#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Don Lemon, Georgia Fort Arrested Over Church Protest. Press Freedom on the Line Under Trump.

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

1.30.2026 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Don Lemon, Georgia Fort Arrested Over Church Protest. Press Freedom on the Line Under Trump. Former CNN anchor and journalist Don Lemon and independent Minnesota journalist Georgia Fort were arrested along with two others in connection to the Minnesota church protests. Lemons predicted his arrest would still happen after the Department of Justice abandoned his arrest warrant on Tuesday. Lemon says he was there reporting--not protesting and, a judge recently rejected prosecutors attempts for his arrest. The question now is, what does this mean for our first amendments rights, what does it mean for journalists reporting real news -- and, what does it mean for people who challenge power and injustice under this Trump administration? Tonight, we talk with Erin Haines, President of the National Association of Black Journalists, and Octavia Treadway, Chair of the Center for Broadcast Journalism, to unpack the implications for journalists and the public. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You can't be Black-owned media and be Skate. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today it's Friday. 30 of 2026 coming up on Roman Mark unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Donald Trump administration arrest two black journalists, Don Lemon, Georgia, four, and two Black Minneapolis activists related to a protest at a church in Minneapolis. We'll have extensive

coverage on this, on this, these arrest and the implications for freedom of the press. This happened on the same day, the Trump administration released millions of pages tied to the Epstein files, including allegations of Donald Trump demanding oral sex from a 13-year-old girl. Yeah, I wonder why those arrests took place today. On the same day, those papers were released. Lots for us to break down right here. It's time to bring the phone on rolling market unfiltered on the Black Sun Network. Let's go.

The story has been dominating headlines all day, the arrest of four individuals, including two journalists tied to a protest in Minneapolis. as three of the individuals that were arrested today as of right now have actually been released. Those three individuals include journalists Georgia Fort there in Minneapolis. Also released today were two other individuals, Trahearn Cruz, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Minnesota and Jamil Lundy, lobbyist for the Hennepin County Attorney's Office. We still are waiting word as to whether journalist Don Lemon has been released from federal custody in law. Angeles. The arrest took place early this morning. Don Lemon was arrested in Los Angeles where he was covering the Grammys, which take place on Sunday, Georgia, Fort, and the two others were arrested in Minneapolis. We first learned about these arrests with, again, a posting on social media from Attorney General Pam Bondi. Here is a video that she also posted later in this morning. Make no mistake. Under President Trump's leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship.

freely and safely. And if I haven't been clear already, if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you. Let's be clear. What they are saying is that they are alleging that Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were essentially protesters the same as the others. Now, the FACE Act was tied to protest at abortion clinics. They put it in their same law, the issue dealing with protesting at churches. But these were journalists. who were covering the protest. Don Lemon Stream 7 hours from that particular day. And so that's what took place there.

And again, is a federal statute, the FACE Act, that prohibits the use of force or intimidation against anyone seeking access to reproductive services. This is their basis for these arrests. The indictment was filed in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota. It was called the protest, quote, a coordinated takeover-style attack on the building is pastored, and congregation.

Now, keep in mind that they tried to actually seek indictments before other judges without allow them to do it. According to MS. Now, career prosecutors in Minnesota and Los Angeles refuse to move forward saying they did not have enough evidence, but they still were able to go to a grand jury to secure this indictment. Georgia Fort actually live streamed when federal authorities came knocking on her door after 6 o'clock a.m. this one.

Yes. Okay. Well, this is really scary. There's kids in the house. You guys have not been really friendly in the community. And to me, this seems a little, can I finish, sir? This seems, can I finish? Can I finish?

Get your phone. This seems a little bit aggressive to have all these cars in our told us that two three agents and now i saw the one disappear to the back so to me this is a little aggressive to just serve a warrant slide the warrant let me see the warrant that to me what i have been told is not a judicial warrant that um that has me to have to open the warrant you do you want to wear my black boots. You guys, I wanted to alert the public that agents are at my door right now. They're saying that they were able to go before a grand jury sometime, I guess, in the last 24 hours, and that they have a warrant for my arrest. I've talked to my attorney,

and I'm being advised to go with them, I guess, down to Whipple. And, um, My children are here. They're impacted by this. This is all stemming from the fact that I filmed a protest as a member of the media. We are supposed to have our constitutional right of the freedom to film, to be a member of the press. I don't feel like I have my First Amendment right as a member of the press because now federal agents are at my door arresting me for filming the church protest a few weeks ago. Again, I don't have a long time here, you guys, but I wanted you to know for me, agents are at my door right now. My attorney has spoken with them. I did send a relative

outside to talk to them. They're showing some type of documentation, apparently, that they got an indictment from a grand jury. I knew that I was on a defendant's list. I did not publish it because it was under seal. And so we've done everything that we can to try and abide by, you know, the advice of our attorneys. But right now, you guys, I wanted you to know I'm going to have to hop off here and surrender to agents as a member of the press. I filmed the church protest a few weeks ago.

And now I'm being arrested for that. it's hard to understand how we have a constant a constitution constitutional rights when um you can just be arrested for being a member of the press you and we we've seen all these violations all right you guys I got to go they're knocking give me give me one second all right guys you want to um uh her family spoke um after uh as related to these arrests uh we're going to show you that in a second right now though i want to bring up to our first two guests aaron haines president of the national association of black journalists octavia octavia tritway chair of the center for broadcast journalism and nonprofit organization started by georgia ford to help transform the media landscape

to make it more equitable for black brown and other marginalized journalists glad to have you and obviously for our audience i'm also vice president digital for the natural association of black journalists uh Aaron i'll start with you uh the release uh that nabj released today calling it frankly, ashamed of what took place, shocked with this arrest. And I think it's important for us to make a distinction here. They are suggesting that Don Lemon and Georgia Ford violated the Face Act. So what they are saying is that they were not journalists. They're saying that they were protesters.

The reality is, and again, I am not suggesting that what the protesters did was illegal or legal. What I'm stating is that if you're charging the protesters for violating the act, I understand that. But to suggest that if you are a journalist covering a protest, even one that you deem as illegal, that is not illegal itself to cover a protest. Roland, that's exactly right. I mean, look, yes, NABJ is concerned and frankly outraged at these arrests. Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were both doing their jobs. They weren't obstructing justice, right? They were practicing journalism.

We cannot state that often enough or clearly enough because arresting journalists for news gathering is a direct threat to press freedom. And I really think that's why you saw so many groups. Canadian women are looking for more. More to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are out of them. And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart. And I'm Catherine Clark, and in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women. Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us. Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on IHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. All right, son, time to put out this campfire. Dad, we learned about this in school. Oh, did you now? Okay, what's first? Smokey bear said to. First, drown it with the bucket of water, then stir it with a shovel. Wow, you sound just like him.

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now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at iHeartpodcastawards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen.

Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. Standing with NABJT today, when we put out our statement, more than 40 organizations and counting, standing in solidarity with us because they understand that, you know, any, these attempts to intimidate and try to silence journalists are really a threat, not just to press freedom, but to our democracy. And so that means that's a concern not just every single member of our profession, but really every member of the public. Octavia, journalists there in Minneapolis have been under assault, have been pushed around, have been threatened by law enforcement.

And this has been a constant. This has not just, not just residents. Not as undocumented people, but journalists, citizen journalists, journalists with mainstream organizations, and also independent journalists, have constantly been under threat by Donald Trump's law enforcement invasion in Minneapolis. Yeah, I mean, the statement that we've been making over and over again today is in America, we do not arrest journalists for acting like journalists. Georgia was present at the protest solely in her capacity as a journalist, documenting a matter of. of significant public interest. That's it. That's the statement. That's it. That's what we have to say. When we talk about covering and let's be real here, what we're dealing with Aaron, this administration has put a bull's eye on media, not just with this term, the previous term,

the calling of anything that Donald Trump disagrees with as fake news, the vicious attacks that Donald Trump has leveled against numerous journalistic organizations, but also there are specific journalists, journalists. He's also attacked, verbally attacked, specifically black female journalists. We could talk about April Ryan, Yomish El Sindor, Ebony McMorris, Rachel Scott. We can go on and on and on. And so this man, his callous and disgraceful treatment of journalists, has been abundantly clear. And frankly, too many other mainstream journalism organizations have sort of shrug this thing off as if, well, he's not going to come after us. Listen, when he ran the first time, they pulled the credentials of Jorge Ramos from covering one of their events. They were controlling who got the cover of them.

Oh, we don't like your institution. We're not going to credential you. And so there has been a constant and consistent attack on journalists individually, as well as media companies by dental. Trump, MAGA, and Republicans. Absolutely. I mean, listen, we saw at the start of this term, the Associated Press being kicked out of the press pool because of their refusal to, you know, refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. And now here, we sit here today with the first time that we are seeing in this era, journalists being arrested again, simply for doing their jobs.

But it is important to make this distinction. We talk about all the things that are unprecedented. We know that attacks against black journalists are not unprecedented. They're historically familiar, unfortunately. We know that black journalists have been arrested and surveilled and intimidated, attempted to be intimidated before now. And we know that these threats to our ability to speak truth to power to cover who and where we are as a country are a threat to press freedom itself. And that is why it is so important for everybody to really stand up because, yes, it could be us today, but we don't know who it could be tomorrow in this environment when we know that the free press is very much under threat. Octavia, I've gotten this question from various folks all day. Has a GoFundMe or legal defense fund been set up on behalf of Georgia Fort?

Because look, listen, they are pursuing her legally. She's going to have to hire attorneys. We don't know how long this is going to last. And so has anything been established? So there is not an official go fund me that has been released. However, you can go to georgiafort.com and you can donate at her website. The donation is going to that website support all the work that she is doing in community. Okay.

So the question, okay. So I just want to, I'm going to the website. right now pulling this up. And for those, now, when you say it's going, so is this, is this a nonprofit entity or is this a for-profit? Because obviously people are going to ask that question as well. Absolutely. So that is a for-profit. Any nonprofit donations can be directly to Center for Broadcastjournalism.org. That is the organization that I am the board chair for, and those donations, obviously, will receive 501C3 acknowledgement. sending into that website.

I do want to say... Go ahead. No, I just did want to say, too. What was so heartening, Rowling, you said, you know, you talked about the callous attack. What was so heartening today was that Georgia and her co-defendants

when they were released today, their voices were not silenced. They came out continuing to speak against their arrest and the injustice of their arrest. Yeah, we actually have some of that. We're going to play that just a little bit later. Aaron, a final point here, I think people need to understand the attacks are going to continue.

Donald Trump sued CBS, forcing them to pay him a settlement. Of course, they were trying to get an acquisition done, and so therefore that paid the way for them to do so. Some $16 million. He forced Disney to do a settlement regarding a lawsuit with George Stephanoplas. He's threatened to sue other media organizations. And so what we're talking about here is an individual who is occupying the White House who has threatened and successfully sued journalism of media companies. They are targeting specific journalists.

You have an FCC led by Brendan Carr as the chair. They've literally said to companies, if you don't get rid of your DEI initiatives, then we're not going to approve any of your acquisitions or your mergers. Now they're threatening late-night comedians saying that, oh, we're going to, basically, force a fairness doctrine if you're going to be doing any political interviews as well. And so people need to understand this is probably, not probably, I dare say, this is the most direct attack on the First Amendment and the freedom of the press since President Richard Nixon. And actually this man has gone far beyond Nixon was attacks on media. So people need to understand we're not

going to see cooler heads prevail. I dare say we're going to see even more. more attack. In fact, if you look at the official, guys pull a graphic up, this is what the official White House, these are taxpayer funded, the Twitter feed of the White House, that is taxpayer funded. They posted this graphic regarding Don Lemon being arrested and basically making fun of it. That's what we're dealing with. These are the kind of people we're dealing with confronting every single day. And there has to be, Aaron, a massive pushback by every single media. institution because guess what? Today it was Don Lemon and Georgia Fort. It could be others tomorrow. Yes, yes. And attempts to silence journalists are an attempt to silence us all. Listen, we know

we are insisting because it's important to do so that the First Amendment is simply not an option and it's definitely not a joke, right? We reject the notion that journalists can be threatened into silence just for doing their jobs. And so yes, so many press freedom organizations are standing with us, allies across the industry, just standing against the intimidation of the press and in defense of journalists that are trying to carry out their lawful duties. We have to continue to be very loud about that. And NABJ and others are also calling for transparency from authorities about what is the legal basis for these arrests, right?

You know, there needs to be an end to these prosecutorial actions that are targeting journalists for unlawfully gathering the news. You had that federal magistrate judge that declares. client to even authorize charges against these folks, citing insufficient evidence, citing a lack of probable cause. So we really shouldn't even be here today. And yet the fact that authorities move forward anyway, like what is the, what is the reasoning? What is the rationale behind that? And I think that there should be a full inquiry into whether these arrests violate press, press freedom statutes and also, you know, constitutional guarantees because, I mean, look,

the bottom line, Roland, is that journalism that holds power to account is not a crime, right? First Amendment is not optional and we have got to stand up and speak out against that. All right then. Octavia Tritway, Aaron Haynes. We appreciate it. Folks of programming note, NABJ will be partnering with the Black Star Network for a national town hall on freedom of the press taking place on Monday at 6 p.m. We want to encourage other journalism institutions, celebrities and others to pick up that feed. We want to have hundreds of thousands watching this on Monday because people really need to understand And what has taken place here is absolutely a front to journalism and the right of journalists to do their jobs. And so we appreciate both of you joining us. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. Thank you. Folks, let's today, as Octavia mentioned, the family of Georgia Ports spoke out speaking about this arrest today. This is what they had to say. Georgia Ford is my mom and we are here to call for her a media business. My mom has been a documentary and a member of the past were as long as I can remember being alive for 70 years. My mom is being arrested for documenting what happened at the city church. And this is wrong. This goes against her First Amendment right as a journalist and it's being challenged today.

She is not a protester. She is not an activist. She is a mom working to provide for her children through the only way she knows how. Documenting and sharing stories of the community and truth of what's happening here every day in her state. This moment of history just doesn't affect me. It also affects my little sisters who have to wake up and comprehend as the ages of seven and eight why their mom has to be arrested. My seven and eight-year-old sister woke up today without a mom. My father woke up today without his wife. I'm demanding that my mom gets released. The separation of families will never be right. Thank you.

I'm Theresa Fort. I'm the husband of George Ford. I'm gonna keep her, like I say, brief and short. I really want to thank you all for coming out. And I want you to have courage and continue doing what y'all is going. with you're doing with child going because I watch George I support her you know behind the scenes a lot of stuff along you know I'm there watching I'm supporting her um but yeah I mean like I said I don't really I don't understand what can go down to the point where you know you got to arrest

a journalist for doing doing their job you know she's doing her work she's not she's not harming nobody not hurt nobody I mean I know some individuals that hurt people that you know I don't I don't understand that you know When it's that way, I understand, right? When someone's not, no one, she's not harming no one. So I really, really, really, it hurts, you know what I'm saying? As I'm pulling off to take my 7 to 8, you know, on my door, we're driving, I'm getting stopped 10 cars. Come, come, come, come. I didn't want them to see this.

They will sleep, girls. Now they got to see this. Oh, man. That wasn't, that wasn't cool, you know? So it's like understanding that what we up against right now is really affecting the human rights and us. us as people we got to stay strong we got to continue to stay prayed up right now and it's time of right now we're dealing with we got to stay prayed up and i want to like i said once again man thank you

all for coming out and thank you all and south there that's supportive of what we're doing thank you folks upon release today the two activists at georgia fort uh they also uh were speaking out upon their release so we're going to have that be actually going to have that video in just a second also i'm just getting in that don lemon actually has been released from federal custody in Los Angeles as well. Obviously there were reactions, the reactions all over the country. Folks, journalism organizations, media institutions

were all speaking out about what took place. Don Liman's former employer, CNN, they also released a statement. This is what CNN had to say today with regards to the release of to the arrest of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort. The FBI's arrest of our former CNN colleague, Don Lemon, raises profoundly concerning questions about press freedom and the First Amendment.

The network said the Department of Justice already failed twice to get an arrest warrant for Don and several other journalists in Minnesota, where a chief judge of the Minnesota federal district court found there was no evidence that there was any criminal behavior involved in their work. The First Amendment in the United States protects journalists who bear witness to news and events as they unfold, ensuring they can report freely in the public interest and the DOJ's attempts to violate those rights is unacceptable. We will be following this case closely. So that was a statement from CNN, near attended, who is the president's CEO for the Center for

American Progress, said when the government starts arresting journalists, recovering news events, no one is safe, assailing and intimidating the press or hallmarks of authoritarian governments. This is a dangerous escalation by the Trump administration against the media and First Amendment rights. All people who believe free speech is a cornerstone of liberty must call on this administration to end its attacks on our freedoms. Also, folks, Bernice King, of course, CEO of the MOK Center, she also released a statement with regards to today's action. This is what she had to say. Let's go and pull that up. We are in a dangerous place as a nation when members of the press are taken into,

custody for exercising their First Amendment right to free press, all federal agents killed with impunity. The arrest of journalist Don Lemon, Treherne, Jean Cruz, Georgia Fort and Jamil, Lydell Lunday, just to be clear folks, Cruz and Lundy are not journalists, as dictated by the current and President's administration should alarm us all. We must not look away or be dismissive.

This is serious and I am calling everyone to a higher state of consciousness and awareness of where we are. This is fascist behavior and now, more than ever, I urge us to persistently seek out and study nonviolence so that we have a necessary mindset, tools, strategies, and coordinated efforts not only to resist. Canadian women are looking for more, more to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are of them. And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

I'm Jennifer Stewart. And I'm Catherine Clark. And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women, entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey. So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us. Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on IHeartRadio

or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Everyone needs to take care of their mental health, even running back Bejan Robinson. When I'm on the field, I'm feeling the pressure, I usually just take a deep breath. When I'm just breathing and seeing what's in front of me, everything just slows down. It just makes you feel great before I run the play.

Just like Bejohn, we all need a strong mental game on and off the field. Make a game plan for your mental health at love your mind playbook.org. Love your mind. Brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health Foundation, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and the ad council.

And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is, you can decide who takes home the 26 IHeart Podcast Awards Podcast of the year by voting at IHeartPodcastawards.com now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at IHeartPodcastawards.com.

Audible is a proud spot. of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. Just in this moment, but to bring into being a true state of justice. Members of Congress also were speaking out.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett released this statement with regards to what the actions that took place today in Minneapolis and Los Angeles. Angeles, journalists locked up, peacefully protesters shot, peaceful protesters shot, lawfully carrying became a death sentence, hotels forced to quarter federal agents, people being disappeared off the street with no due process, granting partners and immunity to criminals at every level of the government while inflicting cruel and unusual punishment on the people. The entire Bill of Rights has gone up in flames. I feared that if Trump was re-elected that our 1787 Constitution would go through the Project 2025 paper shredder. If we don't speak out forcefully,

and demand immediate action now, none of us will be ever be safe, nor will we ever have any liberty, rights or self-governance. I'm calling for the immediate release of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for being held unlawfully and without cause for the Department of Injustice. Our country has already become unrecognizable. It is no longer hyperbolic or a metaphor to say we are living in a dictatorship under a wannabe king and his loyal minions. Free Don Lemon and Georgia Fort is the individuals across this administration that should be impeached and or prosecuted. You had, of course, Democratic leaders on the House and Senate also speak out. This is exactly what the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, had to say on the floor of the United States Senate today.

Last night, federal agents arrested journalist Don Lemon in Los Angeles after he recently covered protest activities in Minnesota. Once again, the administration is behaving no differently from police states, and authoritarian regimes across history. They've arrested a journalist for the crime of doing his job. And let's be very clear. This arrest is not just about one journalist in one incident. The arrest is a dark message to journalists everywhere. If you dare criticize this administration, watch your back.

That's not a democracy. That's a police state, and that that is pure authoritarian bile. Democracy will suffer if the government chokes our civil liberties. Under this administration, the Department of Justice has all too often become the Department of Vengeance. Don Lemon should be released at once, and the frivolous charges against him dropped. A Democrat leader, Hakeem Jeffries, on the House side, had a news conference today, and he was asked about the arrest of Don Lemon and Georgia Ford. His answer.

Should we expect any sort of organized response from Democrats? to the arrest of Von Lemon this morning and what do you think that says about the Trump administration? Trump administration has systematically targeted the free and fair press because they want to intimidate America and oppose anyone who is not willing to bend the need to their extremism. We are not going to be intimidated at all. The free and fair press is central to the foundation of American democracy. Thomas Jefferson famously made that clear that he would prefer a country

that had newspapers over government as opposed to governments over newspapers. This is central to who we are as a country. And so Don Lemon, we know, is an accomplished journalist who was doing his job. his job as part of the free and fair press. There's no legitimacy, no basis to Don Lemon's arrest, no basis to the arrest of the other journalists,

and the American people are not going to stand for it. And House Democrats are going to stand up for them. And the rights of the free and fair press as central to American democracy and our values in terms of who we are. I issued a statement. as it relates to where we are right now, it just happened. And so we haven't had an opportunity, even as members of Congress,

to talk to each other about next steps. But, of course, next steps will be forthcoming. Thank you, Mr. Leader. I'm sure you've been monitoring what's going on in the Senate. What's your reaction to the fact that there's not a deal yet with the government that blind moment? But do you have any plans to speak to Speaker Johnson between now and when the House gets back?

And do you think that two weeks is enough time to negotiate the report. All right, folks, we can bail out of this here. Come on. We have to deal with the issue. Let's go. Come back to me. Let's go.

Thank you very much. That is, of course, that was the Democrat leaders. As I said, Don Lemon, a federal judge already had been released. Did not have to pay a bail. He did make some statements upon his release and we're actually pulling that video right now. So I want to have that. Let me bring in my panel right now, joining us on the panel right now, is a legal analyst, Candace, Kellynette.

Glad to have Candice on today's show to walk us through these these particular charters and break down exactly what they mean. She, of course, joins us. She's the legal analyst and host of Takeaway with Candace, New Jersey, Matt Manning, Civil Rights Attorney at Corpus Christi, Texas, Wincunee's the aunt, CEO and co-founder of politicking out of Washington, D.C. All right, Candace, I want to start with you. So they are explaining this federal law that they are using as the basis. cases to arrest Don Lemon and Georgia Fort. And for the purpose of the conversation,

I'm purposely separating Lemon and Fort from the two other individuals who arrested today. Let's talk about from the journalist's perspective. What are they trying to assert here? So the government is trying to assert that Don Lemon actually conspired to violate the civil rights of those people who were in the church. Now, this actually comes from a law called the Face Act.

It came about in 1994. It really had to do with reproductive rights when it was being looked at before it was passed. The only way for legislators to actually get it passed was to add people who were congregating and wanting to go to church. And that's the only way that they got the abortion part of it, so that people could go peacefully in order to get an abortion.

And so with that in mind, it's just a very weird, a very weird, conflagration of how this law is even used and against a journalist who's been doing something. Listen, the First Amendment is so important in terms of freedom of press that they made it the First Amendment. That is how important it is. There are laws on the books for journalists that are not afforded to anybody else. I mean, from copyright laws to not giving up their sources, but here's what we know and what's going on in this urban warfare. These laws don't matter anymore. And that's the takeaway from everything that's going on today and everything that's been going on

since Donald Trump came into presidency. The laws that are on the books are being chipped away little by little by little things like this. Let's go ahead and set a precedent and arrest Don Lemon. At the end of the day, anybody who is in the reach of, let's say, ICE agents, for example, yes, you have rights. If you are on American soil, it doesn't matter. You know, you're supposed to get. You're supposed to get a judicial warrant, it doesn't matter. Now we know the administrative warrant is good enough. And those warrants are signed by ICE agents to go into your house. At this point, like Don Lemon and anybody else that was arrested, it now becomes a process of what is the evidence. Now, some of the evidence that they are saying in this 12-page indictment looks like this. They are saying that

he ignored requests to leave the church. They're saying that he met with others and there was the conspiracy. He said that this particular indictment said that, in addressing other people that he allegedly met with and conspired with, he used the term we because he was a part of that process. And then they also said that he took steps to maintain some type of operational secrecy. So you got to start looking at the evidence when the evidence we know does not hold. It's BS. This we know. The part of the process that I think that we also be looking at is the fact that they are taking him through this. I think that that is the part that they want to put him through. they know once it gets to court, it's not going to hold up. I mean, it's going to be terrible

precedent. You're not going to have any journalists being able to cover anything. This is why five judges already said no that there was no probable cause. So here we are now. Now it's going to be all about the evidence. And I think that whether you are arrested by ICE or whether you are arrested because you are a journalist or even just someone's a contester, you better be reporting. You better get your evidence ready because it probably won't hold up. But they just want to take you through this process right here for embarrassment, just like they did Comey, just like they did James, right? We know that this is a part of the process

to just stick it to you and put you in the news the way that they are doing right now. And I think that that's the biggest takeaway from everything that we are seeing. But ultimately, it's conspiracy to deprive civil rights acts, civil rights, very laughable. Matt, New York Times wrote this here. The federal magistrate judge who reviewed

evidence approved charters against only three other people. Levy Armstrong, Shantil Allen, and the Kim, Nikit Nikimovie Armstrong, Shantil Allen, and William Kelly. He refused to sign arrest warrants for Mr. Lemon and the other fighting insufficient evidence. The Justice Department then petition a federal judge in a federal district court in Minneapolis to issue the additional warrants, only to be denied. And what they then did was they then they kept going to, and kept going, and as I said, MS now reported that that were career prosecutors, career prosecutors in Minneapolis and Los Angeles who saw their evidence and said, this ain't it. I'm sorry, Rowling.

It's crazy because I'm sitting in Minneapolis as we speak. I'm in my hotel room. I've been all day with other civil rights lawyers from around the country, you know, working on some pretty important and timely things. and I'll tell you a couple things. The first thing is, I mean, as I was walking from my hotel to where that meeting was, I saw signs and windows where the prevailing sentiment is F-ice, get ice out. So this city is really embroiled, obviously, in what we know is going on,

and the tensions are high, and I heard that same terminology today in the meeting I was in. But to answer your question or rather to speak to your observation, I want to first say everything Candace said was right, which is always the case. But in addition to that, you know, this is a way overreach. I read the indictment. This is at best state criminal trespass charges. So this is about the cruelty being the point. The cruelty is the point.

The process is the point. Parading you out as, you know, a person who's allegedly violated the law is the point. And I think Candace is 10,000 percent right. I think when this gets in front of 12 citizens in this federal district, they're not going to see it there. Now, I will tell you, it is concerning to some extent that it looks like they're trying to be very hyper-technical in the indictment in terms of the acts that they're saying were overt acts with a conspiracy and the congregants who were allegedly afraid to leave and all that stuff. But what's important about that is a jury of 12 people is going to determine whether they had a reasonable fear, whether they really felt threatened, whether they really felt intimidated.

people coming in and making noise and maybe disrupting a church service is not tantamount to intimidating you or threatening you or scaring you or any of those things. A couple other very quick things that I think we haven't really discussed. But first, you know, it's very possible for a journalist to be there and have their constitutional rights both as a journalist and as a citizen, right? So in looking at this indictment, there's allegedly, you know, there was allegedly least a command from the pastor that people needed to leave. People didn't leave, allegedly, right? So that's important because at best you're looking at criminal trespass under those charges. But until that happens, until someone, at least with the way it works in Texas,

until someone is commanded to leave and refrains from doing so, if they're allowed to be there, then it is not per se a criminal trespass. I know this is not a criminal trespass. But my point is, at best, you've got a state low-level criminal charge if you have anything at all. But what I also think is very interesting from the indictment is it seems like the government must have tried to flip somebody already because the first part of the indictment talks about all these conversations that allegedly constitute the overt acts where they were planning the conspiracy. But what I was reading, what I was thinking is I was reading that is the only way the government could potentially know that is someone told them about what allegedly happened as the plan before they went to the church. And that, I think, is a very intriguing thing, just kind of academically, but it's also very concerning because I suspect somebody was leaned on pretty heavily by the federal agents to get that version of events that they then went to the grand jury with. So I think this is a great overreach. I think Candace is correct completely, and I think at best this is state criminal charges.

And if you look at them in the context of journalists, there's no question. The First Amendment is sacrosanct. But even if you look at them as citizens, going into a church and maybe disrupting a service is not the same as trying to divest people of their civil rights to religiously worship or to worship. And I think this is just a gross misapplication of the law. I think it's going to blow up in their faces when 12 people are in the box looking at the evidence. Yeah, this is what it was called Operation Pullup, Wincuni. And then this is what the indictment says.

All defendants met at a shopping center for a free op briefing during which Armstrong and Alan advised other co-conspirators, including defendants, Kelly, Lemon. And then they got a couple of the names that are wiped out. Lundy Cruz fort about the target of their operation and provided instruction on how the operation will be conducted once they arrived at the church. Once at the church, all of the defendants entered the church to conduct a takeover-style attack and engage in various acts in furtherance of the conspiracy, in furtherance of the conspiracy and to accomplish the object thereof, the defendant's Armstrong, Allen Kelly Lemon,

two names who have been blacked out. London crew Canadian women are looking for more more into themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are out of them. And that's why we're thrilled to introduce The Honest Talk Podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart. And I'm Catherine Clark.

And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women. Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey. So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us. Listen to the Honest Talk podcast and I Heart Radio or wherever

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First, drown it with a bucket of water, then stir it with a shovel. Wow, you sound just like him. Then he said... If it's still warm, then do it again. Where can I learn all this? It's all on smoky bear.com with other wildfire prevention tips,

because only you can prevent wildfires. Brought to you by the USDA Forest Service, your state forester and the ad council. And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is, you can decide who takes home the 26 IHeart Podcast Awards Podcast of the year by voting at IHeartPodcastawards.com now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at IHeartPodcastawards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app.

Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. Cruz Fort and together with other persons known and unknown to the grand jury committed various overt acts, including but not limit to the following. And it goes on and on and on. Keep in mind, McHunney, when they went to that federal magistrate, he said that there were, that federal magistrate, they would not do charges against Lemon, Fort, and the, and these two crews in London and others. And so, So the interesting thing is like, okay, so you're claiming all these people were here, but you couldn't get an indictment against the others, but you got an indictment against these four.

So it goes to show you how this is going. But I think Matt is absolutely right. This is all about sin the threat. It's all about terrorizing. It's all about saying we're going to make you go through a living hell and put all of your stuff out there. And just like James called me and Tish James, even though those cases blew up in their faces. This is a classic case of tyranny and terror, Roland. I think what we see here with the arrest of four and lemon, this is a clear case of political retaliation.

Let's speak candidly about this. This has no legal bearing, as we've heard from men from Candace. What we do see is that black and brown journalists and independent journalists continue to attacked under this administration. I woke this morning not knowing if I was in the United States or North Korea. We are living under an authoritarian and totalitarian regime. We're seeing this happen again and again and again. We're seeing our government continually overreach to persecute and prosecute people who are simply doing their job. And my fear is that as we continue to move into this digital and physical authoritarian state, that there is no checks and

balances from the other branches of governments. And that's the scary thing. I'm really happy to see that the magistrate judges pushed back initially, but we see that this government continues to find ways and go around to do what it wants. And so it's extremely important that that black media, free media event that you have going on Monday, Roland, that's so important because this is only the beginning. They're making an example out of Ford. They're making an example out of Lemon. We could be next, quite frankly. And I think it's really critical. for us to really think about what this means for the implications of free speech in this country. Folks, Don Lemon, again, the federal prosecutors tried to argue for a $100,000 bond. A judge rejected

that. He was released without having to pay a bond. He also was allowed to travel to France in June as the case is pending. This is what Don had to say once he was released from federal custody. I want to thank everybody for their support. It really, it truly means the world to me. I had no idea what's going on because obviously I haven't seen anything. I have spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now. In fact, there is no more important time than right now this very moment for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable.

Again, I will not stop now. I will not stop ever. Last night, the DOJ sent a team of federal agents to arrest me in the middle of the night for something that I had been doing for the last 30 years, and that is covering the news. The First Amendment of the Constitution protects that work for me and for countless of other journalists who do what I do. I stand with all of them, and I will not. be silent. I look forward to my day in court. Thank you all. Folks, Georgia Fort also spoke after she was released for federal custody in Minneapolis.

First of all, I just want to thank community. I want to thank community for being here today. Thank you. Thank you for showing up. Thank you. Thank you to my legal team for showing up and for representing me and to the media. Thank you. for standing in solidarity with independent journalists. I know as an independent journalist, I have challenged us to move forward as an industry. But the fact that you guys stood up for me today shows me that we are moving together.

And so to all the media who made a statement on behalf of me, thank you so much. As I reflect, as a journalist who has worked in media for more than 17 years, I leave this federal courthouse today with one question. Do we have a Constitution? Or not? I should be protected under the First Amendment, just like all of the journalists, who I've been advocating for too.

I've been advocating for mainstream media journalists who have been brutalized for months. Do we have a Constitution? That is the pressing question that should be on the front of everyone's minds. And so to everybody who showed up today, thank you. you please continue to support the other people who are being charged obviously because there's ongoing litigation there is not much that i can say beyond what i'm saying now but amplifying the truth documenting what is happening in our community is not a crime listen and the questions that were asked a few weeks ago on the sunday morning by concerned community members those questions

still need to be answered. And as a journalist, I am committed to continuing to follow the story until their questions are answered. Thank you. Yes. Folks, this here was, this was video of Georgia with one of her children when she was being released. Folks were obviously very emotional. This is, you know, again, what you're seeing here, you know, they expected this action because they tried to do it once before and they could not succeed. And so we know, again, we saw what happened with Tish James and James Comer. They fired.

They fired U.S. attorneys because they would not follow their lead. And I think that's what people need to understand, Matt. These people are such thugs. These people are so evil. There's no such thing as, no, don't. I mean, look, the guy who threw, I think they tried two or three times to indict the guy, who threw a subway sandwich, who threw a sandwich at law enforcement in Washington, D.C.,

finally witnessed somebody else, got in that on a misdemeanor. They lost in court in 35 minutes. So, I mean, so these people are evil. These people will go to the end of the world to seek retribution, and people need to understand the kind of folks that we're dealing with when it comes to Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters. These folks flat out do not care about the Constitution or about the law. I've said numerous times they have no morals, no values, no principles, no ethics, no integrity, no honor, no decency.

I mean, you said at all. I don't even really need to add anything to that. You're 100% right, especially because we see them, you know, bastardizing the process. And that's one thing I kind of wanted to mention that is very scary about this. I was a former prosecutor. I presented to grand juries before. You know, obviously it's just the prosecutor in the room. But what is so terrifying about this is that the system is predicated on the idea of good faith, right?

The idea of things being done when you actually have evidence, things being done when there's actually been harm, things being done when there are actual violations of offenses, not weaponizing a system. where you can go and get an easy indictment, especially in a situation like this, where you have a magistrate who is being, you know, looking at it with a fine tooth comb and who's declining to put charges on certain people, that's incredibly important. Because very often with the grand jury, you've got 12 citizens who are being presented the evidence in the light most favorable to a prosecutor and he or she is asking them to return an indictment. That's much different than when you have somebody actually on the bench calling the balls and strikes and looking at whether it's there or not there.

And here, you go around that, right? It's not enough of an impediment that the magistrate said that there was insufficient evidence. You just find another way to indict it. And that's scary looking at just how the entire institutional process is set up. It's not supposed to be used that way. And, of course, there have been abuses over the years, many, many, many abuses. But the scary part about that is if you find the right person who's willing to go and get that indictment, then you can leverage the system in the way that they're weaponizing it.

And it's a tough thing for me, and I think for a lot of people, because even though we've known there have been these abuses over the years, if you have any belief whatsoever in the institutions, you know they're not supposed to work this way. And in real time, we are watching that they're being leveraged the way that they are to cause harm, to cause political vengeance, and to bring, you know, things like trumped up federal charges, which is terrifying, right, that you don't like this person

and then you just decide you want to go arrest journalists for doing their job. And more than that, even the people that are there congregating, I mean, you've got to hope that 12 people, a jury, looks at this right and determines that the evidence isn't there. I don't suspect that they're going to have any issue with that. But the fact that you're being put to task and put to trial on such a terrible indictment with such scant evidence is a terrifying thing, but it's the reality that we're in.

And I think people like me have to realize those institutions, probably have never existed the way we thought they did, but they most certainly do not exist that way now. And we have to have a new approach to basically everything. Okay. And if they clearly don't care about the Face Act, this is, there were dozens of people who Donald Trump pardoned right after he was inaugurated three days afterwards who violated the Face Act. Look at these people right here. These are all folks who they pardoned. So I guess what Trump is saying that if you protest, to the abortion clinic and you violate the Face Act and you convict it,

then I'm going to let you out of jail. But if you are a journalist and activist and you go into a church, then we're going to prosecute you. Well, and that's what they call selective prosecution. And when we've heard of this term when it came to Comey and Letitia James, but I think what's key here, especially what Don Lemon said, is that obviously he's going to fight it and it's not over, but it really, really isn't over.

I mean, first you have his case, then you have whatever case he's going to bring, which he should because he's going to be doing it in the name of all journalists in the name of First Amendment rights, whether it's how they defamed him, whether it's how there was false imprisonment, whether it's selective prosecution. I mean, so certain seizure because they seize his person, there are so many violations here that we're going to be hearing about this, not just for the next few months, but a long, long time. Because after they're going to whatever silliness there is now as we see him being let out on zero bail, right? And we know that that means he wasn't a threat to anybody, which tracks. But we're going to see more. And we should see more from Don Lemon because he has every right to get on his side of the law and sue, because all these laws that they are creating a narrative that he has violated, they have violated against him. So we're going to see a lot more in this vein. I also think it's very interesting. that as you mentioned earlier, we saw what happened with Donald Trump and what he did to ABC and Paramount, New York Times, even though that failed, he's got a lawsuit, multibillion against the

Wall Street Journal. Now he's coming after non-legacy media, which speaks to the power of journalism and what we can do as journalists when we don't work at an ABC or CNN. Obviously, just as important, I think that that speaks volumes. When it comes to anybody who can get right to, on here and have a mic. And that is the real purpose of having the Constitution back you up and buttress you because everyone has a right to speak. And this computer that I'm sitting in front of is a great equalizer. So much so that Adon Lemon was fired from CNN, got on a mic, and now the Department of Justice got an indictment from Lord knows where and brought him on charges. But that's how important what you are doing and what other people.

people like you are doing in this world today. Legacy media, I'm putting it in the category of newspapers now. It is disappearing and here we are. Journalists in Minneapolis and the N-W-C-P there on the ground, they also spoke out today about these arrests. Also, yeah, thank you all for coming out. Sheree, Sh-E-R-E-C-U-R-R-Y. I am co-president of the National Association of Black Journalist, Minnesota Chapter. And Georgia Ford is one of our vice presidents of this chapter, and we demand the immediate release of her and for all charges to be dropped. She, as Harry had said earlier, she is an award-winning journalist. She has covered demonstrations throughout her career, including the protests that erupted after the murder of George Floyd.

The First Amendment protects the press and enables journalists to be able to do their jobs, to be able to collect, publish, and disseminate information that is important for all of our readers, our listeners, our viewers to understand what's going on. And Georgia was doing her job. She had boots on the ground. It is very important that people like her independent journalists, especially, be protected. They do not have the same type of backing as an independent journalist as someone would who works for a media outlet. So we are outraged for this and for her and for her family. And I hope all of you will feel the same who hears what happens to her and know that if it is about attacking a journalist, it is attacking all of us as citizens. Thank you.

The Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists strongly condemns the wrongful arrests of journalists, Fort and Don Lemon for reporting on a church protest in St. Paul. Georgia Fort, as many have already said, is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who has paved the way for independent journalism here in Minnesota. As a founder of Black Press and the Center for Broadcast Journalism and a former member of our board, Georgia is a pillar of our Minnesota journalism community. She has a passion for making the profession more accessible and has mentored and trained countless young journalists. We are alarmed by the escalating actions by the Trump administration that attack freedom of the press. Journalists not only have the right, but the

responsibility to observe and report events in the public interest. It is not illegal to document a protest against the federal government. The fact that the protests took place in the church does not negate journalists' First Amendment right to report. The effort to punish independent reporting is an effort to weaken democracy. If Georgia and Don's cases proceed, it would seriously undermine both the freedom of the press and the rule of law. We urge the federal government to remember the importance of the First Amendment. The Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists has recorded several acts of violence against journalists from federal law enforcement in the last month. The failure to stop these acts sets a dangerous precedent for censoring the

truth. The Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists will continue its commitment to protect press freedom and advocate for any of the truth. journalists in our state who experience a First Amendment violation. Thank you and we'll have a full statement posted on our website, MNSPJ.org, later today. You've heard already what's been said. We definitely stand in solidarity with our journalist and specifically Georgia Fort as she has been an integral part. Canadian women are looking for more. More to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are out of them. And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart. And I'm Catherine.

And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women. Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey. So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us. Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on IHartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Babes, what are you doing? What? I'm just mowing the lawn. No, it's blazing hot and dry out here.

Don't you remember? Smokey bear says, avoid using power equipment when it's windy or dry. Where'd you learn this? Oh, it's on... Smokeybear.com, with many other wildfire prevention tips. Right. Thanks, honey, bear. Because remember, only you can prevent wildfires. Brought to you by the USDA Forest Service,

your state forester, and the Ad Council. And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is... You can decide who takes home the 26thiHard Podcast Awards Podcast of the year by voting at IHeartPodcastawards.com Now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at iHeartPodcastawards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible

Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. Of providing the news for the

black community. That being said, I also want to say that what you're seeing now and what we're experiencing is a pivot away from what's happening with our democracy. And if we allow this to happen now, this is not a Republican, this is not a Democratic, this is not a black, white, as you already heard, this is a humanity issue. And what we're experiencing you all, and you have to recognize it, even for the most people who are not even, you know, brilliant or can't see clearly,

this is blatant as it gets. Number 47 is out to be a dictator. And he is looking to take away all of our rights. Everyone who voted him in, he's voting you out. So what I would say, we have another election coming up. We need to prepare to vote, to get our voices heard, and to make sure that we're doing what's necessary to make sure our democracy saves a democracy and not a dictatorship. All right, folks. So we're going to keep covering this again. On Monday, we are participating with the National Association of Black Journalists or a National Town Hall talking about the attacks on press freedom. So we look forward to doing that.

We'll be covering to see whether this goes for the rest of the weekend. I'm going to go to a break and come back headlines of Brittany Noble. But then also we're going to talk about why did this action happen today? Oh, could it be the release of millions of pages and the Epstein files, which includes allegations of Donald Trump, forcing a 13-year-old girl to perform oral sex on him. It's probably why he wanted the story to be changed. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. They said the quiet part out loud. Black votes are a threat. So they erased them. After the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Republican legislatures

moved fast. New voter ID laws, polling place shutdowns, purges of of black voters from the rolls. Trump's Justice Department didn't stop it, they joined in. In 2018, his DOJ backed Ohio's voter purge system, a scheme that disproportionately erased black voters, their goal, erase black votes and political power. Yeah, that happened. These are the kinds of stories that we cover every day

on Roland Martin unfiltered. Subscribe on YouTube and download the Black Star Network app. Support fact-based independent journalism that sent African Americans and the issues that matter to our community. In this country right now, you have people get up in the morning, and the only thing they can think about is how many people they can hurt, and they've got the power. That's the time for mourning. For better or worse, what makes America special,

it's that legal system that's supposed to protect minorities from the tyranny of the majority. We are at a point of a moral emergency. We must raise a... voice of outrage. We must raise a voice of compassion and we must raise a voice of unity. We are not in a crisis of party versus party. We are in a crisis of civilization, a human rights crisis and a crisis of democracy itself. And guess what? You've been chosen to make sure that those that would destroy, those that would hate, don't have the final

say and they don't ultimately win. Hey, I'm Malcolm Lee and you're watching the Black Star Network. All right, folks, time for Black Star Network headlines with Brittany Noble. Professional lightweight champion boxer Javanta Tank Davis has bonded out of jail in Miami following his arrest. It's related to a domestic violence suit from last October. Police were looking for Davis for two weeks after issuing a warrant for his arrest on January 14th. He's facing attempted kidnapping, false and imprisonment and battery charges. 31-year-old Davis had Brennan's with law enforcement in South Florida.

Last summer, he was arrested on domestic violence charges, which were later dropped. A pregnant North Carolina officer dies after doctors delay life-saving care. C.G. Graham, who feared her pregnancy with kill her, died after failing to get urgent heart treatment or get a timely abortion, despite repeatedly seeking help from doctors, clinics. Graham had a history of atrial fibrillation and thyroid disease. Some of those symptoms showed up as palpitations in the shortness of breath. Medical experts who later reviewed the case say the 34-year-old's death was likely preventable and illustrates how abortion restrictions and gaps in cardiac training are reshaping care for high-risk pregnancies. A new debate is

growing over whether more black doctors automatically means better outcomes for black patients, A group called Do No Harm is challenging a study by economists Michael Frakes and Jonathan Gruber that linked higher numbers of black physicians at military hospitals to improve outcomes for black patients. The group argues the research never directly compared black patients treated by black doctors versus non-black doctors and says some of the best outcomes actually happened with non-black physicians at more diverse facilities. The parents of Kendrick Johnson are so far.

finding for truth and justice. You may remember his story. The 17-year-old's body was found rolled up in a gym mat at a Georgia high school. But new evidence from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, medical examiner dispute initial reports. The motion was filed in the federal court by the Johnson family this month, according to Kendrick's parents, new evidence from a 2013 Louns County Sheriff's Office narrative report may change the case from an accidental death to a homicide. The additional evidence consists of multiple photographs and a school resource officers report that appears to contradict the official investigation and forensic reports. Johnson's father questions how can two officers responding to the same incident at the same time file exact opposite reports concerning

the appearance and condition of the evidence that the case has been closed multiple times by local and federal authorities but this family has maintained that he was murder. Also new information on unemployment has been released by the Bureau of labor statistics. It shows that black workers faced persistently higher unemployment in 2025 compared to other racial groups. The report links those disparities to federal hiring freezes, rollbacks of diversity and affirmative action policies. Also a government shutdown that paused key labor data by November black employment, unemployment rose above 8 percent, the highest level since 2021. And one year later, and retail giants target is still reeling from the board.

showing people that there is power and money and unity. The movement started in March of 2025 after Target's decision to ax the EI efforts within the company and just 47 days after the president issued an executive order banning the same kind of initiatives in the federal government. Well, the store lost $12.5 billion in the market value and experience drops in foot traffic, stock, and sales. All right, folks. The Epstein files.

Trump's DOJ dropped today. Three million pages. 2,000 videos, 180,000 images. And now you need to understand why they arrested Don Lemon and Georgia Fort today. This is all about separating and the distraction. Politico has this story. here. New documents reveal the breadth of Jeffrey Epstein's orbit. This is their headline. It shows right here that the documents shed new light on the depth of its relationships between the

convicted sex offender and figures such as Steve Bannon, Elon Musk, and world leaders. It also includes, and this is quite interesting here how Twitter, how you see under Twitter, how they frame this. They say, DOJ releases final Epstein files with unsubstantiated Trump tips. Well, that includes a 13-year-old suggesting that Donald Trump forced her to perform oral sex on him. And so now here's what's crazy.

They put the information out. Oh, then all the Trump stuff got deleted from the DOJ website. And after that was a massive uproar, then they put some of the stuff back. I want to go to my panel now. Candace, I'll start with you. Trump did not want.

I don't trust these people at all. There's no doubt in my mind. They knew that the media was going to focus on the lemon arrest. And they said, hey, we need to have something that knocks this sucker out of the top spot. And ain't no coincidence that they decided to do both on the same day. There is no coincidence. That was planned. And here's a good question.

Where's Pam Bondi and all this? This seems like it would be in her will. house, but she's not someone I think that they are very happy with in terms of all her missteps. And she was nowhere to be seen in terms of making this announcement. I found that to be very interesting. But you're right. This is something where they knew that Don Lemon was going to be taking up all of the space and the headlines.

And that's exactly what is going on. But people are caught up. You know, people aren't silly. We are too informed these days. When we talk about freedom of the press and freedom. to information, we're all connected online and there's too much information and you can't pull the wool over our eyes that way. So I think it's very juvenile for them to think that we would not notice that this was buried because of what is in these files. And that's something

that we're going to be talking about for a long time. Listen, midterms are coming. This is something that certainly they are afraid of. We know that Donald Trump's numbers are going down. So of course they're doing all they can do to do what they have been doing for years. And that is create narratives. So there's nothing new one to the sun and we're all under the same son. Again, these folks, I mean, these files are crazy, Matt. Jeffrey Epstein says in these files that Bill Gates called a sexually transmitted disease from some Russian girls and wanted to be secretly slipped some antibiotics for his wife, Melinda. This is, of course, the emails. You've got economists Larry Summers sharing deleted emails, how reluctant

claiming Trump's Commerce Secretary claiming, oh, I cut off contact with Jeffrey Epstein, oh, the file show, no, you didn't. You were still in contact. And again, all throughout was released, Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump, they do not want this to be the focus of the American media. No, they don't. And I think, you know, your comments in Candace is are right that they did this timing, this timing was done strategically. But you know, what I'm kind of baffled by is if DOJ is the one releasing these, these documents and DOJ has not released these documents on the timetable, they were supposed to release them.

I'm really confused about why they released anything with Trump's name. And obviously, you know, there would be people who would be fact checkers, truth checkers, to make sure that what was actually in the documents, you know, the things that correlated to him, eventually came out. But I don't understand why you release anything about him if you release anything at all. These allegations are absolutely abhorrent. And I think they're going to have a measurable effect in the midterm and midterms. And I think one of the things that you see across the aisle is you see a lot, I've seen at least a lot of Republicans also calling for those documents to be released. So I'm not understanding strategically what they're doing with the release of the documents outside of the timing.

In terms of the substantive documents, it doesn't seem to me to be a coherent strategy. But then again, you know, we've got Pam Bondi running the ship. And to use Candace's terminology, her missteps have been great and many. So, you know, I don't know if this is just an own goal or what they're trying to do. Well, first of all, remember their hand was forced. I mean, Congress passed a law forcing them to release it. Also a federal judge in December rule at the grand jury testimony regarding Jeffrey Epstein also had to be released. And when Cooney, let's go back to early on after inauguration.

That was this under this undercover operation with this, you know, this conservative group, I think tied to James O'Keefe. Well, they caught a DOJ person saying that they were scrubbing Donald Trump's name from as many of the Jeffrey Epstein documents as possible. And yet his name appeared over 200 times in the most recent releases. I mean, there's a number of allegations against President Trump, and they continue to occur. And it really begs the question, does the American public care if there is a pedophile in office as chief of this country? I mean, it's honestly quite scary. Some of the details that were shared in this, I mean, you spoke about a few of them. They also suggested that Epstein was introducing young people to a gentleman named the Duke.

It talked about Epstein time in prison and the circumstances surrounding his death. I mean, there's so many nefarious things that have happened between then and now and these constant attempts to cover it up. It really seems like Pam Bondi has spent most of her time on Twitter and covering up for President Trump. And at this point, I think that's, that's her job. That's what she's paid for, not to actually defend the Constitution or the constituents of the United States. Well, remember, you also had Cash Patel, FBI director, who went before Congress. And when he was asked about Jeffrey Epstein trafficking minors, this is what he said. There's no credible information.

None. If there were, I would bring the case. Canadian women are looking for more. more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are out of them. And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart. And I'm Catherine Clark. And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women. Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us. Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on IHart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. All right, son. Time to put out this campfire. Dad, we learned about this in school. Oh, did you now? Okay. What's first? Smokey Bear said to. First, drown it with a bucket of water, then stir it with a shovel.

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by voting at IHeartPodcastawards.com now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at IHeartPodcastawards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. Yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals.

And the information we have, again, is limited. So the answer is no one? For the information that we have. In the files. In the case file. The only problem with that, Candace, is that, oh, you had actually, according to these documents, 40 girls give testimony that they were trafficked. Exactly.

And while we don't know their names, we certainly know that we've seen a lot of them on Capitol Hill. And then we've seen additional ones in these particular documents that have come out today. You know, this is just a game of storytelling. And that's ultimately what it comes down to. You know, you've got one person's side and another person's side. That's really what the law is all about. And this is what you said. This is based on an act named after Epstein so that these particular files could be released.

They're doing it little by little. but obviously the big one was today because of the timing of it. But at the end of the day, they're creating a story for ultimately what comes after. What comes after is going to be campaigning. What comes after is going to be questions in and around these files. And of course, we're going to see that there are going to be a lot of questions that are going to be asked to Donald Trump. So they're going to try to get ahead of the game throughout the weekend

in order to make up whatever story they need to do in order to distract, distract, distract, because that is the name of this game. It's what we've been seeing in Minnesota. It's what we've been seeing in Greenland. It's what we've been seeing in everything that's going on and what we call this United States of America. What's your story?

And if you don't have a story that is the truth, just make it up. Just make it up. So we have to be very discerning as people who are looking at things online and looking on the news because they will. the administration will just make it up.

Well, Matt, and what you're dealing with here is, again, you're dealing with a, look, Jeffrey Epstein role with a lot of powerful people. And when you look at these documents, the names being mentioned, again, Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew. I mean, we could go on and on and on. It's a lot of powerful folk who don't want information being released. and what really screwed up is Donald Trump was the one who kept talking about Epstein, Epstein, Epstein, as if his business would never get released.

And then what you have is you had the far right who were demanding Epstein, Epstein, and one of the reasons we're at this point now is because they wouldn't let go up. Not folks on the left, not Democrats, but the right, the conservatives, the evangelicals, the conspiracy theories, the right was forcing Donald Trump to have to deal with this here. what it bit them in their ass. You're 10,000% right, because anecdotally, that's exactly what I was referring to in my prior statement, is the number of people I've seen on social media, for instance, calling for the immediate release of the Epstein files are primarily conservative people that I happen to know, right, who are just demanding and that's what they were talking about

ad nauseum. So keeping it in their own mount, the Trump administration, when he was talking about it, I mean, it just seems to me to be an own goal. I don't know. how they ever thought they were going to try to get away from any of this stuff. And clearly, they've gone through and tried to scrub a lot of the, you know, the records. And, you know, something Candace mentioned, I think is really important here, right? Maybe part of the play is that some of these things will never be able to be substantiated. I know there are many people who gave statements there were deep investigations, right? But maybe their thought is many of the things that are in these Epstein files

are things that can never be substantiated and they're therefore uncorroborated. and you can try to one off it and say it's, you know, whatever, political or somebody trying to smear you. But to your other point, you've got a lot of very, very prominent, wealthy people in those records and those files. And there's a lot of mutually assured destruction that's going to come, number one. But number two, there's way too much smoke to not be fire. And I don't know, you know, how some of these people think they're going to escape, you know, being connected to him in the way that they were. And maybe it's just that it can't be corroborated. But it's a very telling sign that a lot of these birds of a feather flocked together,

and it's just heinous a lot of these allegations. Well, and the thing here in Cooney, they're going to gray ends to obfuscate, to obscure, to get people to turn away. I mean, this is just what they do. They are excellent at doing that. And it's no shock they would actually drop these three million documents on a Friday. We all, it's called, you know, take out the trash when you drop something on a Friday. day. And then, of course, there's arrest going on. And so we see the game they're being played.

But guess what? It's not going away. And I'm like, to all the folks on the right, y'all keep lighting his ass up, going right ahead. Listen, I think we have to ask ourselves, what's the difference between Vladimir Putin, Jin Pig, Aquarian Aertria, and Kim Jong-un. These are all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. So since Donald Trump likes to hypertrium, hypothesize as if we're not in an authoritarian or totalitarian regime, he has to release these sorts of files, right? But what he can do is create an illusion and obfuscation, like you said, Roland, as the young people say, this is a scheme that Todd set up. This is a scheme to distract the American people away from paying attention to the fact that there is a pedophile sitting in the highest office in this country. Like Matt said, there's too much vote to not be

fire. How can someone that has been a convicted pedophile, convicted sex offender that allegedly killed themselves mysteriously, right, only for these files to come out with photos, with conversations, with testimonies against these millionaires and these billionaires and these people that are all part of the hegemony. Like that, they were said, birds of a feather flock together, Donald Trump is not only amongst them, but quite frankly, is leading the goal course towards this, again, terror and tyranny that we're seeing in the United States. We're going to continue to see this, and we're going to continue to see the obfuscation. Where there's smoke, there's fire, we have to continue to follow the through line. Whenever I see things like major arrest happening,

I'm actually curious what else is happening that day. Like you said, they were able to upload files and then delete them. They would only be able to do that if they had a distraction like the Don Lemon arrest. So while Pam Bondi is online saying when life gives you lemons, she needs to be concerned about her boss being tried in court for being a sex offender. He should not be occupying office. He should be thrown into jail as a sex offender that he is. What I think is important for us going forward, Candace, I'll go to you first, is to understand that we are literally dealing with a thug-in-chief. We are dealing, there's no such thing as guardrails.

There's no such thing as firewalls. Donald Trump will use every part of the federal government apparatus to indulge his craziness. I recall the other day hearing a story and they were talking about the first time that idiot was there and a discussion about Venezuela came up and Trump goes, well,

military options. And one of the individuals said, I think it was H.R. McMaster who said, this is just with John Carl telling this story. He said, well, we don't actually have to go that what other things are to do. Why not? Why not?

And so that he wanted to see military options. So they walk out and John Kelly, retired four-star, Trump's chief of staff, caught up and said, what are you doing? He says, well, I'm going to drop military options. He's like, no, you're not. No, you're not. He said,

don't worry about it. He's going to forget it. He's going to move on. Here's the problem. there are no HR McMasters this time around. There are no John Kelly's this time around. There are no general Millies. There are no, the people who knew he was nuts, who would stop his craziness.

This time he said, I'm going to make sure none of those kind of people are near me, and this is what we are getting. And so when it comes to, I mean, listen, they were supposed to immediately release all the Epstein files. That was more than 30 days ago. They've actually defied a law passed by Congress. Well, yeah.

Yeah, but you make a very good point in that, you know, things have changed so much that what we're looking at is no longer a separation of anything that we have heard about before, whether it's church and state, whether it's judicial, legislative, and executive, because all they do, meaning the Department of Justice, the President, the Executive Branch, they dance around and they find the answer that they want, just like they did with Don Lemon. After going to five judges, some of those judges he appointed. So we are seeing the laws change day by day, little by little.

And this is unprecedented. So that's why nobody knows what to do or where exactly we're going to land. The only way we know where to land is if we get to the polls and we change things, though it's almost like a catch-22. You have your laws that might change and new people that are in place, but then you have the executive branch circumventing the laws and doing things to dismantle it by different things that they're doing. This is unprecedented time.

The power belongs to the people to continue to hit the streets, make themselves heard, because as we see, that certainly makes a difference. Because if it didn't, we wouldn't have heard anything about those protesters at that church. But that does make a difference. And for people who don't think that it does, look at Don Lemon, look at the other journalists that were arrested. That is where we get the most action when people get together online and offline and let people know that our First Amendment rights are not going to be stomped upon.

And I think that that's something that we, all need to be thinking about. Yes, get people to the polls, but that executive and judicial and legislative branch, it's all working like this together. It is no longer separate. So it'll just be interesting to see what comes because there's no precedent. We're living in the precedent right now every single day. And that is amazing to see as an American that the Constitution that we've talked about for years and years and interpreted up, left, right, and up and down is not making any sense still. But the truth be told, the Constitution hasn't made sense, you know, over the past hundreds of years anyway in terms of those people who have interpreted and those

races who are in place in order to make their narrative suit their needs. So this is not a surprise, but it's something that we have to continue to work on that you do it at the ground level. Matt, people are going to have to understand that the only way to stop this fascist regime is at the ballot box. You can't do anything about the White House, but they absolutely can be stopped in the House and the Senate, but that's going to have to take a massive number of people showing up and voting and crossing and jumping over the hurdles being placed in their way to prevent them or making it harder for them to vote. I think that's partially right. I think voting and going to the ballot box and just civic involvement is clearly a major mechanism. But

if I'm 100% honest, I'm really struggling with that. I mean, just from an institutional standpoint, I don't know that we're going to have full, fair, and free elections. I don't know that we're going to have elections the way we've known them, you know, over the years. And I'm really struggling with that because I'm definitely not advocating for, you know, mass anarchy. But I don't, I don't know that those guardrails, like you said earlier, guard whales and firewalls and the system we know to normally work to bring about change, even if incremental, just clearly does not work. I don't know where that leaves us. Now, I don't think we need to throw up our hands in desperation, but I don't know that the ballot box is the only answer. I mean, I don't know what it is at this point. I don't know

if it's mass demonstration. I don't know if it's shutting down cities with people in the streets refusing to go to work, shutting down economies. I'm not sure what that looks like anymore, but that's what I'm grappling with. And I frankly think that's what a lot of American people are grappling with now because voting is important. Sure, the ballot box is important, but I don't know that any of those institutional approaches work anymore. And I don't know where that leaves us in the short term. I do think we've got a duty, a moral duty to continue bearing witness, which is what this show and all the myriad shows out there are doing in the citizen journalist and the average citizen who's recording what's going on around them. But I haven't seen yet what that coalesces to really put a

stop to this because what we're watching real time is the federal government and open rebellion to its citizens. And I don't know that voting is the response to that. I don't know that it gets us there. The reason I say voting is the response when Cooney because the lawyers have to do what they do. The legal battle that takes place, they have to do that. But there's nothing else that citizens have. Yes, you can do an economic withdrawal. You can do a boycott, whatever. But voting allows for you to replace the people in charge. Voting allows you to say, okay, you know what?

We boot out. I'm going to cut in because I know where Roland was leading there, but today was actually a boycott. And one of the issues and challenges that we struggle with within the black communities that were not on one accord. Man, I remember when there were leaders like Malcolm and Martin that everybody was on on one accord with whether or not they agreed with them when they said a boycott was happening, a boycott happened.

And we're not seeing that anymore, right? We struggle with figuring out who the clearly defined leaders of not only our political parties, but of our culture are. And I think when we think about what Matt's points were, they're really salient in that. A lot of us are throwing up our hands and saying, listen, I don't know next for the future of America. But one of the things that I always like to do is point people towards their history. I've read a really good book some years ago called The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon. And it talks about the types of governments that silence, censor, and violently suppress the centers,

including journalists, intellectuals and activists, this is not the first time something like this is happening. We are in the midst of a colonial regime, right? That's being held in agreement by police soldiers and ICE agents right now, right? And so we really need to figure out what the clear conscience of Black America is. I think it's very clear that we're combating white supremacy right now on some of the highest levels that we've ever seen, certainly in this lifetime.

But I think it's time for the African American community to truly start organizing. And like Roland was saying, I think voting is one way to do that. And that's the very reason why we created it. Canadian women are looking for more, more to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are out of them.

And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart. And I'm Catherine Clark. And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women, entrepreneurs, artists, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us. Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on IHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. All right, son. Time to put out this campfire. Dad, we learned about this in school. Oh, did you now? Okay. What's first? Smokey bear said to... First, drown it with a bucket of water, then stir it with a shovel. Wow, you sound just like him.

Then he said... If it's still warm, then do it again. Where can I learn all this? It's all on smoky bear.com with other wildfire prevention tips, because only you can prevent wildfires. Brought to you by the USDA Forest Service, your state forester, and the ad council. And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is,

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Politicking to work with historically disengaged and disenfranchised communities and educating them on what will appear on their ballot. But what's missing within the black community right now is true demonstrated leadership. We have to champion these leaders. We need to go back into the black church, right? The black church, the nation, the Black Panther Party, when we think about the legacy organizations that our freedom kind of was built upon in this country,

we don't see our activity in those organizations anymore. So I think it's really time for us as a people to collectively circle back to what has historically worked for us while including innovation, while including digital media like we have now, while including the younger generation of influencers, figuring out how to champion our message on the front line. That's the aspect that I think is missing.

Yes, let's vote, but let's also make sure that we're collectively organized because right now, Black America continues to be fragmented, and that's why we continue to be held at mercy from white supremacy. So here's the thing that I think we have to have to recognize. here. And why, why these forces converge? Last night, I was, a couple nights ago, I was looking at some old episodes of the West Wing, my favorite, all-time favorite TV show. And that was an African president who was meeting with the White House in order for them to gain critical drugs because HIV was ravaging the country.

the country. And he goes into the Oval Office and he's told that a coup is happening in New York country. And he tells the president says, I need to get back to my country. So Mr. President, I can't allow that. He said, they have the airport. They have the radio station. They have a television station. I have said this for years. I have said to people for years that the second most powerful institution in the world behind the military is media. And I've said that because anytime there is a coup, anytime there's a coup anywhere in the world, what's the most important? That is you get control of the media.

Why? Because you're able to control the hearts and minds of mass media. Why did the devastation in Rwanda? Why was that devastating? Why was it so devastating took place in Rwanda? Easy because they were using the radio to spread lies, falsehoods that hype the people up. And so this is what happens anywhere in the world. You control the media.

The United States being a republic, we're not a democracy. We are a republic because we have elected representatives. So we're not actually governed directly by the people. We were governed by the people. we will be a democracy, but we actually elect people do the governing, so therefore we are a republic. Which means that being a republic and we elect people to govern, that means that our most sacred responsibility, because not everybody in media, not everybody in the country are journalists, not everyone is reporting, which means that the one thing, the one thing that somebody watching or listening, One thing that somebody in Florida and California in Maine, in Texas, in Wyoming and Idaho, in Tennessee and Kansas, and Iowa, as well as North Carolina, as well as Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington State, the one thing that all of those people have. have is the ability to actually vote.

I don't say right to vote because the right to vote per individual is not actually enshrined in the United States Constitution. And so what I am saying is this is how you actually stop what is happening here. The reason Donald Trump and MAGA are able to do what they do is because Republicans control the House and the Senate. they are so scared of him that he gets to act like a king. Because when you talk about how the country was constructed, I call founders 1.0 because they were not truly founders.

They were founders for white people. The way the country was constructed, they really believed that the Constitution, and this was the problem that both Biden and Harris had because they actually believed this. saying that we have guardrails when in fact we didn't have guardrails they thought we did and the founders thought we had guard rails they thought well the guardrails are you got the executive branch the legislative branch the judicial branch they thought the guard rails were the emolument clause they thought the guard rails were uh impeachment uh and being convinced they thought there were

actually guard rails but what they never anticipated what is why we've actually never seen this in in American history, never anticipated that the legislative branch would literally give up all of the authority to the executive branch. What they never expected, they never envisioned, they never envisioned the Fairland Society would then create judicial nominees who became judges, who would then say, we're going to let you do what you want to do. Now, not all Trump or Republican appointed the judges have done that, but a whole lot have. This Supreme Court, in my estimation, Candace, Matt, and Wincun, plays a larger role in the criminality that we are seeing coming out of 1600

Pennsylvania than any of the branch because when they make that ruling about, oh, you can pretty much do the hell you want to do. You have mutiny. Trump's, oh, guess what? I got me a monopoly, get out of jail, free car, do whatever I want. The reason I need people to understand why voting matters is that if they do not have the power, they can't exercise the power. And we have the ability. I mean, I'm sitting here reading Texas Monthly has this article on the absolute insanity that is playing out at my alma mater, Texas A&M University, and how the right wing and how the right wing is just controlling. in dominating what's going on there.

And it's called Texas A&M melting point five presidents in five years, high profile firings and cancellations, crackdowns on dissent inside state leaders' efforts to remake one of our finest institutions. It lays out what they're doing. The only reason that is happening because Republicans completely control the state because no Democrats been elected statewide since 1980.

I'm talking about. talking about governor, lieutenant governor. I'm talking about Secretary of State Attorney General. I'm talking we go down the line. That's what we're seeing right here. So too many people, too many people are sitting on the sidelines saying my vote doesn't count. It doesn't matter. It does because what they fear and here's the thing and it's going to the final round of comments here fall through you. What they fear the most. And Donald Trump articulated this. He beg Republicans. Y'all got to

wait. Y'all got to keep the house. Y'all don't keep the house. They're going to impeach me. You know, listen, we got to keep the Senate. Let me say it again. If Donald Trump loses, Republicans lose the House and lose

the Senate, he knows he can't do what he is doing. And if he loses the Senate, they don't have to let through a single one of his nominees. They can completely shut it down. Candace, that's why we need people to understand that I don't care whether you are a billionaire, a millionaire, a thousandaire.

I don't care if you got one dollar in your bank account. I don't care if you're pitching pennies. The way to stop the madness, the way to stop this fascist regime is to shut them down at the ballot box. And if people turn out in massive numbers, 90 million people, did not vote in November. 616,000 African Americans in North Carolina. One million African Americans in Georgia. Folk need to understand.

You can shut this down. You can stop this and you can keep different than what they're doing. But if you stay at home and they maintain power, then you've given them the right to do so. And Trump today said it from the Oval Office. Oh, it was out of majority. They voted for these things. They voted for this crackdown.

They love what they're seeing. If you do not love what you're seeing, well, then damn it, you better show up. That's right. And we know how important it is for a lot of reasons, especially this week when we saw the executive branch still, what was that in Fulton County, looking into building and taking out boxes

and figuring out more information about the 2020 election. We've already crossed that bridge, but it was that important that six years later, they are still in that same lane. That is how important it is. He's still trying to prove things that he knows he can't prove, but he's still on a hunting expedition for that. You know, the United States Supreme Court, they certainly gave him the green light to be king. And look how he's acting. He is acting just like a king. You know, the United Kingdom, at one point, their empire was, what, over 80 countries?

And they did that by military conflicts, by commercial transactions. They just took countries. Look what Donald Trump is doing, trying to take Greenland. Look what he's doing. Not that we haven't taken a leader down from other countries, but look what he did recently, right? In terms of Venezuela, he is acting like a king. He is making up the law as he does. goes along. And you are correct. It might be slowly but surely. And you may not be able to look out

your window and see change in terms of, okay, but my neighborhood hasn't changed. You know, that's one good argument that I heard somebody tell me about why they did, why they voted for Trump. And they said, because everybody, every other Democrat that I've looked at and voted for, it stayed the same. I stayed in the same position. I looked outside the window. My neighborhood was still bad, people still couldn't afford food, education was sloppy and everything. But it happens little by little. You cannot give up what our ancestors fought for and what we are fighting for today, that right to vote. And it may not happen at the speed that you wanted to in terms of the changes, but it will happen. But you have to align everything and put it in place. Just like I might say

Donald Trump did with Project 25, the first round, the first round, he didn't get it right. The second round, a lot of people would say, you know what? He put his pedal to the medal and he came up with a plan and this is now how he's doing. That's what we need to do. We need to change our attitude and see what we did wrong in the past elections and come out because those 90 million people that you mentioned, they're the ones that lost the election. Matt, final comment. I'll just say, you know, I'm not saying anything to the exclusion of voting.

I think you're right. Maybe what needs to be added to that, take. making comments from both Lincouni and Candice is maybe I'm underestimating the power of the media and of real people bearing witness. But the reason I mentioned that is because what I noticed immediately in the wake of the Freddie shooting, the Freddie murder, is more people than I've ever seen before said, you're lying to me. What you're telling me is not true. I'm looking at something different than what you're saying. There's obviously a myriad of, of instance, of that in the past and other contexts.

But I wonder if right now at this inflection point in society, seeing that the government is just trying to straight up lie to you about something you see with your own eyes and leverage that to foment, you know, further hate and then the whatever silent majority, maybe that's the turning point. Maybe it's all of us having camera phones in our pocket and documenting everything exactly as it is and being discerning about what we're seeing and what we're being told

because the thing is there really are, is there really are a lot of people in this country who take that hook, line, and sinker. They take the bait that their country is being stolen from them by black and brown people and a horde of Somalis. None of these things are happening, right? So we've got to push back on that and maybe that characterization and that truth, not ever allowing the truth to being shrouded in the political lie, coupled with the voting, gets us where we need to go. But I think there also have to be some other approaches that maybe we haven't conceptualized yet because we're just in new territory.

Well, when Cooney, I think, I think, I don't think we're in new territory. I think what's old is new and what's new is old. I think the difference here, and this is really the big. Canadian women are looking for more, more to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are out of them. And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart. And I'm Catherine Clark. And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

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Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. The difference, I think, between what you used to see in present day is that 50s and 60s, you had three dominant sources. Television, ABC, NBC, CBS. Yes. I think the difference is prior to the 1950s, you had in the 60s, you had a significant number of newspapers. You had massive, massive readership, black newspapers, mainstream white newspapers. I think you had those things going on. Radio was. The difference here is, is the type of content. And this is where I believe social media comes in. The point that Matt just made of what he hears back to the time. feedback. That's because we really do not, I don't think many of us fully understand how devastating the algorithms are to feeding us information. The algorithms are designed because they've already

figured out. These companies have psychologists who they employ. And they have figured out that what drives people more than anything else is rage. It's rage. And whether And it's just a reality that people on the right are driven more by rage. When you take, when you take rage and you align it with race, you align it with gender, oh, it's a, it's a whole, I mean, it's, it's off the charts. And so that's what you're seeing from the right. What has to happen, has to happen is that we cannot, ignore that reality.

And what we have to now realize is that, to your point, Win Cooney, we can't say, well, the elections in November. No, no, no. The elections tomorrow. The organizing and the mobilizing, the teaching, the education, and the educating and the enlightening has to happen now. We have to push back on it all. Why do we have this platform? I'm telling you, when TV One canceled this, my show on December 9th, 2017,

I said, you know what, Tom Jones retired in December 2019, we are not going to have a major black source to get our news and content of the 2020 election. That was the main impetus for launching this show and then eventually launching the network. I was very clear on why I was doing it. It wasn't just because. And so I understood the power of information.

I had been saying for a very long time. And they hate when I say it, but I don't want to hear. Essence today is not essence 30 years ago. Jet does not exist. Ebony is essentially an Instagram page. Our black newspapers are not what they used to be. And so the reality is we have a dearth of news and information. I'm talking gossip.

I'm not talking some housewife. I'm not talking some boxer. I'm not talking some basketball player. I'm talking to the debate between LeBron and MJ, who's the goat as if Bill Russell and Kareem did exist. All of that. But we literally have black people who are not getting real, credible, factual information. And that is a death nail of a society. The death nail of a society is when you have an uninformed electorate.

And that's what we cannot have in these people. They can't be stopped, but the people can only stop them, including your final coming. That's what we're combating against every single day. I want to start by saying, thank you, Roland, for the work that you're doing. Thank you, Don Lemon for the work that you're doing. Thank you, Georgia for the work that you're doing. Independent media, independent journalists are the lifeblood of our community.

We know silence is complicity. I want to paint a very clear picture for the young people who are listening right now as to why voting matters. Let's get really, really granular. We have to talk about the power that is behind voting in a really clear way, right? A lot of times I hear friends and families say, well, it doesn't matter because the electoral college and da-da-da-da. Let's talk about the Supreme Court like you all mentioned. Donald Trump nominated three of the nine sitting members of the Supreme Court. Court. Three, that's one third of them. There is a six to three conservative majority on the court.

What that means is the person that you guys elect in office gets the sole privilege of being able to nominate these Supreme Court justices that are able to hold him accountable or not hold him accountable or her accountable for what happens when they are in office. That means whenever something is contested, it goes to the judicial system. When you see false arrest and allegations being made like we saw this morning and last night, it goes to the judicial system. And when you have a judicial system that is upholding a white supremacist agenda, we're in big trouble. The United States Supreme Court has continued to undermine rights and democracy. They have continued to promote their shadow docket and lack of transparency. They have continued to support partisan

polarization and support this legitimacy crisis that we see in the media. They have continued to stand behind the ethical concerns that so many Americans have every single day and are turning to the Gisselbrantz to try to legitimize it. And they're falling on death ears because of this six to three conservative majority. And we're seeing the abdication of checks and balances. This is all due to the fact that Donald Trump got to elect three Supreme Court justices in his first term. These people have a lifetime appointment. If you don't see the importance of voting for the person who can nominate people who have a lifetime appointments, the sitting kings and queens of this country, that's the problem in itself.

2026 is paramount. Even though we're not going to be voting for president, we're going to be voting for a Congress, and Senate, the checks and balances that are going to be able to, again, uphold or not uphold what the president wants to push into power. With the Donald Trump presidency, we see the swing of authoritarianism. We see him using authoritarian power and executive power each and every single day. The only way to come out against this is to have a Senate and Congress that looks at least a little bit blue because right now we're seeing a red tide and that's exactly why this country is descended into pitfalls of hell that it currently means.

All right, folks. We certainly appreciate y'all being with us, Win Cooney, Matt, and Candace. As I said, on Monday at 6 p.m., we're going to be hosting a National Association of Black Journal's National Town Hall on the attack on journals and the freedom of the press. And so we'll be working well over that over the weekends.

We look forward to that. I'm going to thank all three of you for joining us. Folks, don't forget support the work that we do. Listen, if there's, if there's a, if you need a better example, why we need, uh, independent black on media, what you saw today, uh, is a perfect example. And so your support, uh, absolutely is critical. Uh, again, we need 20,000 of our folks contributing on every 50 us each of year to raise a million dollars, the work that we do. A lot of you guys, a lot of y'all watching us right now. And I appreciate a lot of people making comments in the chat on YouTube,

on Facebook. And also, you know, on our. our app, but we need to support what we do there. And that is, those dollars are important because we can't do this work. We can't hire the staff. We can't do the live reporting and travel across the country if you don't support us. And so we need you to do that. So please stand with us and give to us. You want to contribute via cash app. Please use the strike QR code. You see it right before us. That's, you could use that for cash hat and you strike cure a code. You could also use that for credit cards as well. Don't forget if you want to, if you want, if you want to use check some money order to make it payable, Roller Martin unfiltered,

sent it to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 203, 7.0196. Paypal's Rmartin unfiltered. Benmos R.M unfiltered. Z.O.Rlin at Rolomartonfilture.com. And y'all got to realize, you know, some of y'all are watching on Facebook. Hey, man, guess what? You know, Facebook is over there, suppressing black content. I've got, it's crazy. We've got almost two million to folks following us on YouTube, 1.4 million on Facebook. Right now, there are 96 people watching on Facebook

and more than nearly 4,000 on YouTube. Yeah, content. So I need you to understand. This is one of the reasons why we also have our own app. That app costs us, and what you understand, $120,000 a year because of the content suppression that you're seeing happened right now. Facebook is absolutely there's no we used to have more than 10,000 people watching us live on Facebook right now 90 no right now 82 are watching us on Facebook that is

absolutely insane that is complete complete Facebook we know suppresses um suppresses anti-trump content and they absolutely suppress um black content and so that's just a reality Folks, download our Blackstar Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV. Be sure to get our Roland Martin Unfiltered Blackstar Network swag by going to shop blackstar network.com. Shop blackstar network.com. You also can support our Blackowned products. When you buy Blackowned products from us, you also support this show.

So go to Shop Blackstar Network.com. Download the app fan base. Please do that. And then you can, of course, support us as well. They were actually at an audio room earlier that was carrying our content. And they're building up their RTMP. So hopefully we're going to be able to stream live on Facebook, excuse me, on fan base very soon.

Also, don't forget, folks, we have our daily noon news show, the breakdown with Brittany Noble. That's every single day at noon Eastern, Monday through Friday. So please check out that show. And, of course, we appreciate all of that. of y'all who joined us early today. I was a part of that broadcast as well. And then, of course, our new show,

Second Opinion with Dr. Ebony Hilton. We've made that show on yesterday. We'll be restreaming that several times between now and next week when a new episode appears next week. Folks, stick around. Coming up next, I've got this great interview with Doug Jones, former Senator Doug Jones. He was the prosecutor in the case of the racist white men

who bombed 16th Street Baptist Church leading to the death of four black. girls. You do not want to miss my conversation with him about his book. So I appreciate it. Folks, I'll see y'all Monday right here, Rolla Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Howe! May 2nd, country's biggest stars will be in Austin, Texas at our 2026 I-Hard Country Festival presented by Capital One, C, Kane Brown, Parker McCollum, Riley Green, Shaboozy,

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