Don Lemon spoke to reporters in downtown Los Angeles on Friday after being released from federal custody over his coverage of an anti-ICE protest.
“I have spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now. In fact, there is no more important time than this very moment for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable,” he said. “I will not stop now, I will not stop ever.”
Lemon, 59, was arrested in L.A. late Thursday, Jan. 29, for entering the Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota during a protest on Jan. 18, and reporting live on his YouTube channel.
The former CNN anchor faces two federal charges: conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshipers, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Friday.
Independent journalist Georgia Fort was arrested in Minnesota for reporting on the same protest as Lemon. She was also charged in the indictment and released from custody.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement that Lemon was arrested “simply for doing his job and following a protest into a church in Minneapolis while reporting the story.”
Meanwhile, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) accused the Department of Justice of singling out “messengers” who were at the protest.
“As journalists, our first obligation is to bear witness and to inform,” said NABJ President Errin Haines. “When those obligations are met with detention or prosecution instead of protection, we must ask: what message are we sending about who gets to report and who gets silenced? A free press, not a penalized one, is essential to democracy; especially, when coverage intersects with contentious public issues.”
Federal prosecutors wanted Lemon held on $100,000 bond, the Associated Press reported. But a judge ordered him released on his own recognizance without paying bond.
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