BREAKING NEWS: Ex-CNN Host Don Lemon Arrested
LIVE COVERAGE: Ex-CNN host Don Lemon has been arrested for his role in storming an evangelical Christian church in Minnesota. Follow our live coverage below and click here to get my breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.
“At 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,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X.
The former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested late Thursday night on charges that he violated federal law during a protest at Cities Church in St. Paul,
Bondi had been enraged by a magistrate’s earlier decision not to sign off on the complaint charging Lemon, and Justice Department officials made clear they would try again. And they did.
“Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP,” Bondi wrote on X.
Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Mr. Lemon, told The New York Times her client vowed to fight the charges.
“Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards,” Mr. Lowell said in a statement on Friday. “Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done.”
Lowell added, “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.”
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“This is unacceptable. It’s shameful. It’s shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship,” Lead Pastor Jonathan Parnell told Lemon during the attack.
Lemon lectured the pastor and said the mob had a constitutional right to shut down the worship service.
“This is what the First Amendment is about, the freedom to protest,” Lemon said. “I’m sure people here don’t like it, but protests are not comfortable.”
So, why aren’t the mobs storming mosques?
Clint Pressley, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, strongly condemned the church attack.
“Disrupting a church’s worship service to make a political point is disgraceful,” he said. “Targeting a Southern Baptist church in Minneapolis crosses a clear line, and I stand fully with the church and its members who simply came to worship Jesus in peace.”
The SBC president urged Christians to pray for the church and stand alongside their congregation.
“Public officials should investigate whether civil rights were violated and ensure the freedom to worship is protected,” Pressley said.
Kevin Ezell, the president of the North American Mission Board, said the church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
“These intimidating tactics are not only illegal but cowardly,” Ezell wrote on X. “No cause justifies traumatizing families as they worship and desecrating a sacred space.”
Ezell said if elected leaders will not contain lawlessness their agency would provide security for the church.
He also had stern words for the ex-CNN host and pointed out protesters “don’t have a right to enter private property and disrupt worship.”
Lemon is scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday morning. Now that he has been arrested, he is likely to challenge the prosecution’s case by arguing that he was not protesting, but rather covering the event as a journalist.
“Once the protest started in the church, we did an act of journalism, which was report on it and talk to the people involved, including the pastor, members of the church and members of the organization,” Mr. Lemon said in a recent video. “That’s it. That’s called journalism.”
CELEBRATE AMERICA 250: Click here to get a copy of Todd’s BEST-SELLING BOOK “Star-Spangled Blessings: Devotions For Patriots!”