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Journalist Don Lemon was arrested in Los Angeles overnight and later released after federal prosecutors filed civil rights charges against him tied to a Jan. 18 protest that disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lemon was taken into custody while another independent journalist and several protest participants were arrested in Minnesota, according to court proceedings described by the Associated Press.
Lemon faced federal charges in Minnesota after a grand jury indicted him and others, prosecutors said, alleging conspiracy and interference with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the protest at Cities Church. The indictment tied the incident to the presence of an ICE official who is a pastor at the church, and it named nine defendants including Lemon.
After appearing in California court, Lemon told reporters, “I will not be silenced.” He also said, “I have spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now,” and added: “In fact there is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable.”
In court in Los Angeles, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Robbins argued for a $100,000 bond, describing Lemon as someone who “knowingly joined a mob that stormed into a church.” The judge released Lemon without requiring him to post money and granted permission to travel to France in June while the case is pending, according to the reporting.
Lemon’s defense attorney, Marilyn Bednarski, said Lemon plans to plead not guilty and fight the charges in Minnesota. In an earlier statement, Lemon’s lawyer Abbe Lowell said, “Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done.” Lemon has previously said he had no affiliation with the group that went into the church and that he was there as a solo journalist chronicling protesters.
The indictment describes Lemon’s livestream during the incident, including allegations about how he and others communicated and organized around an anti-immigration-enforcement operation. Prosecutors said Lemon began livestreaming during the operation and that he told viewers he was with a group gearing up for a “resistance” operation against federal immigration policies, and the indictment alleges he took steps to maintain operational secrecy, including reminding others not to disclose the target of their operation.
Prosecutors also said the group surrounded the pastor and that the defendants shouted slogans and blew whistles after the pastor was about to begin the sermon. The pastor and congregants “perceived ‘threats of violence,’” prosecutors said, and the indictment described Lemon as saying he saw a young man who was frightened, sad and crying and that the experience was traumatic.
The arrests brought criticism from media advocates and civil rights activists, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said President Donald Trump’s administration was using a “sledgehammer” against the First Amendment. Attorney General Pam Bondi promoted the arrests on social media, saying in a video posted online that people “have the right to worship freely and safely,” and warning that “if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you.”
Media law and ethics experts and civil rights groups argued that the federal government is stretching criminal statutes beyond their intended use. Jane Kirtley of the University of Minnesota said the federal laws cited by the government were not intended to apply to reporters gathering news, and she characterized the charges as “pure intimidation and government overreach.”
Civil rights activists and news organizations also raised concerns about the impact on journalists and Black Americans who they said rely on Black reporters to bear witness. The National Association of Black Journalists said it was “outraged and deeply alarmed” and warned that the government was making an effort to “criminalize and threaten press freedom under the guise of law enforcement.”
At Cities Church, lead pastor Jonathan Parnell said the church was grateful the Justice Department acted to protect the service. The Justice Department opened an investigation after prosecutors said protesters chanted “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to a 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, prosecutors said. Cities Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and lists David Easterwood, who leads ICE’s St. Paul field office, as one of its pastors.
Lemon’s case joins a developing set of legal proceedings stemming from the disruption of church worship, after other defendants were arrested earlier and released on bond, with their supporters in court clapping and whooping.