Former CNN anchor and independent journalist Don Lemon is scheduled to appear in federal court on Friday to face charges related to the viral takeover of a Minnesota church by anti-ICE agitators.
Lemon, who last month livestreamed aggressive agitators storming St. Paul’s Cities Church under the suspicion that its pastor had collaborated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is charged with conspiracy to deprive religious freedom rights and a violation of the FACE Act. He is scheduled to appear at 1 p.m. for an arraignment before Minnesota Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko.
Lemon has insisted he was working as a journalist and was not part of the group that harassed churchgoers. He is represented by Abbe Lowell, who previously represented Hunter Biden, and Joe Thompson, who was the lead prosecutor who helped uncover the massive $250 million Feeding Our Future food fraud case tied to the state’s Somali community. Thompson resigned from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in January.
DON LEMON TAKEN INTO CUSTODY FOR HIS INVOLVEMENT IN LIVESTREAMING PROTEST AT MINNESOTA CHURCH
While documenting the hostile invasion of the church, Lemon called it a “clandestine mission.”
“You have to be willing to go into places and disrupt and make people uncomfortable. That’s what this country is about,” Lemon said.
Agitators disrupted the religious service and “intimidated, harassed, oppressed, and terrorized the parishioners, including young children, and caused the service to be cut short,” according to a federal affidavit.
Churchgoers told law enforcement that members of their parish attempted to retrieve their children from a childcare area located downstairs, but the agitators were blocking the stairs, and the parents were unable to get to their children. One churchgoer later expressed fear that the agitators may have guns underneath their jackets and noted that aisles were blocked, making it difficult to leave.
Lemon has seen a spike in social media subscribers, appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and been feted at the Grammy Awards since his arrest.
DON LEMON RESPONDS TO TRUMP DOJ’S THREAT, STANDS BY COVERAGE OF ANTI-ICE PROTEST AT MINNESOTA CHURCH
The FACE Act makes it a federal crime, with potentially steep fines and jail time, to use or threaten to use force to “injure, intimidate, or interfere” with a person seeking reproductive health services, or with a person lawfully trying to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship. It also prohibits intentional property damage to a facility providing reproductive health services or a place of religious worship.
Lemon previously told Fox News Digital that he stands by his reporting and has faced online threats as a result.
“It’s notable that I’ve been cast as the face of a protest I was covering as a journalist — especially since I wasn’t the only reporter there. That framing is telling. What’s even more telling is the barrage of violent threats, along with homophobic and racist slurs, directed at me online by MAGA supporters and amplified by parts of the right-wing press,” Lemon said in a statement.
DON LEMON’S LENGTHY HISTORY OF ANTI-ICE RHETORIC
“If this much time and energy is going to be spent manufacturing outrage, it would be far better used investigating the tragic death of Renee Nicole Good — the very issue that brought people into the streets in the first place,” Lemon continued. “I stand by my reporting.”
Far-left agitator Nekima Levy Armstrong, who was one of the organizers of the church protest, is also expected in court on Friday in connection with the incident. She appeared in Lemon’s footage.
