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Welcome to THE beat. We begin with this breaking news. Veteran CNN journalist, now an independent reporter, Don Lemon is inside a federal courtroom in the custody of of Trump administration agents right now. We have learned that the hearing ended, but he has not yet come outside. So we are following this along with you. As a reminder, where we begin tonight. The First Amendment protects journalists doing reporting and it protects people speaking out or protesting. Thousands are doing that right now in frigid temperatures, marching in Minneapolis and other cities just as reporters are continuing to do their jobs as Don Lemon was doing his against this administration, which we can report today, has indicted two journalists. It is, if you read the actual case, trying to criminalize their reporting on actions also in the same ongoing clash in Minnesota. These are related stories that we're covering. They both involve whether the Trump administration is following or breaking the law in these aggressive, now very unpopular crackdowns that have seen two Americans slain, dead. And whether this administration is following or breaking the Constitution and how it's pursuing journalists covering this same story. Longtime reporter Don Lemon is indicted in this case, which among other things, and I'm going to show you this tonight in detail. You can make up your own mind, but I'm going to show you exactly what the government's claiming because it literally claims that the questions that he posed were in furtherance of a crime when he covered an ICE protest that stormed a church. This was in the tense period after the death of Renee Goode, killed by Donald Trump's federal agents. And a week before, what people are still marching about right now tonight, the death of Alex Preddy, killed by a DHS agent. Today, the Trump Bondi DOJ charges Lemon and another reporter named Georgia Fort, a Minnesota journalist, and several of the people who did storm that church. What's different about this is they're all charged together as one type of conspiracy. And I'll tell you up top, as with other thin cases against perceived foes, Trump has now gone farther than Nixon ever did in public because Donald Trump has confessed to his own enemies list, admitted the animus, what could be a legal selective prosecution, and how he wants to go after people, including Mr. Lemon. Now, legally, that might make this case harder to win in the long run because Donald Trump was hyping calls to imprison Don Lemon online and saying in public remarks that Lemon's reporting specifically that day when he walked into the church, that it was, quote, terrible. Now, another DOJ official also posted a message directed at Lemon. This is highly incendiary and unusual. Harmeet Dhillon, an assistant attorney general that's sort of a chief prosecutor, oversees other prosecutors, said, you're on notice. And the DOJ's number two, Todd Blanche, who is, by the way, embattled for overseeing the illegal response to the Epstein probe, there he is, the number two former criminal defense attorney for Trump. He's part of the DOJ breaking the law, violating that Epstein deadline. And we have more on that tonight. He also was caught over the past weekend, on Sunday, lying about the conduct of one of the recent Minnesota victims. He also joined the campaign to go after Mr. Lemon. Now, the case filed today is weak, and we know that it's weak because two independent judges already rejected it. Meaning the outlines of this case, what we understand to be an effort to say that Mr. Lemon and the other reporter broke the law by covering some of what was happening in Minnesota, including what may have been a trespassing or illegal action of other people into that church area. Two judges said, nope, no case to start here. There's a very low bar for getting this kind of case going. You might remember the talk about a grand jury indicting a ham sandwich. That's because the grand jury only has to agree that there is some low cause after that, later, you tested a trial and you have the higher standard of beyond reasonable doubt. But one judge said, nope, didn't even meet that low bar. And another judge ruled the same way. So this federal judge rejected it, as did an appeals court. And we believe, according to new reporting, that more than one career prosecutor, that's the nonpartisan folks who just follow the evidence. At doj, more than one in Minnesota and then in LA refused to be involved in this case because while they are at the doj, meaning they're enforcing the deportation agenda and other perhaps controversial aspects of Donald Trump's policies, they said this was not supported by evidence. That's according to the indications we have. They believe the evidence doesn't back up the charges. DOJ also found, however, that if they looked far and wide, they could get someone else to bring what is now a very disfavored case. I can tell you because, you know, I host this program, but I'm also a lawyer and chief legal correspondent here. We cover a lot of cases. We almost never see federal criminal cases start with two rejections like this. I mean, almost never. And there are plenty of cases that are weak or that lose, but they usually start out normal because probable cause is a low standard. Before you get into what you think of Donald Trump or Mr. Lemon or any of this, whatever you think of the president or the reporters involved or the issues involved, we are still, if we are allowed to be a nation run by laws, under the rule of law, this was a dead end case until they kept searching and found someone to bring it. And that's what led to the federal arrest of Mr. Lemon last night in LA. He has done, as mentioned, previous reporting in Minnesota. His lawyer said he's in LA to cover the Grammys this weekend. And he has now gone through this federal court hearing just today. And if he comes out and speaks to the public, we will bring you that here on msnow. Now, Pam Bondi wanted to make sure everyone knows as she's on social media, that this is at her direction. And you see her there saying, the feds arrested Lemon. These other individuals I mentioned fort who I mentioned was the other reporter, et cetera. Like Trump's comments, that is an unusual social media public confession which could hurt this case. It also speaks to how many people are being targeted, targeted as enemies of the state, as enemies of Donald Trump. A concept so extreme that Pam Bondi claimed under oath before she was sworn in and became Attorney General, there would be no enemies list. We have continued to update this here. And if you find yourself over the weekend discussing this or any of these cases with anyone, remember you discuss them in isolation and any one of them could be debated. But when you look at how many different people are being subpoenaed, charged in some cases, dismissed, you see the failures on the far left altogether. You have a very obvious pattern of political targeting that is unlawful. 17 perceived foes and counting, many attacks. But again, legally, the cases are so weak, none of these have made it to trial, let alone conviction, while several, as you see in green, have fallen apart. And so in America tonight, where there is a backlash over the killing of American citizens, where there is, as you see, all of these people gathered day after day peacefully protesting against the violence they faced from the government. They are exercising their First Amendment rights while a journalist. Two journalists are now indicted for exercising their First Amendment rights. The Trump DOJ made it very clear Lemon was a target. This is not a case where some local prosecutors were going through different facts and ended up with a high profile defendant. This is an individual who is well known on CNN who has had a back and forth with Donald Trump in the public square before. Who.