Don Lemon compares federal prosecutions to authoritarian rule

Don Lemon He thinks there may have been some shady dealings with the grand jury proceedings that led to his indictment…and he likens his federal prosecution to something you might see in Russia, China or Iran.

The former CNN anchor wants his legal team to get their hands on the grand jury transcripts in his case to see if the government misled jurors by charging him with federal crimes… according to new legal documents obtained by TMZ.

Don seems to think there’s a good chance the government misrepresented key issues before the grand jury to obtain an indictment… given that a magistrate and judge reviewed the evidence against him and fees refused before the grand jury finally indicted him.

In the documents, Don claims the federal conduct in his case has been “highly unusual, purely political and inconsistent” with other cases in Minnesota. He says the feds were under pressure Since President Trump to get an indictment and they went to a grand jury and got one.

Don says… “These circumstances — never before seen in this district, and for good reason — raise serious concerns about the government’s presentation to the grand jury. Everything about this case thus far has been irregular; we can assume that the grand jury proceedings were as well.”

Grand jury proceedings are generally kept secret, but Don says the need for disclosure here outweighs the importance of traditional grand jury secrecy.

The charges stem from an ICE protest. Don insists he was covering as a reporter last month in Minnesota…the protest tore through a church and disrupted a service.

Federal prosecutors say Don collaborated with organizers of the demonstration, but he claimed that he was simply there in his capacity as a journalist. He appeared in court on Friday and pleaded not guilty.

In the documents, Don takes aim at the Trump administration… “In the United States of America, we don’t prosecute journalists for doing their job. This happens in Russia, China, Iran and other authoritarian regimes. And yet the government sold this unconstitutional mess to the grand jury.”