LOS ANGELES — Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested Friday in Los Angeles by federal agents on charges that he violated federal law during a protest last week at a church in Minnesota.

Lemon, an independent journalist who hosts his own YouTube show, was taken into federal custody in Beverly Hills while covering the upcoming Grammy Awards on Sunday, according to federal officials. Three others, including another journalist, have also been arrested.

“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done. The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power to account,” Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement.

The arrests stem from a Jan. 18 protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, where anti-ICE protesters burst into a church and disrupted the Sunday service. The church was targeted because an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field officer apparently serves as pastor.

Demonstrators pumped their fists in the air and chanted “ICE out!” as Lemon and other journalists documented the protest and interviewed congregants in the pews. Some called out the name of Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother and U.S. citizen who was fatally shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this month.

Lemon, 59, is being charged with conspiracy to deprive rights and violation of the FACE Act and interfering by force of someone’s First Amendment rights, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security told the Los Angeles Times. James Blair, a deputy White House chief of staff, said in an X post Friday that Lemon had been indicted by a federal grand jury.

In a 12-page indictment, federal prosecutors characterized Lemon and another journalist, Georgia Fort, as part of the group of protesters, including them as part of the 20 to 40 people who entered the church and “engaged in acts of oppression, intimidation, threats, interference and physical obstruction.”

The indictment specifically called out Lemon for livestreaming the incident, including a pre-operation meeting, during which he took “steps to maintain operational secrecy by reminding certain co-conspirators to not disclose the target of the operation and stepped away momentarily so his mic would not accidentally divulge certain” plans.

Prosecutors do not say that Lemon took part in the anti-ICE chants or yelling in the church, but said that he and Fort later approached the pastor and “surrounded him” while Lemon “peppered him with questions.” The indictment said Lemon stood so close to the pastor that the man’s hand grazed Lemon, and he told the pastor, “Please don’t push me.” The indictment also said Lemon ignored the pastor’s request to leave the church.

The indictment said Lemon later “confronted” congregants, and “physically obstructed them as they tried to exit.”

The White House posted a photo of Lemon on its X account Friday, saying he was arrested “for involvement in the St. Paul church riots.” A caption said, “When life gives you lemons ... ” followed by an emoji of chains.

“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,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on social media.

She later shared a video, stating that “under President Trump’s leadership and this administration you have the right to worship freely and safely.”

“And if I haven’t been clear already,” Bondi added, “if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you.”

In a media statement, Lemon’s attorney rejected the assertion that he had done anything criminal.

“Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful protesters, the Trump Justice Department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case,” the statement read. “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.”

After the protest, senior Trump administration officials attempted to charge eight people, including Lemon, citing a law that protects people seeking to participate in a church service.

But a federal magistrate judge in Minnesota approved charges against only three people, citing insufficient evidence that Lemon and others had conspired to deprive rights by interfering with someone’s religious freedom in a house of worship. Prominent local activists, including Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen, were arrested Jan. 22. Meanwhile, the Justice Department petitioned a federal appeals court to force the judge to issue arrest warrants for Lemon and four other people. The request was denied.

On Jan. 23, Bondi told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that the Department of Justice would continue to try to prosecute anyone who targeted a house of worship, including Lemon, whom she called “an online agitator.”

“If you protested and went into that church on the Sunday and you terrorized the parishioners, we are coming after you,” Bondi said. “I don’t care who you are. If you’re a failed CNN journalist, you have no right to do that in this country. We don’t live in a third world country.”

Lemon has argued he entered the church as a journalist, not a protester, and is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

The First Amendment does not automatically apply to private spaces. Some legal experts suggest Lemon’s defense based on the First Amendment could depend on whether the church’s Sunday service was open to the public.

“If the church was open to the public and Don Lemon was serving as a journalist covering the protest — both of which I understand to be the case — there are serious First Amendment concerns with arresting and prosecuting Lemon,” said Jean-Paul Jassy, a Los Angeles attorney specializing in the First Amendment. “This concern is heightened here as courts already rejected a warrant for lack of probable cause. It is very clear that this is a politically motivated attack on freedom of the press.”

In a social media post days before the Jan. 18 service, the church called for people to “join us.” After the incident, the church responded on its website and agitators “jarringly disrupted our worship gathering” and created “a scene marked by intimidation and threat” that it described as an “unlawful” action. Calls for comment from the church on Friday were not immediately returned.

Katie Townsend, former legal director of Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, noted that both the Department of Justice and Lemon were pushing First Amendment claims:

“DHS has said Lemon was charged with conspiracy to deprive rights and violation of the FACE Act (for allegedly interfering by force with the exercise of someone’s First Amendment rights), so the charges aren’t really tied to whether or not a church is a public space,” Townsend said.

“The First Amendment protects journalists’ right to cover protests and newsworthy events. Unfortunately, I do think the intent of these arrests is to chill news coverage of the ongoing protests in Minneapolis and elsewhere, to discourage journalists from covering protests from the ground.”

Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., an attorney who has represented Mary Trump and Jim Acosta, called Lemon’s arrest a “dark and dangerous day for the First Amendment and democracy.”

Lemon was fired by CNN in 2023. The network cited reports of inappropriate behavior, including an on-air comment that GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley was “past her prime.”

Since the protest, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, has posted repeatedly on social media about Lemon, referring to “his pseudo-journalism of disrupting a prayer service.” In one post on X, Dhillon said: “Even if one is a journalist, that doesn’t create immunity from criminal liability for criminal conduct.”

Last Thursday, Lemon spoke in a video after a Minnesota judge declined to issue an arrest warrant for him.

“This is not a victory lap for me, because it’s not over,” he said. “They’re going to try again and they’re going to try again. And guess what? Here I am, keep trying. That’s not going to stop me from being a journalist, you’re not going to diminish my voice.”

On Friday, agents also took into custody independent journalist Georgia Fort for her role in the Jan. 18 incident. Fort posted a video on Facebook as they were outside her door, calling the case against her a violation of her constitutional rights. She said federal agents arrived at her home at 6:30 a.m. and informed her that they had secured a grand jury indictment. Her attorney advised her to surrender herself.

Fort said she had documented the protest at Cities Church as a journalist.

“It is hard to understand how we have a Constitution, constitutional rights, when you can just be arrested for being a member of the press,” she said.

In a statement, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said: “Donald Trump’s administration is killing innocent people, arresting journalists, and destroying America’s moral authority. California will not roll over to this wrecking-ball presidency.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass referred to Lemon in a statement as “an internationally known and renowned journalist and friend.” Bass said Lemon was in custody in L.A. “simply for doing his job and following a protest into a church in Minneapolis while reporting the story.”

“Let me be very clear: President Trump is not de-escalating anything after the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens by federal agents,” the mayor said. “In fact, the arrest of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort demonstrates quite the opposite — he is escalating.”

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(Los Angeles Times staff writers Joseph Serna, Andrea Castillo and James Queally contributed to this report.)

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