Trump's minions are lying to courts to lock up his enemies: Harvard professor

President Donald Trump's administration continues to deceive courts, Harvard academic James Sample warned MS NOW's Katy Tur — and they're using it to bypass the rights of political enemies they want to put behind bars.

This comes as the Justice Department files highly controversial charges against former CNN journalist Don Lemon for allegedly intimidating churchgoers during an anti-ICE protest at a congregation where a pastor was doing work for federal immigration officials. Lemon, who has denied any wrongdoing and said he was there to cover the event, pleaded not guilty on Friday.

"It is amazing, the broader issue ... It's a pattern of misrepresentation, or just violating court orders or violating proper procedure," said anchor Katy Tur.

One of the key examples of this, Tur noted, is the incident in which Trump officials put out an AI-edited image of the arrest of Nekima Levy Armstrong, a key demonstrator at the church, made to look like she was sobbing.

"The only reason we know this is manipulated is because DHS initially put out the other image first, which calls into question what else they might be doing that we can't detect," she said.

"Absolutely ... And the example that you can see literally see on your screen, the euphemism is narrative, narrative-based law enforcement," said Sample. "The plain English is the government is lying to courts and to the American people."

"And it's not just activist judges who are standing up to this around the country," Sample added. "In fact, last week, a George W. Bush appointee in, of all places, West Virginia wrote this about an individual who had been detained without a bond hearing, wrote: 'This was a contractor, quote, who pays his taxes, who without explanation, without hearing, without notice, or without any means of challenging that detention, is seeking release.'"

"These are judges from across the ideological spectrum, dating back to judges appointed by Ronald Reagan, who are saying, enough is enough with this notion of, you're a domestic terrorist until we are affirmatively confronted with evidence that you're not."

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