We're hitting send really late today, and you know the reasons why: |
Two reporters taken into custody |
Don Lemon was right. "They're going to try again," he said last week after a judge blocked the DOJ's first attempt to charge him in connection with the Cities Church protest back on Jan. 18. "Keep trying," he said, vowing to continue his work.
This week, Lemon flew to L.A. for a live event he was thrilled to cover: This Sunday night's Grammy Awards. But the DOJ did try again, and federal agents took Lemon into custody at a Beverly Hills hotel late last night.
Lemon's attorney, Abbe Lowell, announced the disturbing news in a statement around 8 a.m. ET, around the same time we found out a second independent journalist, Georgia Fort, was also taken into custody at her home in Minnesota. Fort calmly reported on her own arrest by live-streaming it on Facebook. "Federal agents are at my door, arresting me for filming the church protest," she said.
At the moment, the charges are still under seal. (We will be posting updates to our CNN.com story all day long.) But Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X that Lemon, Fort and two others were arrested "in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church." Key word there: "Coordinated."
The burden of proof, as always, is on the government. But the White House is already using the arrest to publicly smear Lemon. Recognizing that many MAGA loyalists wanted to see Lemon jailed, the White House's X account posted a meme celebrating the news this morning. The image showed Lemon holding up his microphone as he reported on the protest in real time. "DON LEMON ARRESTED," the image said, "for involvement in the St. Paul church riots."
Let's be clear: The DOJ has been under intense pressure from the right, from Lemon's ideological opponents, to arrest him. Lemon has been a longtime Trump antagonist, and Trump has criticized him as recently as last week. So this sure looks like another example of Trump's retribution campaign. Slate's Jill Filipovic called it a "five-alarm fire moment" in a column just now. CNN's Sara Sidner called it "terrifying" during our live breaking news coverage.
And David Axelrod remarked this morning that the DOJ is now the "Department of Retribution," adding, "If you don't believe Don Lemon's arrest was ordered from on high, you just haven't been paying attention."
|
CNN calls it 'unacceptable' |
Lemon had a decorated career as an anchor at CNN — and I personally looked forward to every live shot with him — but his departure from the network in 2023 was ugly. He has also been critical of the network in his new career as an independent host and live-streamer. But CNN has issued a strong statement this morning defending press freedoms.
"The FBl’s arrest of our former CNN colleague Don Lemon raises profoundly concerning questions about press freedom and the First Amendment," the network said this morning. "The Department of Justice already failed twice to get an arrest warrant for Don and several other journalists in Minnesota, where a chief judge of the Minnesota Federal District Court found there was ’no evidence’ that there was any criminal behavior involved in their work."
CNN added, "The First Amendment in the United States protects journalists who bear witness to news and events as they unfold, ensuring they can report freely in the public interest, and the DOJ's attempts to violate those rights is unacceptable. We will be following this case closely."
|
This 'should alarm all Americans' |
Press freedom groups are also on high alert. "These arrests under bogus legal theories for obviously constitutionally protected reporting are clear warning shots aimed at other journalists," said Seth Stern, the chief of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation. "The unmistakable message is that journalists must tread cautiously because the government is looking for any way to target them."
But "the answer to this outrageous attack is not fear or self-censorship," Stern said. "It's an even stronger commitment to journalism, the truth, and the First Amendment. If the Trump administration thinks it can bully journalists into submission, it is wrong."
That's one of the points I have tried to emphasize in our live coverage on CNN this morning: Journalists will not be intimidated.
>> More: Katherine Jacobsen of the Committee to Protect Journalists said the arrest "should alarm all Americans." Since CPJ advocates for journos all around the world, "we know that the treatment of journalists is an indicator of the condition of a country's democracy," she said. "The United States is doing poorly."
|
Will these charges fall apart? |
Constitutional law professor Corey Brettschneider said yes on CNN International this morning. No one disputes that the churchgoers had a First Amendment right to worship freely. But Brettschneider said he expects Lemon will prevail because Lemon "was not trying to shut down anyone's civil rights or religious freedom, he was trying to give the public... information about what's happening."
I want to highlight one more statement, this one from Gabe Rottman, VP of policy for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. "To our knowledge," he says, "it’s unprecedented for the Justice Department to deploy the federal laws it has previously cited in this case against journalistic activity."
"Historically, the limited number of cases that have been brought against a journalist documenting a protest on private property have been handled as trespass cases at the state level," Rottman adds. "Those charges are almost always dropped, or if the cases go to trial, the journalists typically prevail."
But for the time being, the White House has the meme it wanted.
|
'Biggest rallying cry' for Minnesota journalism |
Before the Lemon news broke, I was planning to lead today's newsletter with the terrific local journalism coming out of Minnesota. As Jose Antonio Vargas said on "NewsNight" last night, "If you're not reading the Star Tribune, please read it." He mentioned his friend Steve Grove, the CEO of the Minnesota Star Tribune, and said "they've done an incredible job really making sure that we're seeing what's happening, community by community, neighbor by neighbor."
I've been texting with Grove this week about how his newsroom has rallied to cover the ICE raids and the aftermath. "The attention our coverage and analysis has received has been overwhelming," Grove told me.
"The comments and gratitude we're getting from people who may not have even know who we are before is humbling," he added. "It's the biggest rallying cry for local journalism I've ever seen."
|
New $$ pays for security training and protective equipment |
This month, the Star Tribune moved much of its coverage in front of the paywall via an around-the-clock live blog. Grove said traffic to the Star Tribune's website has jumped 50 percent and "subscription rates have more than doubled." About 42% of the new digital subscribers in January have been from out of state.
The Star Tribune also enabled users to donate if they'd like. The result? "We're getting thousands of dollars in donations," Grove said, from a total of 45 states and Puerto Rico.
This comment is what struck me most: "Already we're putting that money to good use," Grove said, "on security training and protective equipment for our journalists who are on the front lines of this evolving crisis."
|
Morello holding benefit concert |
Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello announced a last-minute benefit concert local time in Minneapolis today at noon, featuring punk band Rise Against and "a very special guest," who many (justifiably) assume to be Bruce Springsteen. |
DOJ releasing millions more records relating to Epstein |
In still more breaking news this morning, the DOJ called an 11 a.m. news conference to announce that it has "completed its review of records related to Jeffrey Epstein and will release the documents throughout the day Friday." CNN reporters are "going through the documents now," and will be posting updates here...
|
'Melania' film: Bribe or blockbuster? |
Last night, NYT reporter Shawn McCreesh asked Trump the key question on the "Melania" red (actually black) carpet: "Amazon paid $75 million to make and market this film. It's an exorbitant fee. Many Americans think that this is maybe Jeff Bezos trying to get in good with you, and they would call it an act of corporate corruption."
Okay, well, it technically wasn't a question because Trump interrupted and asked, "Who are you with?" before McCreesh could finish. Trump sidestepped the topic, saying, "I'm not involved, that was done with my wife," as if that changed Amazon's calculations at all.
As Desi Lydic put it on "The Daily Show" last night, "Why would Jeff Bezos, a billionaire who has tons of business with the government, run by a famously corrupt president known for loving bribes, overpay for a Melania documentary? Hmmm."
So: One side says it's a bribe, the other side says it's a beautiful cinematic achievement. (And by no means am I saying these two sides are equal!) House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters at the premiere last night, “Amazon is a business, and they are in the business to make money, and I think they will make money on this film. But it also has an inestimable value for its cultural impact... I think Amazon has done a good thing for the culture."
|
The box-office 'bomb' risk |
"It's not often that a presidential administration faces a direct referendum at the box office," The Guardian's Jesse Hassenger wrote. But that's what "Melania" is.
The film is opening in about 1,500 theaters today. It has, let's be frank, a high risk of becoming a box-office "bomb" because of the huge amount Amazon paid for the rights. Box Office Pro says the film is "currently tracking for an opening weekend between $2 to $5 million." That's big for a political docu! But it does not put Amazon on track to make its money back.
>> Historically speaking, only a handful of documentaries have made more than $75 million at the box office, and most have been nature films like "March of the Penguins."
>> Then again, box office is not the only relevant measurement of success, since the film and a three-part docuseries are going to be streaming via Prime Video in the future, too.
|
'Melania' notes and quotes |
>> Amazon didn't share the film with critics in advance, nor did it allow mainstream reporters into the screening last night. Variety's Anna Tingley wrote a telling story about how pro-Trump outlets received preferential treatment.
>> Per Puck's Matt Belloni, the film has "generated 53.4% of its ticket presales from red counties, and 46.6% from blue counties," which is "an 18-point swing from the usual split."
>> IMHO, here's the #1 fact to keep in mind: According to the WSJ, the first lady is pocketing 75% of the license fee, which means about $28 million.
>> The WSJ's Jessica Toonkel and John Jurgensen described how "canceled Hollywood director" Brett Ratner has spun "the Melania movie into his comeback."
|
WaPo cuts will 'reshape' the newsroom |
The Washington Post's massive cuts are expected to happen "in the coming days," the NYT's Erik Wemple, Katie Robertson and Ben Mullin reported yesterday.
"The sports, local and international sections are preparing to take a disproportionate share of the pain," the trio wrote. "At the same time, the paper's video journalists, as well as reporters and editors focused on politics and national security — two of the paper's signature coverage areas — are expected to become even more central to the company's future."
>> Another exit: Post chief advertising officer, Johanna Mayer-Jones, announced she is leaving.
>> Post staffers are still publicly urging the aforementioned Jeff Bezos to reconsider the cuts. "Washington needs us," Ukraine bureau chief Siobhán O'Grady wrote on X. "The world needs us."
|
A final plea for public media |
In her final words as chief executive for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Patricia Harrison said that "the future of public media and our nation" depends on "our collective ability to look upon the next evolution of media — and ensure they are harnessed for the purpose of educating and connecting all people."
"It depends on all of us, across the country, working together to ensure that public media survives,” she said, adding that, “together,” we will prove that a nation of neighbors will survive.” Ben Mullin has the transcript here…
|
>> David Brooks is leaving the NYT to join The Atlantic. (The Atlantic)
>> Kara Swisher will explore longevity and anti-aging in a new CNN docuseries titled "Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever" this spring. (Variety)
>> Some news outlets are limiting the Internet Archive's access to their content over concerns about AI scraping. (Nieman Lab)
|
Carr says 'equal time' needn't apply to talk radio |
Last week, FCC chair Brendan Carr warned that TV hosts must comply with "equal time" rules for political candidates. Yesterday, during a press conference, he elaborated on that, saying, "If you’re fake news," you won't qualify for an exception — a clear shot at late-night TV hosts, especially Jimmy Kimmel, reports THR's Alex Weprin. Elsewhere, Politico's John Hendel notes, Carr said "he didn’t see a reason to give talk radio stations — a long-time bastion of conservative voices — the same warning he's delivered to late-night and daytime TV."
|
>> "Apple has acquired a secretive Israeli start-up Q.AI whose technology can analyse facial expressions to understand 'silent speech,' in one of the iPhone maker's biggest ever acquisitions." (FT)
>> "After rapidly hitting the top of the App Store in October, OpenAI's video-generation app Sora is now struggling... as the early hype about the AI video social network wears off." (TechCrunch)
>> Speaking of the App Store, UpScrolled is rising up the app charts as some skeptical TikTok users try out alternatives. (Mashable)
|
This Sunday: 'Music's biggest night' |
The 2026 Grammy Awards are set to kick off this Sunday night, live on CBS and Paramount+. Trevor Noah will host music's biggest night for a sixth, and final, time. It's also a finale of sorts for CBS, since the awards telecast is heading to ABC, Hulu, and Disney+ in 2027. CNN's Dan Heching has the list of nominees here…
|
'BBC vows to better reflect working-class audiences' |
Last but not least, a really interesting report from the UK. A review commissioned by the BBC board assessed "how accurately and authentically it reflects groups and communities across the UK." The findings, released Thursday, "noted how the BBC was making 'significant progress,' but said 'further steps' should be taken to better represent working class people outside London, and older women," BBC culture reporter Paul Glynn wrote. Read all about it here.
|
|
|
|
® © 2026 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved.
1050 Techwood Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30318 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
