A Federal Judge Is Examining the Justice Department’s Case Against Don Lemon

Months after the arrest of journalist Don Lemon, a federal judge in Minnesota will probe whether grounds exist to toss the Justice Department’s case against him.

On Aug. 18, Minnesota federal Judge Laura Provinzino issued an order demanding the Justice Department provide her with a wide swath of grand jury materials related to Lemon and his co-defendants, including presentations made by prosecutors and case agents, and the totality of communications prosecutors had with grand jurors resulting in their indictments, according to CNN.

Provinzino set an Aug. 25 deadline to provide her with the presentation by federal prosecutors and case agents related to grand juries empaneled in January and February. 

Lemon’s team has aggressively pursued obtaining grand jury materials and had asked for either grand jury records to be provided to the defense or, at a minimum, reviewed by the judge privately, citing “irregularities” in the grand jury that resulted in his indictment.

“There is substantial evidence of grand-jury irregularities in this case,” Lemon’s team wrote in a recent filing.

It’s the latest example of judges’ growing skepticism of whether the department is behaving ethically behind closed doors in grand jury proceedings.

The case stems from the fallout from a Jan. 18 protest at a Minnesota church where Black journalists and activists who have been critical of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown were arrested.

Former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X in January that, at her direction, federal agents had arrested former CNN anchor Lemon, independent journalist Georgia Fort, and activists Trahern Jeen Crews and Jamael Lydell Lundy. Fort is also the vice president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.

The four faced charges of conspiracy and violating worshippers’ First Amendment rights.

Fort had posted a video showing federal agents at her home before the arrest, advising her to go with them: “This is all stemming from the fact that I filmed a protest as a member of the media,” Fort says in the video. “I don’t feel like I have my First Amendment right as a member of the press.”

The National Association of Black Journalists echoed these concerns in a statement.

“The First Amendment is not optional and journalism is NOT a crime,” the statement read. “A government that responds to scrutiny by targeting the messenger is not protecting the public, it is attempting to intimidate it, and considering recent incidents regarding federal agents, it is attempting to distract it.”

A federal magistrate judge on Jan. 22 refused to sign a complaint charging Lemon, who was broadcasting and interviewing protesters who breached Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. President Donald Trump and other allies had called for Lemon to be arrested.

The magistrate’s decision “enraged” Bondi, according to multiple news outlets.

“Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards,” Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Lemon, said in a statement. “Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done.”

Lowell said that Lemon would fight the charges.

In a statement to Capital B, Jin Hee Lee, the director of strategic initiatives at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, criticized the administration’s actions.

“The administration is watchlisting people for protesting and has shown little to no respect for people’s First Amendment rights, including journalists reporting on the administration’s abuses and concerned community members expressing support for their neighbors amid DHS’s [the U.S. Department of Homeland Security] attacks on Black and brown immigrant communities,” Lee said. “This arrest of Don Lemon is another such example.”

Two Black women were taken into custody last week along with a man who goes by the username “DaWokeFarmer” on social media.

On Jan. 22, Bondi announced the arrests of Nekima Levy-Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and William Kelly on X.

“Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP,” she wrote.

Levy-Armstrong, Allen, and Kelly were arrested for their role in the protest. Protesters entered the church, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as a pastor, the Associated Press reported. They were charged with conspiracy to deprive others of their constitutional rights.

All three were later released.

Levy-Armstrong, a Minneapolis civil rights activist and lawyer, and other protesters were at the church to point out what they say is a contradiction between working for ICE and preaching the Christian Gospel. But in the aftermath of the protests and the arrests, residents and civil rights leaders are also questioning whether protesters’ constitutional rights had been violated. 

“We’re watching in real time as the Department of Justice, once responsible for upholding the law, is being twisted into the Department of Vengeance, attacking anyone who displeases the president,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement. 

“ICE agents cover their faces, terrorize our neighbors, and attack anyone who gets in their way,” he continued. 

The demonstrators were there because the pastor, David Easterwood, is an official with ICE. He is also a named defendant in a class action lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Minnesota seeking redress for ICE’s aggressive tactics. Easterwood was not leading the service that day.

Levy-Armstrong is the past president of the Minneapolis NAACP and an ordained minister. Allen is a St. Paul school board member.

“I believe that if someone professes to represent the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to preach it, that they should not be allowing ICE agents to drag people out of their homes,” she told Democracy Now before her arrest on Jan. 22. 

Levy-Armstrong’s husband, Marques Armstrong, told the Sahan Journal that the women cooperated with federal agents. 

“My wife wasn’t taken, she gave herself up,” Marques said of his wife’s demeanor during the arrest. “She is fierce, she is strong and she is powerful. That is how she stood.”

Jacob Davis, who lives in a suburb of Minneapolis, told Capital B that the scrutiny over the tension between Easterwood’s work for ICE and his role as a pastor came as no shock. To him, this clash felt inevitable.

“A lot of people say that they like this administration because of its Christian values,” he said. “But what’s been happening in Minneapolis, to many, is the exact opposite of what we should be doing in terms of helping those who are the most vulnerable.”

Davis also pointed to the anger and heartbreak that spread throughout the community after residents learned that federal agents on Jan. 20 took a 5-year-old boy and are holding him with his father at a detention facility in Texas.

“Exhaustion, sadness, misery,” he said, referring to the prevailing mood in Minneapolis since thousands of federal agents were deployed to the Twin Cities at the start of the month. “A lot of us are sharing in that — myself included.” 

An altered photo, and a question of whether rights were violated

The White House admitted it digitally altered an image of Levy-Armstrong to show her crying as she was being detained by a federal officer. Her skin tone also appears to have been darkened in the image.

When the White House was asked by news outlets about the doctoring, Kaelan Dorr, deputy communications director, wrote on X, “Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue.”

The arrests “likely violated their First Amendment — their right to peaceful protest and free association, Fourth Amendment — their protection against illegal searches and seizures, and Fifth Amendment – their right to due process under the law,”  NAACP General Counsel Janette McCarthy-Wallace said in a statement.

“The NAACP is not aware of any alleged federal crime they committed; neither the FBI nor DHS has issued a warrant for these arrests, and there have been no related indictments,” she continued in the statement. 

Tensions between local and federal officials in the Twin Cities have continued to deepen since the start of the year after the ICE shooting of Renee Good. The mother of three was in her car on Jan. 7 when an ICE officer opened fire. Cellphone videos posted online showed the 37-year-old poet turning her vehicle away from the agent. He continued to shoot at her. On Jan. 24, U.S. Border Patrol agents fatally shot 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, during a protest.

“This Administration wants you to believe our community is afraid, but we will never be shaken. And we will never be broken,” Johnson said in the NAACP statement.

This story has been updated.

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