Don Lemon wants a federal judge to make his legal problems disappear, filing motions Friday to dismiss the criminal case against him over the January, anti-ICE mob disruption at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota The former CNN anchor, now a left-wing YouTube activist with a camera, filed three motions attacking the case on separate grounds. One accuses the Justice Department of vindictive prosecution, another argues that Lemon’s actions were protected by the First Amendment, and a third claims prosecutors misapplied the two criminal statutes underlying the charges. He has pleaded not guilty. [snip] Lemon livestreamed the whole thing for his online show, cheerfully narrating as the mob overran the church. Prosecutors have called it a “takeover-style attack.” Lemon, predictably, insists he was just an innocent journalist documenting events. His lawyers, led by Abbe Lowell, the well-connected D.C. defense attorney whose past clients include Hunter Biden, argue that the Justice Department targeted Lemon because of his reporting and Trump’s years of public criticism of him. Being insulted by a president, apparently, is now a legal defense. Lowell lays it out in the 29-page motion: “The government should not be permitted to use criminal prosecutions to chill journalism disfavored by the President. The targeting of Mr. Lemon for criticism even before the Minnesota protests, and then the attacks starting on and continuing after, provide more than sufficient grounds to conclude the prosecution of Mr. Lemon is vindictive.” Bold words about a man on his own livestream at the scene of a church invasion. [snip] Lemon’s attorneys make much of the winding road prosecutors took to secure the charges. A magistrate judge initially declined to approve an arrest warrant, the government sought expedited review from the chief judge, and then petitioned the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. When those efforts stalled, prosecutors took the case to a grand jury and obtained an indictment. The motion also complains that federal agents arrested Lemon around midnight at a Los Angeles hotel rather than allowing a genteel self-surrender. His lawyers call it humiliating. Others might call it accountability. “Instead of arranging the normal self-surrender after a charge would be filed, in what can only be described as an effort to punish and humiliate Mr. Lemon, the government ignored the request to arrange an orderly surrender and chose to deputize agents to his Los Angeles hotel.” His lawyers also accuse a federal agent of lying in sworn affidavits, claiming Lemon joined in chanting and blocked parishioners from moving freely. Lemon’s team counters that video shows him interviewing protesters, church members, and the pastor, insisting he was “not a part of the activists.” Of course he wasn’t. He was just there with a camera, cheering them on to his YouTube audience. [snip] Trump’s insults and the White House’s gleeful “When life gives you lemons” post may give Lemon’s lawyers something to work with on motive. But presidential trash talk doesn’t erase what’s on tape. The real question is what Lemon was actually doing inside that church, and the answer isn’t going to come from a motion full of social media screenshots. Lemon wants the indictment tossed with prejudice, meaning he could never be recharged. If the judge won’t go that far, he’s asking for discovery and an evidentiary hearing to dig into the DOJ’s motivations. The court will ultimately have to decide whether Lemon has built a genuine vindictive prosecution case or simply assembled a greatest-hits reel of every unkind thing a Trump official ever said about him. Given what happened inside that church, the latter seems more likely. (*) Full article: https://redstate.com/ben-smith/2026/08/07/don-lemon-says-his-church-protest-prosecution-is-trumps-fault-n2205324 Post navigation Abdul El-Sayed Won His Election – Then His True Muslim Form Came Out LitNation: Simple Steps to Lead America’s Youth Back to Literature – Before It’s Too Late
