MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A former federal prosecutor who resigned amid disputes with the Trump administration is now representing former CNN host Don Lemon, one of nine people indicted for allegedly disrupting services at a Minnesota church where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official served as pastor.
Lemon hired former interim U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who led the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office’s broad investigation and prosecution of major fraud cases until his resignation last month, according to a court filing Tuesday.
Several prosecutors have left their jobs amid growing frustration over the administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown and the Justice Department’s response to the shooting of two people by federal officers in Minneapolis.
Lemon has previously said through another attorney that he plans to plead not guilty to federal civil rights charges stemming from his coverage of church protests. He said he had nothing to do with the group disrupting church services and that he was involved as an independent journalist. The indictment alleges various actions taken by the group that entered the church, including remarks Lemon made while reporting on the incident on a live broadcast.
Lemon is scheduled to be arraigned on February 13 in federal court in St. Paul.
The Trump administration has cited the Minnesota fraud case as justification for its immigration crackdown in the state, with most of the defendants coming from the state’s large Somali community. Thompson estimated in December that several fraud cases being prosecuted in Minnesota could cost taxpayers a combined $9 billion.
Thompson recently formed his own law firm with Harry Jacobs, another former federal prosecutor who resigned amid turmoil in his office. Jacobs was the lead prosecutor in the case of Vance Bolt, who pleaded not guilty in the assassinations last year of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Holtman and her husband, as well as the non-fatal shootings of a state senator and her wife.
The firm’s website describes them as “proven and experienced” trial attorneys.
Thompson did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday.
