Magistrate Judge REJECTS DOJ Effort to Bring Charges Against Don Lemon, with Phil Holloway

What this episode is about

A magistrate judge in Minneapolis has rejected a Department of Justice request to charge Don Lemon with crimes allegedly related to the violation of civil rights, citing a lack of probable cause in the criminal complaint. The discussion highlights concerns about the political motivations behind the case, the role of magistrate judges, and the DOJ's options to pursue an indictment through a grand jury despite this setback.

Key takeaways

• When magistrates can sidestep DOJ charges, we smell politics—sometimes legality takes a backseat to loyalty.
• Don Lemon may wield the First Amendment, but even journalists can't charm their way out of civil rights violations.
• In Minneapolis politics, magistrates are hired hands; a local bias could easily tilt the scales of justice.
• Prosecutors can always find a 'second act'—the DOJ's next move hinges on navigating the political minefield.
• Active participation or mere observation? For journalists like Lemon, that fine line could mean criminal consequences.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Megyn Kelly (Guest) · 5 min speaking
• Phil Holloway (Guest) · 7 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 3:00 – 6:00: Department of Justice, BLM
2. 6:00 – 9:00: Department of Justice
3. 9:00 – 12:00: Birch Gold Group

Notable quotes from "Magistrate Judge REJECTS DOJ Effort to Bring Charges Against Don Lemon, with Phil Holloway"

• In Minneapolis has declined to sign a warrant for his arrest. Apparently, not persuaded by the criminal complaint filed by the DOJ that attempted to make a showing of probable…

  about Department of Justice · at 0:03

• Cameras, which actually is encouragement to the BLM types. That's what they wanted. They wanted to make a splash with it. They loved the fact that they were on camera with Don…

  about BLM · at 3:27

• Government. A new year means new financial goals like making sure your savings are secure and diversified. Will this be the year you decide to talk to somebody from Birch Gold Group? you've been thinking about it.

  about Birch Gold Group · at 10:54

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

Companies & orgs

• Department of Justice — Company · Key institution · 2 mentions · first at 4:57
  Central to the legal proceedings discussed, particularly in relation to Don Lemon's case.

Concepts & topics

• BLM — Concept · Referenced group · 1 mention · first at 3:35
  Mentioned in the context of Don Lemon's actions and the protests he was involved in.

Sponsors

• Birch Gold Group — Company · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at 11:03
  Promoted as a financial service offering gold investments, mentioned in an ad segment.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 What do you make of this, Phil? Uh, the reports are that this magistrate judge in Minneapolis has declined to sign a warrant for his arrest. Apparently, not persuaded by the criminal complaint filed by the DOJ that attempted to make a showing of probable cause. I'm just going to guess that it would have been the same two charges as we've seen against the earlier two. one under the Face Act, which if it's a first violation is a misdemeanor, and one under the Clan Act, which is a conspiracy against rights, somebody else's attempt to exercise their civil rights.

0:32 Well, this reeks of politics, uh, I can smell it here in Atlanta all the way coming from Minnesota today. Um, you know, trespassing, uh, is a crime. Uh, the First Amendment does not give Don Lemon um, a shield against violating the rights of other people. uh merely holding a microphone and calling yourself a journalist might make you a journalist within the meaning of the fourth amendment, but you does not it doesn't mean that you get to use it as a defense to violate other people's first amendment rights. Um it's important to understand, Megan, uh magistrate judges, federal magistrate judges, they are not appointed by any president. They're not confirmed by the Senate. they are hired as contractors uh by the judges who are the appointed judges on the court. So they are essentially employees. They get hired from the local community. Okay, these are lawyers probably people with certain political connections who wind

1:28 up getting these jobs. And so when you factor all this in together along with the fact that there have been warrants that were issued for other three, I smell politics and it reeks. I believe that's what it's about. Now, the the Justice Department is not stuck here. They can always go to the grand jury and they can get an indictment. This magistrate's word is not and will not be, mark my words, the last one on the subject.

1:56 So, they they would have to go to a federal grand jury that's already impanled. That right? Isn't that how it works? And you kind of get in front of it and you make your case on how Don Lemon violated the elements of both of these laws.

2:11 Yeah. One way or another, it can go to a a federal grand jury. Now, what I don't know, I think there might be a way I was trying to research this um before we came on air. Um I think there might be a way for prosecutors to get another bite at the apple by going to an article 3 judge or perhaps a a different court,

2:28 meaning meaning a district court judge who's who's been placed with lifetime tenure.

2:33 Yeah. But their their options, look, Don Lemon has won round one. Um, and it's probably, like I said, due to politics, but I don't think it's over for him. I've seen the same videos and the evidence that you have and that that your audience has seen. Uh, and what I see is I see a person who is acting together with people who are committing a crime. He is he is encouraging. He's an active participant. He's encouraging just by being there. And that takes you out of the realm of being a casual observer and squarely into the realm of being a participant. It doesn't take much to be an accessory. It simply takes um facts that would show that you were actively involved, that you encouraged, u that you helped in some way, even if it's just a tiny way. And just by being there and giving inspiration to those people, I think that could perhaps be enough. So, I think Don Lemon,

3:24 well, let's not forget, let's not forget, Phil, that he showed up with his cameras, which actually is encouragement to the BLM types. That's what they wanted. They wanted to make a splash with it. They loved the fact that they were on camera with Don Lemon. There's video of him hugging and kissing this Naima Levy Armstrong. Clearly, the two of them are very familiar with one another. He knew what was happening happening at a church before others did. That was obvious. He came in. He got in the face of that pastor who clearly ma who made clear no one wants to talk to you. He kept it pushing. He's on camera saying trauma is part of the process.

4:05 Being forced to feel uncomfortable is part of the process. He argued that the First Amendment allowed it. He said that in front of a room full of people that the First Amendment allowed them to be All of this is assistance and participation in the actual protest. It's not journalism.

4:20 No. And it's it's I think you you laid out the case exactly right. It's it's squarely in the realm of participation. He's not just a bystander. I think no one would dispute that uh someone, even if it's an amateur journalist or a former CNN journalist, Don Lemon, has a first amendment right to engage in news gathering and and airing the news, showing the news. Nobody disputes that. But you can't you can't take that step um over into the other arena and become an active participant. And that I think under the totality of the circumstances, everything that I've seen shows that that's what Don Lemon was. He will be arrested. when there's a will, there's a way. The DOJ is going to find a way around this um federal magistrate judge because like I said, this is something that uh most people don't understand, but politics, particularly local politics, uh weighs heavily uh in who gets these jobs as federal magistrate

5:16 judges. And what what is the local community we're looking at? Well, it's the Minneapolis St. Paul area. uh and you just can take a look at the news to see what the local politics are there. So that's sort of the

5:28 well then you you may have a problem with the grand jurors too because look what happened with the Tish James case which was a real case. I we took a hard look at those allegations. The audience is aware that that was not the case that her her defenders claimed it was, but it got thrown out because the prosecutor they said wasn't properly appointed. And then when they tried to rebring it um with the proper prosecutor behind it, they had I think two grand juries say no because they're they're immersed in news coverage that is saturated with messaging about how shitty the case is, how there's no there there, how it's just political retribution. And these grand juries, they they they're allowed to watch the news. They take it in and they're like, "Oh, this is wrong." So, a grand jury sitting in Minneapolis right now, Phil,

6:12 is probably like, "Go Don." Yeah. Right. Because like that's a leftist town to begin with and then, you know, those leftist Democrats are going to be mad at ICE and not mad at Don Lemon.

6:21 Well, I think that's probably why they decided to try to go the route of the arrest warrant. Eventually, they would have to get an indictment anyway. um following the arrest. Um unless there was a plea deal worked out, then they could file what's something called an information uh if if somebody's going to plead guilty and you can bypass the grand jury. But I think that's why they went the route of seeking the arrest warrant from the federal magistrates. Look, the local cops could have gone in and found a local judge to make these arrests, too, because you know that was um that was trespassing. It was lots of other things probably that violated state law. But when the federal when the local government, local authorities refused to do their duty. They refused to do their sworn duty to protect the community to enforce and carry out the laws. Somebody else has to step in and do it. The federal government is not

7:06 well suited for this. This is typically the kind of thing that the locals should do. But when they refuse to do it, nobody else is left. And so now the the attorney general and the Department of Justice has to step in and try to fill that role. a role that admittedly is not uh they're not really designed to operate in this space. You know, local street level crime uh is usually the purview for the local cops.

7:29 Yeah. But we have a group of people that doesn't want to enforce the law. Here's another interesting thing. Mayor Jacob Fry has said nothing. Nothing about the church terror. Nothing. Not a word. his lawyers.

7:42 So, he's got opinions on everything, Phil, but not one word in defense of the the people who are inside that church. And now he comes out and weighs in on the arrest this morning with the following. This is a gross abuse of power, he tweeted it. The federal government is picking and choosing who to investigate, going after protesters and not the person who shot and killed one of our neighbors. I am calling for Nikima to be released immediately. I mean, he's whistling in the wind. He can call for it all he wants. The answer is no. That Pam Bondi doesn't answer to him, but do you believe the nerve of this mayor to He says nothing about the churchgoers, but this now he finally thinks it's time to weigh in.

8:24 Yeah. Uh look, I'm surprised and I'm really I'm not ruling it out, but I'm surprised that he might not be on the list of people also uh who are to be arrested because look, it's one thing to be uh to use his words, you know, to be an advocate for your constituents and for the local community, but I believe that some of the statements made by Waltz um and um the mayor there as well have have gone beyond simply advocating for your constituents. Um I believe that their rhetoric encourages violence. I think that now they are trying to take some steps back now that we've seen some people get hurt and someone's been killed. Uh I think they're trying to take a more moderate stance now, but very early on and even, you know, to a certain extent later, their rhetoric fuels this fire. It's like literally pouring gasoline on the fire every time they take to X and every time they take to a microphone bank for a a press

9:19 conference because all they do is stir people up and encourage more violence. I wouldn't be surprised if um

9:26 because they're not allowed, Phil. They're like the the state authority. It's the federal immigration authorities enforce immigration law

9:33 and the state can help. They absolutely can help and in the red states they do. Um but they're not required to help. Yeah. Under the you know federalism principles like the states have their own sort of experiments going and they don't have to help but they can't obstruct. So like neutrality in the enforcement procedure is okay. But actively working to undermine the federal government or like trying to block the federal government that actually can get you an obstruction charge or or some other charge. And that's why Walls Fry and Ellison and I think another all got subpoenas, a grand jury subpoena that Pam Bondi had already gotten, right? To figure out like what have you been emailing to each other?

10:18 What have you been texting? What have you been texting to your staff? Like how involved are you in making these protests that are obstructing us happen? Yeah, there's probably lots of things that are happening that are behind the scenes that we don't know about that walls and uh his compatriots there and the mayor might be actively supporting these people. But it's it's as you correctly pointed out, you can you can stand out and you can voice your opinion. Uh but you can't tell your constituents to take to the streets and obstruct ICE because once you do that, you have crossed the line into open rebellion against the United States government. A new year means new financial goals like making sure your savings are secure and diversified. Will this be the year you decide to talk to somebody from Birch Gold Group? You know, you've been thinking about it.

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11:59 Thanks so much for watching. If you like what you just saw, hit the subscribe button for more clips and full episodes.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Magistrate Judge REJECTS DOJ Effort to Bring Charges Against Don Lemon, with Phil Holloway"?

Megyn Kelly (Guest), Phil Holloway (Guest).

What is "Magistrate Judge REJECTS DOJ Effort to Bring Charges Against Don Lemon, with Phil Holloway" about?

A magistrate judge in Minneapolis has rejected a Department of Justice request to charge Don Lemon with crimes allegedly related to the violation of civil rights, citing a lack of probable cause in the criminal complaint. The discussion highlights concerns about the political motivations behind the case, the role of magistrate judges, and the DOJ's options to pursue an indictment through a grand…

What is mentioned in this Megyn Kelly episode?

3 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Department of Justice, BLM. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Magistrate Judge REJECTS DOJ Effort to Bring Charges Against Don Lemon, with Phil Holloway"?

The episode runs 12 min; the transcript is about 2,294 words in 24 timestamped sections.

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