Overview
- At the Human Rights Campaign’s Greater New York dinner, Lemon warned that free press protections are under strain and declared that “the cost of truth is rising.”
- Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents in Los Angeles days after he livestreamed a Jan. 18 protest that began at a St. Paul church, and he was released following a court hearing.
- Reports describe federal allegations that his actions crossed from protected reporting into impeding others’ religious practice, a claim Lemon rejects.
- Attorney Abbe Lowell defended Lemon’s Minneapolis work as constitutionally protected journalism intended to hold power to account.
- HRC and partner groups planned a rally outside the Los Angeles federal courthouse in support of Lemon and press freedom, as civil rights advocates and Democratic lawmakers criticized the Justice Department’s handling of the case and noted that Minnesota journalist Georgia Fort was also arrested.