Kamala Harris slams Don Lemon, Georgia Fort's arrests, says Trump 'trampling' on First Amendment

WASHINGTON, DC: Former Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday, January 30, condemned the arrests of independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort accusing President Donald Trump's administration of "trampling" on constitutional freedoms. 

Harris' comments came after federal agents took the journalists into custody in connection with their coverage of the anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) church protest at Minnesota on January 18.

Kamala Harris says freedom of speech under attack

Harris said that the Trump Administration was breaking the promise of the First Amendment enshrined in the US Constitution. The First Amendment protects several basic freedoms of expression, including the freedom of press, from government interference

“Journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were fulfilling their duty to the American people to report and inform, and they have been arrested for it,” Harris asserted.

"The First Amendment is a foundational promise to every American: Each of us has the freedom to speak, to report, and to hold those in power accountable without fear of retribution or retaliation," Harris said on her X post.

Harris stated that “Donald Trump and his administration are once again trampling on our rights.”

She warned that these arrests should "alarm and enrage" anyone who cares about freedom.

Don Lemon released following federal arrest

Lemon was arrested by federal agents on Friday, January 30, in Los Angeles but was later released by a judge.

The former CNN anchor was charged with conspiracy related to the January 18 protest in St. Paul church, but he insists he was only there to record what was happening.

After leaving court, Lemon was defiant and said the arrest would not stop him. 

"I’ve spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now. In fact, there is no more important time than right now this very moment for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable," he told his supporters. 

Lemon added, "The First Amendment of the Constitution protects that work for me and for countless other journalists. I will not be silenced."

Georgia Fort arrested  for church protest case 

Meanwhile, Journalist Georgia Fort who was arrested the same day as Lemon, was also released from federal custody . 

She was charged with conspiracy against the right of religious freedom at a place of worship and interfering with the exercise of that right, stemming from the disruption of a church service by demonstrators protesting the pastor’s role as an ICE agent.

Authorities argue that her presence and filming were part of a coordinated action that interfered with worshippers’ First Amendment right to practice religion.

Her lawyers and press‑freedom advocates argue she was simply reporting as a journalist. They claimed her arrest was aimed at intimidating the press.

Shortly after her release, Fort spoke to reporters about the importance of protecting all journalists.

"I should be protected under the First Amendment just like all of the journalists who I've been advocating for too. I've been advocating for mainstream media journalists. who have been brutalized for months. Do we have a constitution, that is the pressing question that should be on the front of everyone's minds and so to everybody who showed up today thank you," she said.