{"id":2258098,"date":"2026-01-30T15:12:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T15:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2258098"},"modified":"2026-01-30T15:12:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T15:12:53","slug":"journalist-don-lemon-has-been-arrested-after-he-covered-a-minnesota-church-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/journalist-don-lemon-has-been-arrested-after-he-covered-a-minnesota-church-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalist Don Lemon has been arrested after he covered a Minnesota church protest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><strong>WASHINGTON<\/strong> \u2013 Journalist Don Lemon and three other people were arrested Friday in connection with an anti-immigration protest that <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ice-protest-church-minneapolis-fcc97a29b9c4434c665d76d4811c5a3e\">disrupted a service<\/a> at a Minnesota church and increased tensions between residents and the Trump administration, officials said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Lemon was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles, where he had been covering the Grammy Awards, his attorney Abbe Lowell said. It is unclear what charge or charges Lemon and the others are facing in the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul. Lemon&#8217;s arrest came after a magistrate judge last week <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/justice-department-minnesota-church-disruption-bondi-ed084f5005187f58eabe0cc627d1862b\">rejected prosecutors\u2019 initial bid<\/a> to charge him. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Lemon, who was fired from celebrity.land in 2023, has said he has no affiliation to the organization that went into the church and that he was there as a journalist chronicling protesters. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cDon has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,\u201d Lowell said in a statement. \u201cThe First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on social media Friday morning confirming the arrest of Lemon and the others who were present during the protest at the church where a local official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement serves as a pastor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cAt my direction, early this morning federal agents arrested Don Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota,\u201d Bondi said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Since he left celebrity.land, Lemon has joined the legion of journalists who have gone into business for himself, posting regularly on YouTube. He hasn\u2019t hidden his disdain for Trump. Yet during his online show from the church, he said repeatedly, \u201cI\u2019m not here as an activist. I\u2019m here as a journalist.\u201d He described the scene in front of him, and interviewed churchgoers and demonstrators.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Shortly after the first attempt to charge him fell through, he predicted on his show that the administration would try again. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cAnd guess what,\u201d he said, \u201chere I am. Keep trying. That\u2019s not going to stop me from being a journalist. That\u2019s not going to diminish my voice. Go ahead, make me into <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/jimmy-kimmel-suspension-supporters-94b79634a19b2c4ce70a2b4195ef1175\">the new Jimmy Kimmel,<\/a> if you want. Just do it. Because I\u2019m not going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Local independent journalist Georgia Fort livestreamed the moments before her arrest Friday on Facebook Live, saying \u201cagents are at my door right now\u201d and that they had an arrest warrant and a grand jury indictment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cI don\u2019t feel like I have my first amendment right as a member of the press because now the federal agents are at my door arresting me for filming the church protest a few weeks ago,\u201d Fort said, adding that she knew she was on a list of defendants that is under seal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">A prominent civil rights attorney and two other people involved in the protest were arrested last week. Prosecutors have accused them of civil rights violations for <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/immigration-enforcement-church-protest-history-58817d7033c6b83867131f4cee87256a\">disrupting the Cities Church service<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The Justice Department launched a civil rights investigation after the group interrupted services by chanting \u201cICE out\u201d and \u201cJustice for Renee Good,\u201d referring to the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ice-shooting-minneapolis-minnesota-9aa822670b705c89906f2c699f1d16c5\">37-year-old mother of three<\/a> who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cListen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP,\u201d Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in social media post last week. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Cities Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and lists one of its pastors as David Easterwood, who leads an ICE field office. Many Baptist churches have pastors who also work other jobs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The Justice Department\u2019s swift investigation into the church disruption stands in contrast to its decision not to open a civil rights investigation into Good\u2019s killing by an ICE officer. The department has not said whether it will open a civil rights probe into the killing of <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/shooting-minneapolis-protests-ice-immigration-41437baa4b349279cf8abfaf1076162c\">37-year-old Alex Pretti<\/a> by federal officers. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cInstead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump Justice Department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case,\u201d Lowell said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">___<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Associated Press reporters Dave Bauder in New York City, Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.news4jax.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON \u2013 Journalist Don Lemon and three other people were arrested Friday in connection with an anti-immigration protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church and increased tensions between residents and the Trump administration, officials said. Lemon was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles, where he had been covering the Grammy Awards, his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2258099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[375878,22389,21741,352977,399161,315711,30188,367254],"class_list":["post-2258098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-don-lemon","tag-donald-trump","tag-entertainment","tag-ethnicity","tag-race","tag-religion","tag-u-s-news","tag-washington-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Journalist-Don-Lemon-has-been-arrested-after-he-covered-a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2258098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2258100,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258098\/revisions\/2258100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2258099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2258098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2258098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2258098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}