I’ll start by saying Don Lemon should not have been arrested.
But that doesn’t mean he’s innocent.
Its interesting reading the full indictment and then viewing the recording from Lemons live stream of an organized takeover of a church service where the pastor was also an ICE worker.
As someone in media, I know well the dangers we face in this job as well as the legal protections we have. I’ve had threats made against me, public slander attempts against me that led to arrests, and lawsuits filed. The good news is the police enforced the law and the legal system has protections who cover news and comments on events in good faith.
The same laws apply to Don Lemon.
Lemon met up with a group of what the indictment calls ‘agitators,’ and we can replace it with protesters or opposition based on one’s views. What is clear, however, is this was no attempt at peaceful protest; they used Instagram and flyers posted around town to gather those interested in an ‘action,’ they withheld the final location of the action until they all met.
The indictment does not say how Lemon heard about the event; if he was directly contacted or just saw the posts and/or flyers. We do know he was with the group when they first convened to prepare for the event, and he livestreamed starting at this point.
Lemon agreed, once the destination was shared with him that is was a church, to not share that with the audience. As the camera was rolling, Lemon did remind the ‘agitators’ to not disclose the location they were heading to.
Now, attacking a church is a crime. It’s a violation of the FACE Act, which was proposed to stop violence at abortion clinics or preventing people from entering abortion clinics, religious institutions were added to it.
Did Lemon know it was a crime? We don’t know. If he did, should he have notified authorities he had knowledge of an impending crime? You can judge that.
Certainly, journalists and media members are often asked to not disclose information personally all the time. Journalists embedded with military operations know well they cannot share locations, for example. I’ve covered events where police would share information but ask that it not be shared publicly due to safety concerns or it being an ongoing investigation, and these are always respected.
After storming the church (one can watch the videos, the word ‘storming’ is appropriate), it is clear the congregants were extremely shocked and frightened, some tried to flee. The agitators called them NAZI’s, screaming, and surrounded the pastor. The indictment claimed that some of the agitators sought out children, telling them their parents were NAZI’s and they were going to hell. As families try to leave, they were blocked, even once they got to their vehicles the agitators were blocking the cars from leaving. There are a ton of gray areas here, and that’s why I would have avoided charging Lemon. That’s doesn’t mean he’s innocent; based on his own video it’s hard to make the case he was simply acting as a journalist. When you know a crime is about to be committed, when you give specific advice to the agitators to help protect them in furtherance of this crime, it’s a serious issue. And how far in advance he knew about this will play a role if this case moves through the court system.
Simple knowing a crime may take place doesn’t mean you are obligated to report it; but how long them knew, and if they had any role in planning, or helped its success, are huge issues.
Not to mention all of the potential outcomes that didn’t happen but were very distinct possibilities: a parishioner having a heart attack, a physical altercation, someone carrying and firing a gun. That there were no significant injuries is a minor miracle.
We cannot deny that the Trump administration has made some people and groups targets of their judicial arm. And in many of those cases, the courts have ended it. But, when you hand the governments something legitimate to go after, you can’t play the victim as Lemon certainly has. ‘I’m a longtime journalist just doing my job’ is a tough case to make when a longtime journalist should have known this planned attack on a church is an illegal act, and if he helped the agitators by reminding them to keep the location secret, increasing the success of an illegal surprise attack.
But what the entire indictment, and Lemons own video, make clear, is this is not some peaceful protest going on in Minnesota. These are not people rallying with signs for change. They are willing to attack, using fear and intimidation, in organized ways, including attacking innocent parishioners at a church.
Lemon should have known better.