A protest at a church in St. Paul last weekend has become the latest flash point in the debate over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota — and independent journalist Don Lemon was at its center on Thursday when the Justice Department tried, unsuccessfully, to charge him criminally in relation to his presence there.
The former CNN anchor was covering the protest, which targeted Cities Church because organizers say one of its pastors is a top official in a local field office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The demonstration interrupted Sunday services and has spurred demands from right-wing influencers that participants be charged.
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday announced the arrests of three protesters on charges she did not specify. But in an exceedingly rare rebuke, a magistrate judge refused to sign off on a misdemeanor complaint against Lemon, The Washington Post and others have reported. The decision suggests the judge did not believe there was probable cause to support the case.
It was not immediately clear what charges the DOJ had sought to bring against Lemon, whose openly opinionated commentary has made him a recurring target of the political right, or which of his actions DOJ might have pointed to in arguing he had committed a crime.
In an interview Monday with conservative influencer Benny Johnson, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said: “Don Lemon himself has come out and said he knew exactly what was going to happen inside that facility. He went into the facility, and then he began — quote, unquote — ‘committing journalism,’ as if that’s sort of a shield from being a part, an embedded part, of a criminal conspiracy. It isn’t.”
Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Lemon, said his activities in the church were constitutionally protected First Amendment work. “It was no different than what he has done for more than 30 years, reporting and covering newsworthy events on the ground,” Lowell said in a statement.
Lemon declined to comment for this story.
The Post reviewed videos of the protest — including a nearly seven-hour video Lemon live-streamed to YouTube and other platforms — to gain a clearer view of his interactions before and during the event. The footage shows that he was with activists before the protest and followed them to the church, where he spent approximately 45 minutes and spoke with four parishioners and five protesters. In all but one instance, the exchanges appear to be calm. The footage did not show him participating in the chants that disrupted the service. A pastor at one point asks him to leave.
Lemon live streams the start of a ‘clandestine operation’
At approximately 10:14 a.m. local time, Lemon starts to live stream himself with a group of “resistance protesters” gathering in a parking lot for what he describes as a “clandestine operation” that will take place at a location he cannot disclose. He says someone whose identity he cannot share will be surprised and held to account.
“This is an operation that is secret,” he says. “I can’t tell you what it is gonna happen, but you’re gonna watch it live unfold here on The Don Lemon Show.”
Soon, the activists pile into cars. Lemon and his cameraman are driven by a person who Lemon describes as a local producer and activist.
Lemon reads aloud the message a Starbucks barista wrote on his coffee cup after recognizing him that morning: “Thank you for your work. CRUSH ICE.” Lemon laughs.
Lemon records protesters inside Cities Church
At the church, Lemon walks in while his cameraman hangs back. Lemon’s mic picks up the sounds of protesters, who had entered the church separately, and are now shouting and chanting, a moment that is also captured in a Facebook Live video streamed by Black Lives Matter Minnesota. The scene appears tense. “Shame on you,” a pastor yells from the stage, as protesters’ voices grow louder and some churchgoers head for the exit.
Lemon narrates: “Activists are now in the church … they’ve surrounded the church from the inside.” Protesters chant “Justice for Renée Good,” calling out the name of the woman who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in her vehicle in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, and “Hands up, don’t shoot.”
Lemon’s cameraman enters about three minutes after him. Lemon is seen filming on his phone and approaching parishioners and protesters for interviews. Most seem willing.
Lemon identifies himself as a journalist but appears sympathetic
Lemon says several times that he is there as a journalist and not affiliated with the protest.
“We’re here just chronicling and reporting,” he says to his viewers. “We’re not part of the activists, but we’re here just reporting on them.”
But he tells viewers he understands why protesters are there.
“When you violate people’s due process, when you pull people off the street and you start dragging them and hurting them and not abiding by the constitution, when you start doing all of that, people get upset and angry,” he says. “That’s the whole point of it. It is to disrupt, it’s to make [people] uncomfortable and that’s what they’re doing and that’s what I believe when I say everyone has to be willing to sacrifice something.”
He goes on to say that “you have to make people uncomfortable in these times.”
Lemon is asked to leave
Lemon approaches the pastor who had been onstage — the one activists say works for ICE was not at the church at the time — and asks him what he thinks of the protest. “This is unacceptable, it’s shameful,” the pastor says. “It’s shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship.”
Lemon asks if he tried to talk to the protesters, to which the pastor responds, “No one is willing to talk. … “I have to take care of my church and my family, so I ask that you actually would also leave this building, unless you’re here to worship.”
As the exchange continues, Lemon then responds, “I always worship, I am a Christian.”
Lemon exits the church with worshipers and protesters. He points out a man comforting a child. “I imagine it’s uncomfortable and traumatic for the people here,” says Lemon. “That’s what protesting is about.”
A parishioner tells Lemon he believes Trump’s immigration operation is keeping Americans safe.
“Do you believe that?” Lemon asks. “Honestly, let me talk to you, just on the facts.”
“You’re not a journalist,” the man responds, trying to walk away.
Lemon follows him, saying that “undocumented people and immigrants commit far less crime than American citizens.”
“We’re done here,” the man says.
Lemon walks off church property at approximately 11:37 a.m.
Kim Bellware, Perry Stein and Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this report.
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