Independent journalist and former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles late Thursday evening on charges that he violated federal law during a protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Lemon denies protesting inside the church, and says he was simply reporting as a journalist when a group of protesters entered a pro-ICE church on January 18. Three other journalists, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, were also arrested. One of the protesters in the Cities Church incident, Nekima Levy Armstrong, was also arrested and is an ordained minister.
One of the pastors of the far-right Cities Church, David Easterwood, acts as a field director for ICE as it rains terror on the Twin Cities. Read more about the Cities Church here.
The Trump administration’s AG Pam Bondi sought to arrest eight people after the protests, including Lemon, citing a law that seeks to protect people participating in a church service. A magistrate judge rejected the evidence against Lemon and three others as insufficient. A federal appeals court also denied arrest warrants.
The federal law cited by the DOJ is called the FACE Act. The DOJ is pressing charges on two counts — conspiring to deprive rights and interfering with someone’s religious freedom in a house of worship.
