MS Now’s “Morning Joe” panelists warned that the Department of Justice’s early Friday arrest of journalist Don Lemon is part of a larger agenda to intimidate the free press.
“He does not work for a major corporation like Versant or any of the other major networks or any of the major print publications,” MS Now legal correspondent Lisa Rubin said of Lemon, who launched his career as an independent journalist after being terminated from his job as a CNN anchor in 2023. “He is lacking that infrastructure and support right now, which makes him a very convenient and easy first target for a Department of Justice that wants to put journalists in fear of doing our jobs.”
Lemon, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, was arrested after covering an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest at Cities Church in St. Paul on Jan. 18. Federal agents arrested three others, including fellow independent journalist Georgia Fort, as well, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in a post that called the protest a “coordinated attack.”
Lemon’s arrest comes after a Minnesota judge blocked the DOJ’s attempt to charge him. However, White House deputy chief of staff James Blair said Friday that the journalist was indicted by a federal grand jury.
