By SUZANNE DOWNING
Jan. 30, 2026 – Federal law enforcement officials announced early Friday that former CNN journalist Don Lemon and three others were taken into custody in connection with a protest that disrupted a Sunday church service in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed in a social media post that federal agents acted at her direction to arrest Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy “in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota” on Jan. 18. She said additional details would be released soon.
The invasion in question occurred at Cities Church, a congregation that the invasion organizers said is pastored by a local official with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and disrupted a worship service as demonstrators chanted and called for a halt to federal immigration enforcement.
Federal authorities say this was a violation of federal laws protecting houses of worship and the constitutional right to worship free of interference.
Initial arrests began earlier this month, and several people have already been charged in related civil rights or federal obstruction cases.
Lemon, who left CNN in 2023 and now works independently, was reportedly in St. Paul covering the protest and documenting the events when demonstrators entered the church. But he was apparently one of the organizers of it as well. His attorney, Abbe Lowell, has maintained that Lemon was acting solely as a journalist and asserted that his coverage is protected under the First Amendment.
The church protest was part of a larger series of demonstrations in Minnesota tied to public outrage over federal immigration enforcement.
