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By JAIMIE DING, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER<\/p>\n
LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Journalist Don Lemon, who dared the Trump administration to come after him after he covered an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service<\/a> at a Minnesota church, was indicted for civil rights crimes.<\/p>\n Lemon was arrested Thursday by federal agents in Los Angeles, while another independent journalist and two protest participants were arrested in Minnesota.<\/p>\n The arrests brought sharp criticism from news media advocates and civil rights activists including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said the Trump administration is taking a \u201csledgehammer\u201d to \u201cthe knees of the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n The four were charged with conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.<\/p>\n Lemon, who was fired from celebrity.land in 2023, was due to appear Friday in federal court in Los Angeles. He has said he has no affiliation to the organization that went into the church and he was there as a solo journalist chronicling protesters.<\/p>\n \u201cDon has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,\u201d his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. \u201cThe First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.\u201d <\/p>\n Attorney General Pam Bondi promoted the arrests on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cMake no mistake. Under President Trump\u2019s leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely,\u201d Bondi said in a video posted online. \u201cAnd if I haven\u2019t been clear already, if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you.\u201d <\/p>\n Since he left celebrity.land, Lemon has joined the legion of journalists who have gone into business for himself, posting regularly on YouTube. He hasn\u2019t hidden his disdain for President Donald Trump. Yet during his online show from the church, he said repeatedly: \u201cI\u2019m not here as an activist. I\u2019m here as a journalist.\u201d He described the scene before him, and interviewed churchgoers and demonstrators.<\/p>\n A magistrate judge last week rejected prosecutors\u2019 initial bid<\/a> to charge the veteran journalist. Shortly after, he predicted on his show that the administration would try again. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd guess what,\u201d he said. \u201cHere I am. Keep trying. That\u2019s not going to stop me from being a journalist. That\u2019s not going to diminish my voice. Go ahead, make me into the new Jimmy Kimmel,<\/a> if you want. Just do it. Because I\u2019m not going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Georgia Fort, an independent journalist, livestreamed the moments before her arrest on Facebook Live.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t feel like I have my First Amendment right as a member of the press because now the federal agents are at my door arresting me for filming the church protest a few weeks ago,\u201d Fort said.<\/p>\n A judge released Fort, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy on bond, rejecting the Justice Department\u2019s attempt to keep them in custody. Not guilty pleas were entered. Fort\u2019s supporters in the courtroom clapped and whooped.<\/p>\n Jane Kirtley, a media law and ethics expert at the University of Minnesota, said the federal laws cited by the government were not intended to apply to reporters gathering news.<\/p>\n The charges against Lemon and Fort, she said, are \u201cpure intimidation and government overreach.\u201d<\/p>\n In an Instagram post, the National Association of Black Journalists said it was \u201coutraged and deeply alarmed\u201d by Lemon\u2019s arrest. The group called it an effort to \u201ccriminalize and threaten press freedom under the guise of law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n Crews is a leader of Black Lives Matter Minnesota who has led many protests and actions for racial justice, particularly following George Floyd\u2019s killing in Minneapolis in 2020.<\/p>\n After Trump administration officials said earlier this month that arrests would be coming in the church protest, Crews told The Associated Press there\u2019s a \u201ctradition\u201d of Black activists and leaders being targeted or subjected to violence.<\/p>\n \u201cJust as being a Black person, you always have to have that in mind,\u201d Crews said.<\/p>\n A prominent civil rights attorney and two other people involved in the protest were arrested last week. Prosecutors have accused them of civil rights violations for disrupting the Cities Church service<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u2018Keep trying\u2019<\/h4>\n
Discouraging scrutiny<\/h4>\n
Protesters charged previously<\/h4>\n