FPF statement on outrageous arrest of Don Lemon
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
New York, Jan. 30, 2026 — Federal agents have arrested journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort on charges related to their news coverage of a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 18.
The Trump administration had previously tried to criminally charge Lemon, and it lost.
Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern said:
“The government’s arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort are naked attacks on freedom of the press. Two federal courts flatly rejected prosecuting Lemon because the evidence for these vindictive and unconstitutional charges was insufficient, and Lemon has every right to document news and inform the public. Instead of accepting that humiliating defeat, the government has now doubled down.“These arrests, under bogus legal theories for obviously constitutionally protected reporting, are clear warning shots aimed at other journalists. The unmistakable message is that journalists must tread cautiously because the government is looking for any way to target them. Fort’s arrest is meant to instill the same fear in local independent journalists as big names like Lemon.
“The answer to this outrageous attack is not fear or self-censorship. It’s an even stronger commitment to journalism, the truth, and the First Amendment. If the Trump administration thinks it can bully journalists into submission, it is wrong. We’ve recently seen that even in the Trump era, public pressure still can work. It’s time to do it again. News outlets across the political spectrum need to loudly defend Lemon’s and Fort’s rights. Journalists are not making themselves the story, Trump is.”