Press Freedom on Trial: DOJ Indicts Journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort

The indictments of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort represent a grave escalation in the federal government’s campaign against a free press. Mr. Lemon and Ms. Fort were reporting on a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, whose pastor also serves as a field officer for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Video evidence reviewed by multiple news organizations shows that Mr. Lemon identified himself as a journalist, interviewed protesters and parishioners, did not participate in chants or disruption, and left the church shortly after being asked to do so. Federal judges examined these facts and rejected the government’s case. A magistrate judge refused to issue arrest warrants for Mr. Lemon and his producer, finding no evidence of criminal conduct. A district court judge declined to overturn that decision, calling the government’s request “unprecedented.” The Department of Justice then appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which also refused. Only after losing repeatedly in court did the administration seek indictments through a federal grand jury. That sequence matters. It demonstrates that these indictments are not about enforcing the law, but about intimidating journalists and deterring future reporting. Weak cases that are unlikely to survive judicial scrutiny still impose severe financial, professional, and personal costs—especially on independent journalists without the backing of large media organizations. In that way, the process itself becomes the punishment. The statutes invoked underscore the abuse. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act has historically been used to prosecute individuals who use force, threats, or physical obstruction to block access to reproductive healthcare. This administration has declined to enforce that law against anti-abortion extremists and has praised or pardoned many who were convicted under it. Repurposing the FACE Act to prosecute journalists for newsgathering is selective enforcement, plain and simple. Mr. Lemon is also charged under a civil rights conspiracy statute enacted after the Civil War to combat Ku Klux Klan violence. Applying that law to journalists—after judges found no evidence of criminal intent—represents an extraordinary and dangerous misuse of federal power. Press-freedom organizations and First Amendment advocates have warned that these prosecutions mark a chilling escalation. Arresting journalists alongside protesters sends a clear signal that covering controversial demonstrations, particularly those involving federal law enforcement, may now expose reporters to criminal liability. This is a direct assault on the First Amendment and a defiance of the judiciary’s role as a check on executive power. Congress has both the authority and the obligation to act. You must demand a full explanation from the Department of Justice, hold immediate oversight hearings, and reaffirm unequivocally that journalism is not a crime. If indictments can proceed after courts have found no evidence of wrongdoing, then constitutional rights exist only at the discretion of the executive. That is not the rule of law. The charges against Don Lemon and Georgia Fort must be dropped. Congress must act now to defend press freedom and the Constitution it is sworn to uphold.