Don Lemon Arrested in Connection with Minneapolis Church Storming, Charged with Civil Rights Violations

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested by federal agents late Thursday and charged with federal civil rights crimes, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The charges come after Lemon joined a group of anti-ICE agitators in disrupting Sunday service at a St. Paul church earlier this month.

Lemon was covering the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles when he was taken into custody.

“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,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a Friday morning announcement.

Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, who also previously represented Hunter Biden, argues that because Lemon was at the scene as a journalist, his involvement was “constitutionally protected work.”

“The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable,” Lowell said.

Lemon posted videos documenting the protest in the church and filmed alongside agitators. Lemon even explained to the camera that the activists were calling the event “Operation Pull-Up.”

Lemon insists that he was not aware that the agitators were going to storm the church, however he previewed the event for his viewers saying he was on the scene for a secret “operation.”

Multiple people have been arrested in connection with the disruption at Cities Church.

Bondi previously announced that Chauntyll Louisa Allen, Nekima Levy Armstrong, and William Kelly were also arrested for their involvement.

Federal prosecutors previously tried to arrest Lemon for his involvement, but the chief federal judge in Minneapolis did not find probable cause for his arrest.

The Trump DOJ initially issued arrest warrants for eight people, including Lemon and his producer, on charges of conspiring to interfere with the civil rights of congregants at the church and violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.

Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko refused to sign off on the warrants for Lemon and his producer, in particular, because he said they were not protesters, but a journalist and his producer.

Prosecutors appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, and while one Trump-appointed judge conceded that prosecutors did have probable cause, they eventually dropped the request. Instead, prosecutors sought an indictment via grand jury.

Following the anti-ICE protest, the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention said the interruption was “an unacceptable trauma” as protesters were yelling “insults and accusations at youth, children, and families.”

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s office said in a statement following the incident that while he supports people’s right to gather and protest, he does not condone interrupting and disturbing places of worship.

Lemon said he has no affiliation with the group that executed the January 18 protest.