Groups say arrests of ex-CNN anchor and Georgia Fort are ‘extremely alarming’ and an ‘attack on the first amendment’
Press freedom groups are warning that the arrests of two independent journalists, including the veteran former CNN anchor Don Lemon, signal a chilling new crackdown on US media by the Trump administration.
Lemon was taken into custody on Thursday night by federal agents in Los Angeles, despite a magistrate judge declining to sign off on charges against him a week ago in connection with a protest at a Minnesota church against violent government immigration enforcement actions.
Georgia Fort, another reporter who covered the 18 January protest at the Cities church in Saint Paul, posted a live stream of her arrest early on Friday on Facebook.
“The justice department’s arrest of journalists reporting on anti-ICE protests is extremely alarming, especially given that multiple judges refused to approve arrest warrants just last week,” Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said.
