MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A former federal prosecutor who quit amid a dispute with the Trump administration is now representing former CNN host Don Lemon, who was one of nine people indicted for their alleged roles indisrupting a serviceat a Minnesota church where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official was a pastor.
A court filing Tuesday shows that Lemon has hired former interim U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who had beenleading the sprawling investigationand prosecution of major fraud cases for the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Officeuntil he resignedlast month.
Several prosecutors have now leftthe office at a time of growing frustration with the administration'simmigration enforcement crackdownand the Justice Department's response to fatal shootings of two people by federal officers in Minneapolis.
Lemon had previously said through another attorney thathe planned to plead not guiltytofederal civil rights chargesover his coverage of the church protest. He has said he was not affiliated with the group that disrupted the church service, and that he was there in his capacity as an independent journalist. The indictment alleges various actions by the group that entered the church, including what Lemon said as he reported on the event for his livestream show.
Lemon is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 13 in federal court in St. Paul.
The Trump administration has cited theMinnesota fraud cases,in which most defendants have come from the state's large Somali community,as justificationfor its immigration crackdown in the state. Thompson estimated in December that the losses to taxpayers from several fraud cases being prosecuted in Minnesotacould total $9 billion.
Thompson recently formed his own law firm with Harry Jacobs, another former federal prosecutor who resigned amid the upheaval in the office. Jacobs had beenlead prosecutor in the caseof Vance Boelter, who has pleaded not guilty in last year's assassination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the nonfatal shootings of a state senator and his wife.
The firm's website describes them as "battle tested and seasoned" trial lawyers.
Thompson did not immediately reply to messages seeking comment Tuesday.
