Federal officials have arrested former CNN host Don Lemon for his presence at a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a Minnesota church during a Sunday service.
The Thursday evening arrest comes after Lemon said he was there in his capacity as a journalist to report on the protest. He’s charged committing federal civil rights crimes during the event.
On Jan. 18, protesters stormed Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, asserting the pastor was connected to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Protesters began shouting, “ICE out!” Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday morning that federal law enforcement arrested four individuals, including Lemon, associated with the protest.
“At my direction, early this morning federal agents arrested Don Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota,” Bondi said, promising “more details soon” in her post on X.
The Justice Department had dropped its arrest warrant requests for Lemon and several others involved in the protest earlier this week, after federal Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko had also previously rejected the charges against Lemon.
After Micko initially rejected the arrest warrants, the DOJ appealed the decision to a higher court, in which Judge Patrick J. Schiltz, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, also refused to take action on the emergency request. Then, the DOJ appealed for a “writ of mandamus” to request a higher court force Schiltz to take action, according to Politico. That panel of judges rejected the emergency decision as well.
Lemon’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, railed against the Thursday arrest in a statement.
“This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand. Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court,” Lowell said.
Lowell maintained Lemon’s stance that he was doing “constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis,” reporting on the church protest.
“Once the protest started in the church, we did an act of journalism, which was report on it and talk to the people involved, including the pastor, members of the church, and members of the organization,” Lemon said in a recent video posted to social media. “That’s it. That’s called journalism.”
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon challenged Lemon’s assertion in an interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson on Jan. 19.
“Lemon went into the facility, and then he began, ‘committing journalism’ as if that’s a sort of shield from being a part, an embedded part, of a criminal conspiracy. It isn’t,” Dhillon said.
A source familiar with the matter told the Washington Examiner that the arrest occurred in Los Angeles at around 12:30 a.m. Pacific time and that Lemon was charged with conspiracy to deprive rights and a FACE Act violation.
WHAT IS THE FACE ACT? FEDERAL CHARGES FOR MINNESOTA CHURCH PROTEST COULD COME BY SUNDAY
The Justice Department had dropped its arrest warrant requests for Lemon and several others involved in the protest earlier this week, after a Minnesota magistrate judge had also previously rejected the charges against Lemon.
Lemon is now scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles court on Friday morning.
Christian Datoc contributed to this report.
