Independent journalist and former CNN host Don Lemon has plead not guilty to charges related to his coverage of a protest at a Minnesota church last month.

Lemon, independent journalist Georgia Fort, and seven others were indicted on charges of Conspiracy Against Right of Religious Freedom, 18 USC § 241, and with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, 18 U.S.C. § 248(a)(2).

Attorneys for Lemon and Fort filed a joint motion yesterday, asking the US District Court for the District of Minnesota to disclose the grand jury’s proceedings.  The indictment was the government’s fourth attempt to file criminal charges in the case.  A magistrate judge, a federal judge, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit all refused to sign arrest warrants before the Department of Justice (DOJ) went to the grand jury.

The motion says that DoJ’s “conduct has been highly unusual, nakedly political, and inconsistent with practice in this District,” adding:

Multiple judges considered the government’s “evidence” against Don Lemon and Georgia Fort and declined charges…everything in this case has been irregular; we can assume the grand jury proceedings were too… In the United States of America, we do not prosecute journalists for doing their job… And yet the government sold this unconstitutional mess to the grand jury.  Disclosure of the grand jury proceedings is necessary to ensure the government did not mislead or mis-instruct it.

The motion questions the validity of the indictment.

It also alleges that the indictment was the result of political pressure by President Trump on the DOJ.  Prosecutors sought expedited responses and changed venues when judges took longer to decide. Career prosecutors from the US Attorney’s Office refused to participate because the facts and evidence did not support the charges.  The motion states: “In a case where everything is irregular and troubling, and where local career prosecutors refused to participate, the government is not entitled to a presumption of regularity as to the grand jury proceedings.”

Main Justice, led by Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon, took over the case.  She said, “We’re gonna [sic] pursue this to the ends of the earth.” She also accused the magistrate judge, who refused to sign an arrest warrant, of “standing in as judge and jury.”

The National Association of Black Journalists called the case part of “the government’s escalating effort and actions to criminalize and threaten press freedom under the guise of law enforcement.”  The statement was co-signed by a long list of First Amendment and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International USA and the First Amendment Coalition.