How former CNN anchor Don Lemon ended up in federal custody over a 20-minute YouTube livestream

Journal Don Lemon and three other people were arrested Friday in connection with an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.Lemon was arrested FBI and Homeland Security Investigations agents in Los Angeles, where he had been covering the Grammy Awards, his attorney Abbe Lowell said.

According to Reuters, Lemon is charged with conspiring to deprive others of their civil rights and violating the FACE Act allegedly obstructing access to a house of worship. arrested him in Los Angeles, the source said.

According to Lowell, Lemon was reporting and did livestream a demonstration on January 18 that interrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, where a local official with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement serves as a pastor.

Lemon’s lawyer called his arrest an “unprecedented attack on the First Amendment,” referring to the US Constitution’s guarantees of freedom of speech and of the press.Story continues below this ad

Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023, has said he has no affiliation with the organization that went into the church and that he was there as a journal chronicling protesters.

“Don has been a journal for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” Lowell said in a statement.

“The First Amendment exs to protect journals whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on social media Friday morning, confirming the arrest of Lemon and the others who were present during the protest.Story continues below this ad

“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,” Bondi said.

Don Lemon arrives at THR’s Empowerment in Entertainment Gala at Milk Studios, April 30, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Photo Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, FILE)

Since he left CNN, Lemon has joined the legion of journals who have gone into business for themselves, posting regularly on YouTube. He hasn’t hidden his disdain for President Donald Trump. Yet during his online show from the church, he said repeatedly, “I’m not here as an activ. I’m here as a journal.”

He described the scene in front of him and interviewed churchgoers and demonstrators.

A magrate last week rejected prosecutors’ initial bid to charge the veteran journal. Shortly after, he predicted on his show that the adminration would try again.Story continues below this ad

“And guess what,” he said. “Here I am. Keep trying. That’s not going to stop me from being a journal. That’s not going to diminish my voice. Go ahead, make me into the new Jimmy Kimmel, if you want. Just do it. Because I’m not going anywhere.”