Legal representatives for Don Lemon, the former CNN anchor now working as an independent journalist, filed court documents Wednesday requesting access to grand jury transcripts from his federal civil rights case, pointing to a pattern of prosecutorial misconduct nationwide as justification for the unusual request.
The former television host entered a not guilty plea in February to federal civil rights charges connected to a demonstration at a Minnesota church in January, where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as pastor. Lemon is among 39 individuals facing charges related to the January incident.
Lemon maintains his presence at Cities Church in St. Paul on Jan. 18 was strictly professional, stating he was there to document the protest as a journalist rather than participate in it.
Working alongside fellow independent journalist Georgia Fort, Lemon submitted a motion in February requesting access to grand jury transcripts that led to indictments against them and seven other individuals.
In their most recent submission to U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Lemon’s legal team contends that “the past 15 months have seen an unprecedented and growing distrust in the Justice Department’s use of the grand jury process,” making the release of his grand jury transcripts necessary.
“In the past two weeks alone, several courts have chastised Justice Department prosecutors for irregularities in the grand jury process and gone so far as to dismiss indictments for grand jury misconduct,” Lemon’s attorneys stated in Wednesday’s filing.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lemon references the May 21 dismissal of all pending charges against four remaining activists who protested outside a federal building during last year’s immigration crackdown in Chicago. The dismissal came after a judge scrutinized allegations of grand jury misconduct by the prosecutor’s office.
Lemon also references the May 15 dismissal of nine felony grand jury indictments by three federal judges in Wyoming. The judges cited misconduct by the interim U.S. attorney that could have prejudiced the jurors, including comments he made to the grand jurors.
Lemon cites a third case out of Rhode Island where a federal judge on May 13 blocked the Trump administration’s sweeping demands for confidential transgender patient information from the state’s largest hospital that provides gender-affirming care to minors.
In that case, the judge rebuked actions by prosecutors, saying the Justice Department can no longer be trusted to enforce its power fairly and honestly.
Additionally, Lemon’s legal team highlighted the rejection of search warrants requested by the Justice Department for Lemon’s YouTube channel and account, as well as cellphone data for four other defendants. The magistrate judge determined the government failed to demonstrate probable cause that evidence of criminal activity would be discovered through the requested searches.
The search warrants were rejected in February, but the court record was unsealed on Tuesday.
Multiple judges — including Minnesota’s chief federal judge — determined there was insufficient probable cause to support the initial complaints prosecutors attempted to file against the two journalists, leading them to decline signing arrest warrants for Lemon or Fort before the government pursued grand jury proceedings.
Lemon’s legal representatives contend they deserve access to grand jury records due to the “checkered history of this case” and “numerous examples of grand jury misconduct by DOJ around the country.”
Lemon is “entitled to see whether the government allowed the grand jury to serve its role or whether, as elsewhere, the government interfered with the proper function of the grand jury,” his attorneys argued.
