The Don Lemon Indictment And The Steve Baker Treatment
Let's take a look at how the DOJ opposed my effort to get the case dismissed against Steve, and the language used by Judge Cooper in DC in denying my motion to dismiss.
At the time I’m writing this the indictment filed against Don Lemon has not yet been released. I’ll save an analysis for the charges after we see exactly what they are, and the nature of the factual allegations that are included.
This article addresses the claims being made online by opponents in the media of the Trump Administration in general, and the immigration law enforcement efforts in particular, about the decision to charge Don Lemon for his involvement with the group that stormed and occupied the Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota 12 days ago.
Steve Baker was a freelance journalist on January 6, 2021 — and had worked in that regard for several years. Steve was also a professional musician who toured with various jazz bands as a very highly regarded trumpet player. But with COVID closing down most live-music venues, Steve devoted more of his time to his efforts to cover stories that were overlooked by the legacy media. He sold rights to his video to numerous national media companies — in fact, some of the video he took on January 6 was licensed to the NYT and other legacy media outlets, as well as for use by HBO in the making of its documentary about that day.
The video Steve took that day began as he walked towards the Capitol in the very large crowd. He was not near the front, and he was able to capture much of the activity taking place ahead of him as he approached, and recorded the comments of many protesters as he walked among them on the way to the Capitol.
The first breach of an entrance to the Capitol happened at 2:13 pm. Steve entered the Capitol through the same doors at 2:19, after hundreds of other protesters had entered ahead of him. He left the Capitol at 2:56, but was recording audio and video the entire time, providing a running commentary about the events he was observing all around him while inside. He also asked questions of several USCP Officers he encountered along the way.
My motion to dismiss based on selective prosecution identified 60 other credentialed and freelance journalists from around the world who had done some or all of the very same things, but none of them had been prosecuted. One we took special note of was Luke Mogulson, also a freelancer at the time, who was near the very front with protesters who broke through the doors. Mogulson was among the first individuals to go inside, captured audio/video of the events, and then sold his story to New Yorker Magazine which published his article on January 15 under the title “Among The Insurrectionists.” The political point of view reflected in the article is not hard to guess.
