The arrest of Don Lemon is blatant censorship. And he is not the only one | Seth Stern

"Thursday's arrests of Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort like the recent raid on the Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson demonstrate the administration's lawless crusade against routine journalism. In normal times the expectation is that even when a journalist's conduct might technically fit the legal elements of a crime jaywalking to get footage of a protest, for example prosecutors will exercise their discretion and judgment to not apply the law in a manner that chills the free press. Those assumptions are inverted now."

"Even when journalists' conduct is plainly non-criminal, prosecutors will work overtime to figure out some way to harass them, no matter how frivolous. Discouraging journalists from doing their job is not a side-effect they seek to avoid it's the whole point. There is no telling what nonsensical legal theories the administration may advance if it decides to make an example of a reporter it doesn't like. The law and constitution are only marginally relevant the only real rule is don't piss off Trump."

"The two federal laws under which Lemon and Fort are reportedly charged are entirely inapplicable. One punishes conspiracies to stop people from exercising constitutional rights. The journalists, of course, didn't conspire with anyone to do anything nefarious. They simply documented news. It's ironic that Lemon and Fort are accused of exactly what the Trump administration actually did intimidating those who exercise core constitutional freedoms, like documenting news."

Two federal courts reviewed the government's evidence against Don Lemon and declined to approve his arrest. Attorney General Pam Bondi nevertheless pursued arrests of Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort, and federal action has included raids on other reporters such as Hannah Natanson. Prosecutors are applying or stretching legal provisions in ways that chill routine reporting, treating non-criminal journalistic acts as opportunities for harassment. The specific federal statutes cited are inapplicable to ordinary newsgathering, and journalists are being accused of conduct that mirrors the administration's own intimidation of constitutional freedoms.

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