Jane Fonda speaks up for Don Lemon after he was indicted for civil rights crimes

Описание: (30 Jan 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Los Angeles - 30 January 2026
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Jane Fonda, Actor:
"So I'm here representing the committee for the First Amendment, which is made up of about 3,000 members of the entertainment industry prepared to fight for our constitutional right, our freedom of speech, assembly, protest, freedom of the press. The arrest of Don Lemon doing his journalistic duty is one page more out of an authoritarian playbook. And we say enough is enough. We have to fight to protect our rights. Many of our fathers and grandfathers fought and died for these rights. And we are not ready to sit and be quiet. We have speak up. Every American who believes in our Constitution has to speak up. Don Lemon is a professional journalist. He and his producer were doing their job. Nothing more, nothing less. And he's been arrested. And they'll make up all kinds of defamatory things to say about him. That's what they're doing. This is how autocrats act. We can't fall for it. We have to speak up. When a red line is crossed like this, we cannot be silent."
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2. SOUNDBITE (English) Jane Fonda, Actor:
"I know Don Lemon. My husband created CNN. And I will fight for their right to speak, which is guaranteed in our Constitution. They arrested the wrong Don!"
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STORYLINE:
Journalist Don Lemon, who dared the Trump administration to come after him after he covered an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church, was indicted for civil rights crimes.

Lemon was arrested Thursday by federal agents in Los Angeles, while another independent journalist and two protest participants were arrested in Minnesota.

The arrests brought sharp criticism from news media advocates and civil rights activists including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said the Trump administration is taking a “sledgehammer” to “the knees of the First Amendment.”

The four were charged with conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.

Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 following a bumpy run as a morning host, was due to appear Friday in federal court in Los Angeles.

He has said he has no affiliation to the organization that went into the church and he was there as a solo journalist chronicling protesters.

Since he left CNN, Lemon has joined the legion of journalists who have gone into business for himself, posting regularly on YouTube.

He hasn’t hidden his disdain for President Donald Trump. Yet during his online show from the church, he said repeatedly: “I’m not here as an activist. I’m here as a journalist.” He described the scene before him, and interviewed churchgoers and demonstrators.

A magistrate judge last week rejected prosecutors’ initial bid to charge the veteran journalist. Shortly after, he predicted on his show that the administration would try again.

AP video by Krysta Fauria

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