Independent journalist Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal authorities early Friday on federal civil rights charges related to his coverage of a protest in Minnesota.
The charges include conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of those worshiping at Cities Church on Jan. 18 in St. Paul, where the protest interrupted a service. Lemon was released on his own recognizance during a federal court appearance in Los Angeles late Friday afternoon. His next court date is Feb. 9 in Minneapolis.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement on X that federal agents also arrested three others at her direction — fellow independent journalist Georgia Fort, Trahern Jeen Crews and Jamael Lydell Lundy — in connection with the demonstration against Immigration and Customs Enforcement that the Trump official described as a “coordinated attack.”
In an indictment, Lemon and several other defendants are accused of conducting “a takeover-style attack” at the church, despite there being no physical violence during the demonstration.
“As a result of defendants’ conduct, the pastor and congregation were forced to terminate the Church’s worship service, congregants fled the Church building out of fear for their safety, other congregants took steps to implement an emergency plan, and young children were left to wonder, as one child put it, if their parents were going to die,” the indictment said.
