Don Lemon pleads not guilty to federal charges stemming from church protest

Journalist Don Lemon speaks to reporters outside federal court in Los Angeles on Jan. 30, 2026, following his release from custody. (Mario Tama/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Don Lemon pleaded not guilty Friday to U.S. federal charges following his arrest last month in connection with a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minn.

Lemon is being charged with two federal crimes: conspiring to violate someone’s constitutional rights and violating the FACE Act, which prohibits the use of force or threats to intentionally interfere with someone expressing their First Amendment right to practice religion.

Federal prosecutors allege Lemon and another independent journalist, Georgia Fort, participated in a “takeover-style attack” of Cities Church and intimidated congregants, after the two livestreamed a group of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protesters rushing into the church on Jan. 18, interrupting the service.

The journalist and former CNN anchor – who now hosts his own show on YouTube – has vowed to fight the charges. He has hired Joseph H. Thompson, a former Minnesota federal prosecutor, to represent him, according to court records filed earlier this week.

Thompson was one of at least six federal prosecutors who recently resigned from the Minnesota US Attorney’s office amid tensions with the Trump administration over the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Good.

Lemon was arrested in a hotel lobby in Beverly Hills on January 29 while he was in Los Angeles to cover the Grammy Awards. More than two dozen agents from Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI arrested him, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the operation.

He was held overnight in federal custody, and released on his own recognizance the following day.

“I have spent my entire career covering the news – I will not stop now,” Lemon said on the steps of the federal courthouse in Los Angeles following his release. “In fact, there is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable.”

Lemon has repeatedly said, even during his live YouTube stream of the church disruption, that he was present at the demonstration as a journalist, not an activist. In footage of the episode, Lemon was heard saying, “I’m just here photographing, I’m not part of the group … I’m a journalist.”

The Justice Department first attempted to charge eight people, including Lemon. A magistrate judge rejected the charges against five of those people – Lemon among them – saying there was insufficient evidence to charge.

The judge, however, encouraged prosecutors to take the case to a grand jury and seek an indictment. And Lemon on his YouTube show said the government would try again to charge him.

Whitney Wild, Elizabeth Hartfield, CNN