WASHINGTON (AP) — Journalist Don Lemon and three others have been arrested in connection with anti-immigration protests that disrupted services at a Minnesota church and heightened tensions between residents and the Trump administration, officials said.
Lemon’s attorney, Abe Lowell, said Lemon was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles, where she had been covering the Grammy Awards. It’s unclear what charges Lemon and others face in connection with the Jan. 18 protest at St. Paul City Church. Lemon was arrested last week after a magistrate judge dismissed the original charges brought against him by prosecutors.
Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023, said he had no connection to the group that entered the church and was working as a reporter to document the protesters.
“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis is no different than what he has always done,” Lowell said in a statement. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists, whose role is to expose the truth and hold those in power accountable.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed in a social media post Friday morning that Lemon and others who attended the protest at the church where a local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer serves as pastor were arrested.
“At my direction, federal agents arrested Don Lemon, Traherne Jean Cruz, Georgia Fort and Jamel Leder Lundy early this morning in connection with a coordinated attack on the City Church in St. Paul, Minnesota,” Bundy said.
After leaving CNN, Lemon joined a team of journalists who started their own business and posted regularly on YouTube. He has made no secret of his disdain for Trump. However, in the church’s online program, he repeatedly said, “I’m not here as an activist. I’m here as a journalist.” He described the scene and interviewed churchgoers and demonstrators.
Shortly after the first attempt to charge him failed, he predicted on the show that the government would try again.
“Guess what,” he said, “I’m here. Keep working hard. It’s not going to stop me from being a journalist. It’s not going to diminish my voice. Come on, let me be the new Jimmy Kimmel, if you will. Just do it. Because I’m not going anywhere.”
Local independent journalist Georgia Ford broadcast the moments leading up to her arrest on Facebook Live on Friday, saying “agents are at my door right now” and that they have a warrant and a grand jury indictment.
“I feel like I have no First Amendment rights as a member of the press because now federal agents are arresting me on my doorstep for filming a church protest a few weeks ago,” Ford said, adding that she knew she was on a list of defendants who had been sealed.
A prominent civil rights lawyer and two other people involved in the protests were arrested last week. Prosecutors accused them of violating civil rights by disrupting city church services.
The Justice Department launched a civil rights investigation after the group disrupted service by chanting “ICE!” and “Justice for Renee Goode.” “Renee Goode” refers to the 37-year-old mother of three who was shot and killed by ICE police in Minneapolis.
“Listen loud and clear: We will not tolerate attacks on places of worship,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a social media post last week.
Cities Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and one of its pastors is David Easterwood, who leads the ICE field office. Many Baptist church pastors also have other jobs.
The Justice Department’s swift investigation into the church riot stands in stark contrast to its decision not to open a civil rights investigation into Goode’s killing by ICE officers. The department has not said whether it will open a civil rights investigation into the killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by federal officers.
“Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump Justice Department devoted its time, attention and resources to this arrest, which is a true prosecution of wrongdoing in this case,” Lowell said.
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Associated Press reporters Dave Bauder in New York City, Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis and Josh Fink in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed.
