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Updated on: August 7, 2026 / 9:52 AM EDT
/ CBS News
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Former CNN anchor Don Lemon asked a federal judge in Minnesota to dismiss criminal civil rights charges against him on Friday, saying he is being unlawfully targeted for vindictive prosecution.His attorneys wrote that President Trump's animosity toward Lemon "is well documented, stretching back over a decade." They argued that the Justice Department charged Lemon "as punishment for his First Amendment protected reporting on protests related to Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota."Lemon and several other journalists have been charged alongside a group of protesters with violating the FACE Act, which prohibits people from intimidating or interfering with people exercising their constitutional freedom to practice religion. It also charged them with a felony of conspiring to interfere with individuals' religious rights.His lawyers in their motion cited public statements made by senior current and former Justice Department officials and Mr. Trump that targeted Lemon in the lead-up to his indictment. They pointed to comments from then-Attorney General Pam Bondi and Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division.Initially, the Justice Department tried to charge Lemon by criminal complaint, but a magistrate judge rejected the effort, citing a lack of probable cause.The Justice Department then took the extraordinary step of asking first the chief judge, and then the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene. When those efforts failed, prosecutors took the case to a grand jury and secured an indictment.
