Key Points
- Federal agents arrested Don Lemon over a Minnesota church protest, pursuing civil rights and religious freedom charges despite prior judicial skepticism.
- Lemon and supporters say he was acting as a journalist, raising sharp First Amendment concerns about criminalizing newsgathering.
- Prosecutors argue journalism offers no immunity if reporting crosses into interference, setting up a high-stakes legal test for press protections.
Former CNN news anchor Don Lemon was one of four people arrested by federal law enforcement authorities on Friday in connection with a protest that occurred at a church in Minnesota earlier in the month.
The detention — which Lemon himself predicted last week — stems from a January 18 incident at Cities Church in St. Paul, where services were interrupted by activists who were protesting ongoing immigration enforcement actions in the state and the shooting deaths of two American citizens by federal law enforcement officials during immigration-related raids.
Writing on social media, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the arrests of Lemon and three others came “at my direction.” Justice Department officials later said prosecutors are pursuing charges under federal statutes that protect religious freedom and prohibit conspiracies to deprive individuals of their civil rights.
The arrests followed a procedural setback for prosecutors. Last week, a federal magistrate judge approved charges against three demonstrators — Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Allen and William Kelly — but declined to authorize arrest warrants for Lemon and others, citing insufficient evidence.
The Justice Department then petitioned a federal appeals court to force the issuance of additional warrants, but that effort was denied.
Despite those rulings, Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents in Los Angeles while covering the Grammy Awards, according to attorney Abbe Lowell.
“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different (from) what he has always done,” Lowell said in a statement, calling the arrest an unprecedented attack on the First Amendment. Lowell said Lemon would fight the charges in court.
Minnesota Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz wrote to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals last week that Lemon and his producer were “not protesters at all,” and that there was no evidence they engaged in criminal conduct.
In a filing unsealed Thursday, the Justice Department responded that federal law contains no exception allowing journalists to obstruct worshipers or conspire to violate their rights, adding that the complaint’s allegations “speak for themselves.”
The arrests come amid heightened tensions in Minneapolis following the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents earlier this month, incidents that have fueled protests and scrutiny of the Justice Department’s enforcement priorities. They also coincide with reported internal turmoil at the U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis, where multiple prosecutors have resigned amid disagreements over charging decisions related to the unrest.
Lemon is best known for his time at CNN, where he gained attention for helming the network’s uncharacteristic and absurdly long coverage of a missing Malaysian Airlines flight, during which he comically suggested that the plane may have been sucked into a black hole.
Lemon was fired by CNN three years ago following a story published by Variety that linked him to allegations of workplace harassment, which he denied.
On Friday, CNN issued a statement on Lemon’s arrest, saying it raised “profoundly concerning questions about press freedom and the First Amendment.”
“We will be following this case closely,” a spokesperson for the network said.
In his post-CNN career, Lemon has struck it out as a self-proclaimed independent journalist, originally signing a deal to distribute an interview series via X (formerly Twitter) before moving the bulk of his original reporting and analysis to YouTube. His new series, “The Don Lemon Show,” streams on popular podcast platforms and is offered via Substack.
Like other Internet provocateurs, Lemon occasionally says or does outrageous things in an effort to drum up attention and new business, with mixed results. His content was relegated to relative obscurity until recently, when federal prosecutors decided to make him a target of criminal enforcement.
Prosecutors are focused on a particular part of Lemon’s coverage of the incident at the church, during which he films activists interrupting service while he comments that “this is what the First Amendment is about, the freedom to protest.”
Earlier in his coverage, Lemon asserted he was not part of the protest, but was merely a journalistic observer of those activities. Other political commentators, including former Vice News reporter Tim Pool, built their careers embedding themselves with protesters in order to document their activities in a similar nature.
Colby Hall, the founding editor of Mediaite, said Lemon’s activities were more synonymous with reporters embedding themselves with protesters during the siege on the U.S. Capitol five years ago. Then, a number of mainstream and conservative-oriented reporters and photojournalists gained access to sensitive areas of the building; a few were investigated by federal officials, but none were criminally prosecuted.
“The rule was consistent: Journalism was not an immunity, (but) journalism was also not a liability,” Hall wrote. “That distinction mattered because it preserved space for reporting while still enforcing the law. Once someone crossed from observation into interference, press credentials stopped helping. When someone stayed on the lawful side of the line, intent to report was not second-guessed.”
In Lemon’s case, prosecutors appear to be departing from that model, Hall wrote, though he acknowledged the full scope of the Justice Department’s evidence against the journalist — whom he called a friend — has yet to be revealed.
“If evidence shows that Lemon coordinated with organizers in advance, encouraged entry into the church, or helped facilitate disruption beyond reporting, the analysis changes,” Hall affirmed. “Journalism does not include planning unlawful acts or assisting their execution. If prosecutors can demonstrate that kind of conduct, the First Amendment claim weakens considerably.”
