Former CNN host Don Lemon was arrested in connection with an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a church service in Minnesota, his attorney said Friday.
Lemon was taken into custody Thursday night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy Awards, according to a statement from his lawyer, Abbe Lowell. The arrest stems from an incident on Jan. 19, when Lemon entered Cities Church in St. Paul with a group of protesters who accused one of the pastors of being an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official.
“Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court,” Lowell said.
Lowell said Lemon, a journalist for more than three decades, was engaged in constitutionally protected newsgathering when he filmed the protest. “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. “This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand.”
In a video posted earlier, Lemon defended his actions, saying, “Once the protest started in the church, we did an act of journalism, which was report on it.”
Federal prosecutors initially sought to charge eight people involved in the church protest under a law protecting places of worship. A magistrate judge approved charges against only three individuals and declined to authorize charges against Lemon. The Justice Department later challenged that decision, but an appeals court rejected the effort.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has criticized the protests, calling the scene “horrific” in a previous interview with Fox News. Harmeet Dhillon, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said Friday the government would continue pursuing the case.
The protests are part of broader unrest in Minnesota tied to federal immigration operations that have sparked demonstrations and deadly confrontations in recent weeks.
