department is devoting its time, attention, and resources to this arrest. And that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case. This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand. Don Lemon will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court. This is an unprecedented attack on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. For the first time in the Trump administration, he has now arrested a journalist exercising his First Amendment right. Now, the criminal charges against Don remain unknown, but I will tell you what they, 99.

9% are. They are going to be a civil rights related charge, and then possibly a FACE Act or Ku Klux Klan Act charge. The charge is essentially interrupting or disrupting a church service. But if you look at the videos that Dawn took while at that church service, he was there taking videos. He was there capturing content. He was there exercising his First Amendment right as a journalist, showing the world what was happening inside of that Minneapolis church. And it's exactly why, previously, a magistrate judge in the district of Minnesota rejected this exact same criminal complaint. A Minnesota federal magistrate judge previously refused to sign a criminal complaint, charging independent journalist, Don Lemon, in connection with the protest inside the church. Attorney General Pam Bondi at the time, was furious, was enraged. And so they went and they tried to find other avenues to charge Lemon. But It prompted the following letter from a district Judge in Minnesota who urgently wrote to the eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. This letter was previously reported on, but has never been more important than today. Because after A magistrate judge refused to sign the Don Lemon criminal complaint. The federal government filed what is called a Rit of Mandamus, trying to get a district Court judge, which is right above a magistrate federal court judge, to review the decision of a magistrate.

And as this district court judge said, This is the first time I have heard of any petition for a Rit of Mandamus. The United States did not have the courtesy to tell me that they would be filing such a petition, nor did the United States serve the petition on me. Apparently, I'm supposed to guess what the petition is about and guess what the mandamus petition says, and then respond. Goes on to say that the US attorney notified him that his office wanted a district judge to review the magistrate judge's decision, either by hearing an appeal of that decision or by considering the application de novo. It is important to emphasize that what the US attorney requested is unheard of in our district, or as best as I can tell, any other district in the eighth Circuit. He surveyed all judges, some of whom have been in the district for over 40 years, and no one could remember the government asking a district judge to review a magistrate judge's denial of an arrest war. That is significant. And while it came at the same time that Donald Trump overnight, called Alex Pretty, an insurrectionist. This is serious.

Agitator and perhaps insurrectionist, Alex Pretty's stock has gone way down. We just released video of him screaming and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE officer, and then crazily kicking in a new and very expensive government vehicle, so hard and violent, in fact, that the tail light broke off in pieces. It was quite a display of abuse use an anger for all to see, crazed and out of control. The ICE officer was calm and cool, not an easy thing to be under the circumstances. He's referring to a video that was recently released showing Alex Prattty engaging with officers Thirteen days before he was murdered. They are using that video now, as you can see, to smear Alex Pretty. Now, at the same time, we're still gaining more information investigation right now about essentially next steps for Don Lemon, next steps for the Alex Pretty investigation, and also next steps for the government funding deadline. Remember last night when I reported that there was a deal to reach to end the shutdown? Yeah. Well, it looks as though that deal may actually be in trouble. Because overnight, Lindsay Graham stormed into Senate Majority Leader John Thune's office and essentially said that he did not like the deal.

So you now have a Republic Republican Senator potentially blowing up the deal that was executed by Leader Schumer's office and Republicans. If there is not a deal reached by tonight, the government will enter a partial government shutdown, and ICE Funding, Department of And so this whole man's security funding will effectively be frozen. And so today is a very busy day on Capitol Hill. Today is a very consequential day in the United States of America, because for the first time of the Trump II term, Donald Trump has arrested and indicted a journalist, Don Lemon. This is a path toward authoritarianism. Now, it's pretty interesting. A lot of people have messaged me and said, Erin, sometimes you are too hair on fire. Sometimes you say things that will never happen. Sometimes you are too hyperbolic. I'm not. I'm not. Because if you know the evidence in the Don Lemon case, you know there was not enough to charge him. And yet they did so anyway. Now is the time, in my opinion, to be angry. Because if Don Lemon was today, I could be tomorrow. We cannot stop fighting for the truth in this moment. I won't stop fighting for the truth.

Make sure to subscribe to my sub stack by clicking the link below to support my work. Like, comment, share, and subscribe. Get this everywhere. People need to know Dawn's story today. So.