NEW YORK — Former CNN anchor Don Lemon denounced the federal charges stemming from his presence at a January protest inside a St. Paul, Minnesota, church as “racist” during a panel at Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network convention.
“To me, and to most people — most sane, rational people — these are cooked-up charges to, I believe, to embarrass, to really suppress journalism,” Lemon said during a Thursday morning panel on misinformation. “To make journalists afraid and fearful and to second- and third-guess themselves about telling the truth.
“And I think it’s also to embarrass people. And I think it’s racist,” he continued. “Because they are using laws that are meant for people who are truly oppressed, meaning African Americans who fought for civil rights in this country, they are using those same laws to prosecute and persecute African Americans.”
Lemon pleaded not guilty to the charges in February after he was indicted alongside eight codefendants in connection with the Jan. 18 incident at Cities Church. He was arrested Jan. 30, days after the protest, drawing outrage from press-freedom advocates.
Lemon, covering an event as a freelance journalist, was arrested on a charge of documenting a group of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protestors who stormed the church.
The Justice Department charged Lemon with conspiracy to deprive rights and with injuring, intimidating, or interfering with the exercise of religious freedom at a place of worship under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
At the NAN convention, Lemon pointed to the FBI’s searching of a Washington Post reporter’s home, in which a phone and two laptops were taken, as another example of the Trump administration’s crackdown on the press.
DON LEMON PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO CHARGES FOR STORMING MINNESOTA CHURCH
“It’s tough, but I have a lot of support from people,” Lemon said about his case. “Look, these are very serious charges. I think if they had their way, they would like to put me in prison for just reporting.”
Kaelan Deese contributed to this report.
