From Newsgroup: alt.law-enforcement

Federal agents arrested independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia
Fort for covering a protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, where a pastor
is also an official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Lemon, a former CNN anchor and NBC correspondent, was arrested Thursday
night as he was covering the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, his attorney
said in a statement. The arrest comes after a magistrate judge rejected
a previous request by prosecutors to charge him.

rCLInstead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota 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,rCY LemonrCOs attorney, Abbe Lowell, wrote in a statement.

Fort, an Emmy-award winning Twin Cities journalist, filmed a short
Facebook live video around 6:30 a.m. Friday morning announcing that
agents were at her door and her lawyer advised her to go with them. The
agents said they were able to go before a grand jury and get a warrant
for her arrest, Fort said.

rCLThis is all stemming from the fact that I filmed a protest as a member
of the mediarCY Fort said. rCLI donrCOt feel like I have my First Amendment right as a member of the press.rCY

FortrCOs arrest warrant listed charges of conspiracy against the right of religious freedom and interfering with the exercise of religious freedom
at a place of worship.

Fort appeared before a federal judge on Friday afternoon and was
released after prosecutors unsuccessfully tried to have her held in
jail, arguing the offense was violent in nature.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X that two others were also
arrested at her direction in connection with the protest: Black Lives
Matter activist Trahern Jeen Crews and Jamael Lydell Lundy, who works as
a lobbyist for the Hennepin County AttorneyrCOs Office and is a Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate for state Senate.

Demonstrators, led by civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong and
St. Paul School Board Member Chauntyll Allen, interrupted the service at
Cities Church on Jan. 18 with chants of rCLJustice for Renee Good,rCY who
was shot and killed by an ICE agent earlier this month.

Pastor David Easterwood is an ICE field director in St. Paul, but did
not appear to be present at the service during the protest. Fort and
Lemon filmed the protest, during which demonstrators sought to point out
the contradiction between working for ICE and preaching the Christian
Gospel.

rCLHow dare you claim to be a pastor of God and you are involved in evil
in our community,rCY Levy Armstrong said in the middle of the church.

Federal agents arrested Levy Armstrong, a former president of
Minneapolis NAACP and a reverend herself, on Jan. 22 along with Allen
and a third demonstrator. Levy Armstrong was charged under 18 USC 241,
felony conspiracy to violate othersrCO civil rights, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who called it a rCLriot.rCY

The White House posted an image of Lemon to X on Wednesday with chain
emojis, writing, rCLWhen life gives you lemonsrCarCY After Levy Armstrong was arrested, the White House shared a doctored photo of her, making her
face contorted and covered in tears in a move legal experts say could be
deemed prejudicial and therefore a violation of her rights.

Cities Church, which belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention,
supported the charges and is rCLprayerfully consideringrCY its own legal action.

In an interview with Fox News, Cities ChurchrCOs Lead Pastor Jonathan
Parnell said his message for the governor, attorney general, mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul and the rCLagitatorsrCY is to rCLturn from your sin, trust in Jesus Christ and be saved. He is our only hope.rCY

(Attorney General Keith Ellison is Muslim and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob
Frey is Jewish.)

Messages to Cities Church were not immediately returned.

The Reformer joined a consortium of news outlets including the Star
Tribune, the Spokesman-Recorder and MPR News in condemning the arrests
in a statement.

rCLThe First Amendment recognizes the press as holding a distinct and
protected role in our democracy. In America, we do not arrest
journalists for doing their jobs. The Minnesota journalism community
stands united in defense of press freedom and the essential role
reporting plays in holding power to account, now more than ever,rCY the statement reads.

https://minnesotareformer.com/briefs/feds-arrest-journalists-don-lemon-an d-georgia-fort-for-filming-protest-at-st-paul-church/
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2