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Two Black journalists — Minneapolis-based Georgia Fort and national reporter Don Lemon — were arrested on Jan. 30 in what many are calling an attack on the First Amendment.
Lemon, a veteran broadcaster and longtime critic of President Donald Trump, was arrested late Thursday night in Los Angeles after livestreaming an anti-ICE demonstration connected to a January protest at a St. Paul, Minnesota church.
“Last night, the DOJ sent a team of federal agents to arrest me in the middle of the night for something that I’ve been doing for the last 30 years, and that is covering the news,” Lemon said in a press conference immediately following his Friday release.
A short time after Lemon was taken into custody, Fort, an Emmy-winning journalist, was arrested by federal agents in her home state for reporting on the same protest, according to public statements and court records.
“As I reflect, as a journalist who has worked in media for more than 17 years, I leave this federal courthouse today with one question. Do we have a Constitution?” Fort questioned. “That is the pressing question that should be on the front of everyone’s minds.”
The arrests occurred after federal authorities revived charges tied to a protest at Cities Church in St. Paul after a magistrate judge had already declined to approve arrest warrants against Lemon and others, citing insufficient evidence.
Prosecutors then pursued indictments through a grand jury, a move civil liberties advocates say appears designed to sidestep judicial scrutiny and chill coverage of protests against ICE operations.
Fort documented her own arrest in a brief livestream as agents arrived at her door, telling viewers she was being taken into custody for filming the protest as a member of the press. Her arrest, announced publicly by Attorney General Pam Bondi, placed the journalist alongside protesters in a case the administration has described as a coordinated attack.
“I should be protected under the First Amendment, just like all of the journalists who I’ve been advocating for, too,” Fort said after being released. “I’ve been advocating for mainstream media journalists who have been brutalized for months.”
Lemon also reflected on the importance of honoring the First Amendment in his statement to members of the press after being released.
“The First Amendment of the Constitution protects that work for me and for countless of other journalists who do what I do. I stand with all of them, and I will not be silent,” he declared. “I look forward to my day in court.
Lawmakers, Activists Warn of Escalation
Once news spread of their arrests, lawmakers such as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, activists like the Rev. Al Sharpton, and even former Vice President Kamala Harris, called for authorities to immediately release them, while also offering warnings to others.
“Today, Donald Trump and his administration are once again trampling on our rights and our freedoms. Journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were fulfilling their duty to the American people to report and inform, and they have been arrested for it,” Harris wrote in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. “Donald Trump continues to consolidate power and show a flagrant disregard for the rule of law. This arrest is another affront to our rights and freedoms and should alarm and enrage us.”
Bass said the arrests signaled a dangerous escalation by the Trump administration rather than any attempt to ease tensions following the fatal shootings of civilians by federal agents in Minnesota. She said Lemon was simply doing his job when agents arrested him and stressed that Fort’s detention made clear this was not an isolated incident but a broader assault on press freedom.
Civil rights leaders said the symbolism was unmistakable.
Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, said Lemon’s arrest marked a direct blow against the First Amendment and warned that journalists critical of the president were being singled out.
Press freedom advocates echoed those concerns.
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, said the arrests represent a constitutional crisis for journalism in the United States, adding that reporters have the right to document and share information with the public without fear of retaliation.
Bass said she contacted the U.S. attorney when Lemon was taken into custody and warned that arresting journalists for entering a church while reporting crosses a line the Constitution was written to prevent.
“It’s an egregious assault on constitutionally protected First Amendment rights,” Bass said.
Lemon emphasized that the arrest would not deter his work and pursuit of facts and the truth.
“There is no more important time than right now, 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.”
Source: Published without changes from Washington Informer Newspaper
