Don Lemon seeks dismissal of charges, alleges vindictive prosecution by Trump administration

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon has asked a federal judge in Minnesota to dismiss the criminal civil rights charges filed against him, asserting he is a victim of vindictive prosecution. His legal team argues that the Justice Department's decision to indict Lemon was motivated by President Trump's long-standing animosity towards him.

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President Trump's animosity toward Lemon is well documented, stretching back over a decade.

Lemon's attorneys claim the indictment is a form of punishment for Lemon's reporting on protests related to "Operation Metro Surge" in Minnesota, activities they state are protected by the First Amendment. They point to public statements made by senior Justice Department officials and President Trump that allegedly targeted Lemon prior to his indictment.

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the Justice Department charged Lemon as punishment for his First Amendment protected reporting on protests related to Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota.

The legal filing highlights the unusual path the case took, noting the Justice Department's initial attempt to charge Lemon via a criminal complaint was rejected by a magistrate judge for lack of probable cause. Subsequent efforts to involve higher courts failed before prosecutors secured an indictment from a grand jury.

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Upon hearing rumors of an indictment, counsel for Mr. Lemon contacted the Department of Justice to coordinate Mr. Lemon's self-surrender.

Furthermore, Lemon's lawyers allege that the government acted to "punish and humiliate" him by sending agents to arrest him at his Los Angeles hotel at midnight, rather than arranging a voluntary surrender. They also contend that the case agent falsely claimed in sworn affidavits that Lemon actively participated in protests by "chanting with agitators and obstructing parishioners' path of travel."

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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, where he was covering the music industry's annual awards show, to arrest him at midnight.