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Former CNN host Don Lemon was formally charged Friday, pleading not guilty to charges related to the takeover of a Minnesota church by anti-ICE.
Lemon, who live-streamed violent protests last month in St. Paul’s Cities Church under allegations that its pastor cooperated with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has been charged with conspiracy to deprive religious freedom rights and violating the FACE Act.
Prosecutors did not seek to arrest Lemon, who showed signs of peace to photographers as she entered the Warren E. Burger Federal Building and the US Courthouse with her legal team and husband Tim Malone. He appeared before Minnesota Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko, who imposed standard release conditions, including no violations.
DON LEMON TO BE ARRESTED FOR HIS PARTICIPATION IN MINNESOTA CHURCH’S LIVING PROTEST
Don Lemon arrives with his legal team for a hearing at the Warren E. Burger Federal Building and US Courthouse on February 13, 2026, in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Lemon appeared in court along with far-left activists William Kelly and Nekima Levy Armstrong, who are accused of helping to organize the takeover of the church.
Lemon emphasized that he was working as a journalist and was not part of a group that persecutes religious people. He is represented by Abbe Lowell, who once represented Hunter Biden, and Joe Thompson, a former lead prosecutor who helped uncover the $250 million Feeding Our Future food fraud case tied to the Somali community. Thompson resigned from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in January.
While documenting the brutal church attack, Lemon called it an “undercover operation.”
“You have to be willing to go into places and disrupt and make people uncomfortable. That’s what this country is all about,” Lemon said.
DON LEMON RESPONDS TO TRUMP DOJ’S INVESTIGATION, REPRESENTS HEARING AT MINNESOTA CHURCH’S COMMUNITY PROTEST
Don Lemon flashed peace signs at photographers as she entered the Warren E. Burger Federal Building and the US Courthouse with her legal team and husband Tim Malone. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
The rioters disrupted the religious service and “intimidated, harassed, oppressed, and intimidated worshipers, including minors, and caused the service to be interrupted,” according to the government’s affidavit.
Church members told law enforcement that church members tried to pick up their children from the basement daycare, but the commotion was blocking the stairs, and parents could not get to their children. One churchgoer later expressed fears that the terrorists may have guns under their jackets and noted that the corridors were blocked off, making it difficult to get out.
Lemon has seen a surge in social media followers, appearing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and was honored at the Grammy Awards since his arrest. “The Don Lemon Show” airs on YouTube as Lemon’s scheduled broadcast from Minnesota prior to the trial.
“I believe this is bigger than me, this is about the First Amendment and freedom of the press,” he told viewers.
MAKE A LONG HISTORY OF LEMON INTERMEDIATE AND LEAVE STRATEGY
Don Lemon has seen a surge in social media followers, appearing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and was honored at the Grammy Awards since his arrest. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
The FACE Act makes it a federal crime, with possible penalties and jail time, to use or threaten to use force to “harm, intimidate, or interfere” with a person seeking reproductive health services, or with a person lawfully attempting to exercise the First Amendment right to freedom of religion in a place of religious worship. It also prohibits intentional damage to property at a facility that provides reproductive health services or a place of religious worship.
This is a developing story, more to come…
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Fox News Media’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn Brooke Taylor contributed to this report.
