President Trump's Justice Department has admitted that a false allegation, involving former CNN anchor Don Lemon and another journalist, appeared in the federal court filings relating to its investigation of the anti-ICE protest.
The revelation comes as newly uncovered records show that federal investigators obtained warrants authorizing the use of sophisticated surveillance technology to track down Lemon's 21-year-old producer Jerome Richardson, even though Richardson was prepared to turn himself in.
According to Wired, the investigation followed a protest at a church in Minnesota that disrupted a service and drew national attention after Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort documented the incident.
Per the report, the federal authorities were looking to build a criminal case against people who were involved in the protest, including journalists who maintained they were there as journalists covering the event rather than as participants.
The contested allegation came in the affidavits in support of applications to track Richardson. The investigators claimed that the video showed Lemon, Fort, Richardson and others “chanting with agitators.”
But the prosecutors later admitted that Lemon and Fort had not been chanting.
As per Fort's lawyers, the government admitted that the false allegation appeared in at least 15 warrant affidavits.
The admission doesn't establish that the investigators knowingly submitted false information. It does, however, add another wrinkle...
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