Award-winning journalist and former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested by federal agents in Beverly Hills in connection with a protest he covered at a Minnesota church, his lawyer announced Friday.
Lemon was in town covering the Grammy Awards, according to a statement from his attorney, Abbe Lowell.
“Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy Awards. Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done.”
Lemon, 59, made his initial federal court appearance in downtown Los Angeles Friday afternoon. Government lawyers sought a $100,000 bond and asked to restrict Lemon’s travel to Minneapolis and New York, where he lives. A magistrate judge denied both requests and granted Lemon’s release without bond.
“I spent my entire career covering the news — I will not stop now,” Lemon said outside the courthouse. “In fact, there is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable.”
“Last night, the (U.S. Department of Justice) sent a team of federal agents to arrest me in the middle of the night for something that I’ve been doing for the last 30 years — and that is covering the news. The First Amendment of the Constitution protects that work for me and for countless other journalists who do what I do. I stand with all of them — and I will not be silenced. I look forward to my day in court.”
According to the FBI, Lemon was arrested shortly before midnight on an out-of-state warrant.
Lemon is facing two federal charges: conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshipers, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.
According to the indictment filed against Lemon and seven others in a Minnesota federal court, a group of “agitators” entered the church in a “coordinated takeover-style attack and engaged in acts of oppression, intimidation, threats, interference, and physical obstruction.”
As a result, the pastor and congregation were forced to terminate the service, and attendees fled the building in fear, leaving children to wonder “if their parents were going to die,” the indictment contends.
Prosecutors allege Lemon and about 20 others met earlier that day to plan the “operation,” and Lemon began live-streaming the events on his YouTube channel. Now an independent journalist, Lemon hosts an internet-based podcast titled “The Don Lemon Show.”
Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement that Lemon had been arrested “simply for doing his job and following a protest into a church in Minneapolis while reporting the story.”
She added that Emmy-winning news producer and Minnesota-based independent journalist Georgia Fort had also been arrested by federal agents in Minnesota for reporting on the same protest as Lemon. She is also charged in the indictment.
“The arrest of journalists for going into a church in the course of reporting is shocking enough, but what’s even more alarming is that it’s no secret that Don Lemon is a Trump critic,” Bass said. “Let me be very clear — President Trump is not de-escalating anything after the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens by federal agents. In fact, the arrest of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort demonstrates quite the opposite — he is escalating.”
The former CNN on-air personality’s arrest follows the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul that Lemon was covering.
According to The New York Times, the Trump administration had previously tried to criminally charge Lemon, but the case against the journalist was rejected last week by a magistrate judge.
A local official with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement serves as a pastor at the church.
The Trump administration contends the defendants violated a federal law protecting the sanctity of a worship service.
A magistrate judge previously approved charges against three of the defendants, but Lemon was not among them, according to The Times, which indicated an appeals court subsequently rejected a bid to force additional arrest warrants.
“This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand. Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court,” Lowell said in his statement.
The annual Grammy Awards will be presented Sunday at downtown’s Crypto.com Arena.
“First, Trump’s agents shoot and kill people exercising their First Amendment rights, and now we’re arresting journalists going into a church,” Bass said. “It’s an egregious assault on constitutionally protected First Amendment rights.”
CNN issued a statement condemning Lemon’s arrest.
“The FBI’s arrest of our former CNN colleague Don Lemon raises profoundly concerning questions about press freedom and the First Amendment,” the network stated. “The Department of Justice already failed twice to get an arrest warrant for Don and several other journalists in Minnesota, where a chief judge of the Minnesota Federal District Court found there was `no evidence’ that there was any criminal behavior involved in their work.
“The First Amendment in the United States protects journalists who bear witness to news and events as they unfold, ensuring they can report freely in the public interest, and the DOJ’s attempts to violate those rights is unacceptable. We will be following this case closely.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi posted Friday on social media that the arrests of Lemon, Fort and others were carried out at her direction, “in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.”
FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X that “coordinated targeting of Cities Church” led to the arrests, which were conducted by officials from the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations.
Lemon was on CNN for nearly a decade from 2014 until his firing in April 2023. He later launched his own media company and now hosts the podcast.
Assemblymember Mark González, D-Los Angeles, called the arrest of Lemon “disgraceful, unconstitutional and a direct attack on First Amendment rights.”
“Our democracy is fracturing under the unconstitutional actions of Trump,” he said in a statement. “ICE has crossed a dangerous line by targeting Don Lemon in an effort to silence the truth and undermine the integrity of a free press. Freedom of the press is non-negotiable.”
The Freedom of the Press Foundation called the arrests of Lemon and Fort “naked attacks” on press freedoms.
“These arrests, under bogus legal theories for obviously constitutionally protected reporting, are clear warning shots aimed at other journalists,” Seth Stern, the foundation’s chief of advocacy, said. “The unmistakable message is that journalists must tread cautiously because the government is looking for any way to target them. Fort’s arrest is meant to instill the same fear in local independent journalists as big names like Lemon.”