Journalist Don Lemon charged with federal civil rights crimes in anti-ICE church protest

WASHINGTON (AP) — Journalist Don Lemon has been charged with federal civil rights crimes in connection with an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church, the Department of Homeland Security said Friday.

Lemon was arrested Thursday by federal agents in Los Angeles, where he had been covering the Grammy Awards, his attorney Abbe Lowell said.

The veteran journalist is charged with conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshipers during a January 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as a pastor.

Another journalist and two protest participants were also arrested.

Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023, has said he has no affiliation to the organization that went into the church and that he was there as a journalist chronicling protesters.

“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” Lowell said in a statement earlier Friday.

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

Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on social media Friday morning confirming the arrest of Lemon and the others who were present during 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.

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