{"id":554098,"date":"2026-01-30T14:12:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T14:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/554098\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T14:12:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T14:12:48","slug":"ex-cnn-host-don-lemon-arrested-for-minnesota-church-invasion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/554098\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-CNN host Don Lemon arrested for Minnesota church invasion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disgraced ex-CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested late Thursday over the anti-ICE protest that stormed a Minnesota church during Sunday service, according to his attorney.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards,\u201d Lemon\u2019s attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement shared with multiple reporters.<\/p>\n

Lemon spent the night in jail and is expected to make a first appearance in court sometime Friday, according to Brian Stelter, the chief media analyst for Lemon\u2019s former network.<\/p>\n

Don Lemon was arrested in Los Angeles on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. FOX News<\/p>\n

His attorney maintained that the frequently fired correspondent was part of the pack that stormed the St. Paul church merely while working as a journalist, making it \u201cconstitutionally protected work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable,\u201d said Lowell, who also represented disgraced former first son Hunter Biden.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lemon, 59, was part of a group of dozens of protesters who disrupted Sunday worship at Cities Church.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear what charges he is facing. However, Lemon has been accused of violating the Enforcement Act of 1871, which bans interference with certain civil rights, such as voting or serving on juries \u2014 or, in this case, the right to practice one\u2019s religion.<\/p>\n

Also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, it was created to prevent the racial terrorist group from paramilitary vigilantism.<\/p>\n

Lemon livestreamed the incident for his independent media platform, moving in and out of the church while filming demonstrators and clergy. Don Lemon \/ YouTube<\/p>\n

Initially, Lemon tried to get out of facing criminal conspiracy charges by claiming he was \u201ccommitting journalism\u201d while taking part in the church disruption, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson\u00a0on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Don Lemon spoke to protesters who stormed a church in Minneapolis earlier this month. Don Lemon \/ YouTube<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever anyone conspires to violate the protected civil rights of American citizens, the Klan Act can be used to bring a conspiracy charge,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But video posted by Lemon himself before, during and after the church takeover<\/a>\u00a0showed he was very much part of the group, under the guise of \u201cchronicling\u201d the event as a reporter.<\/p>\n

Don Lemon livestreamed an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a Sunday worship service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minn., on Jan. 18. @TheDonLemonShow\/YouTube<\/p>\n

Before the group barged into the house of worship, Lemon filmed a segment admitting he had done some \u201creconnaissance\u201d with the activists, which included\u00a0members of Minnesota Black Lives Matter<\/a>, who were milling about in a parking lot a few feet away.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re planning an operation we\u2019re going to follow them on. I can\u2019t tell you exactly what they\u2019re doing, but it\u2019s called Operation Pull-Up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing here, and after we do this operation, you\u2019ll see it live, these operations are surprise operations. Again, I can\u2019t tell you where they\u2019re going,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Disgraced ex-CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested late Thursday over the anti-ICE protest that stormed a Minnesota church…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":554099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,167844,5410,3663,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,40739,7237,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":["post-554098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-don-lemon","tag-ice","tag-minnesota","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-protesters","tag-protests","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-news","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115984466167307485","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}