‘I will not be silenced’: Don Lemon released without bail following indictment over anti-ICE protest

“I look forward to my day in court,” Lemon said in his first statement after being jailed.

Don Lemon is once again a free man.

A Los Angeles judge released the longtime journalist and former CNN anchor on his own recognizance Friday (Jan. 30), hours after a much-publicized arrest that drew mocking social media posts from the White House and a widespread outcry about the First Amendment and the protection of journalists for covering the news.

Lemon is due back in court on Feb. 9.

“I have spent my entire career covering the news,” Lemon said in his first statement since his arrest. “I will not stop now. In fact, there is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable. Again, I will not stop now, I will not stop ever.”

According to federal prosecutors, Lemon was charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Under the law, individuals are prohibited from using force, threat of force, or physical obstruction to injure, intimidate, or interfere with anyone obtaining or providing reproductive health services, or exercising their right to religious freedom at a place of worship. It was enacted to protect abortion clinics and staff from violent blockades, with penalties including fines and imprisonment. 

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Per MS Now, Lemon, independent journalist Georgia Fort, Black Lives Matter Minnesota co-founder Trahern Jean Crews and community activist Jamael Lundy face charges of interfering with the right to religious freedom and one count of conspiracy against rights, a law which was enacted during Reconstruction to combat the Ku Klux Klan.

Fort, Lundy and Crews were released from police custody earlier this afternoon.

On Jan. 18, Lemon was on hand at a protest in St. Paul, Minnesota, inside Cities Church with the intent of interviewing churchgoers and protesters in the wake of the killing of 37-year-old Renee Good at the hands of an ICE agent on Jan. 7. Protesters accused the church’s pastor, David Easterwood, of being an ICE field director in the community.

“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”

The DOJ initially attempted to file charges against Lemon for his alleged role in covering the protest, but several judges refused to sign off on the criminal complaint. Lemon, 59, believed that he would be targeted yet again by the DOJ over the protest.