Judge Shuts Down Don Lemon’s Arrest

A federal magistrate judge with questionable connections to the Minnesota Attorney General’s office just refused to approve charges against former CNN host Don Lemon for participating in the anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.

As reported by Fox News:

A federal magistrate judge on Thursday rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to bring charges against former CNN anchor Don Lemon in connection with Sunday’s anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church, Fox News Digital has learned.

Lemon livestreamed left-wing agitators who stormed St. Paul’s Cities Church under the suspicion that its pastor had collaborated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Lemon told viewers that “the freedom to protest” is what the First Amendment is all about.

Lemon was expected to face charges after Attorney General Pamela Bondi warned that “no one is above the law” on the heels of the church incident. The Justice Department could “find other avenues to charge Lemon,” CBS News reported, citing a source familiar with the matter. . . .

Far-left agitator Nekima Levy Armstrong, who was one of the organizers of the church protest, was arrested on Thursday. She appeared in Lemon’s footage and was interviewed by him beforehand.

“Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP,” Bondi wrote on X.

Lemon has insisted he has “no affiliation to that organization” and “didn’t even know they were going to this church until we followed them there,” although video he posted on YouTube suggested he was at least somewhat aware of the agitators’ plan.

So, despite many calls for it to happen, Don Lemon didn’t get arrested for leading the invasion of the Minnesota church – and somehow, he’s the angriest person in the room about it.

Lemon jumped on his podcast to declare that this wasn’t over, that “[t]hey’re gonna again,” and – in perhaps the most revealing moment of all – dared the media to “make me into the new Jimmy Kimmel.” That line tells you everything you need to know. He’s chasing headlines, not truth.

This wasn’t about justice. It wasn’t about principle. And it certainly wasn’t about journalism. This was about relevance.

Despite his confident smirk, Lemon hasn’t been meaningfully in the news for years – not since the Elon Musk interview implosion – and this whole infuriating spectacle smacks of desperation from a man who is very much aware of that fact. Now that he’s finally got attention again, he’s gripping it with both hands and begging the spotlight not to move on.

Here’s the irony: A judge ruled in his favor, and Lemon treated it like a disappointment.

Why? Because a clean legal outcome doesn’t feed the narrative he wants. He doesn’t want closure – he wants conflict. He wants to be persecuted. He wants to be “silenced.” He wants the martyr arc without the actual consequences.

And let’s be clear: Claiming this was “journalism” stretches that word past the breaking point. Lemon wasn’t standing back, documenting events. He was embedded, participating, narrating motives, labeling a church as “white supremacist,” and filming visibly distressed children. That’s not reporting. That’s activism with a camera crew. And it shouldn’t be tolerated.

Journalists don’t get a get-out-of-jail-free card for violating the law. The First Amendment protects the press – it does not somehow magically authorize you to trespass, intimidate, threaten, or participate in unlawful activity and then shrug it off as “documentation.”

And comparing himself to Jimmy Kimmel only makes the whole thing more absurd. Kimmel was briefly suspended for a tasteless joke, issued a public apology, and moved on. Lemon was fired from CNN for a pattern of behavior and has spent years trying to claw his way back into relevance. These situations are not remotely comparable – except in Lemon’s imagination.

What we’re seeing here isn’t courage. It’s ego. A man who can’t let a news cycle end because once it does, so does his spotlight.

Ironically, the person most upset that Don Lemon wasn’t arrested . . . appears to be Don Lemon.

While Lemon is busy auditioning for his comeback tour, tens of thousands of Americans are in Washington, D.C., for the annual March for Life – an event that continues even after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Why? Because the fight didn’t magically disappear. States are still aggressively pushing policy, and pro-life advocates are still being targeted for peaceful speech. Over the last year alone, the ACLJ has been involved in 224 pro-life legal matters, in some cases defending people whose only “crime” was standing quietly with a sign or sharing their beliefs.

That contrast matters: peaceful advocacy being restricted, even punished, while ideological disruption of religious services is waved away as “protest” or “journalism.”

Consistency still matters. The law still matters. And so does the First Amendment, for everyone.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included more analysis of the magistrate’s decision to decline charges for Don Lemon. We were also joined by ACLJ Senior Associate Counsel Nathan Moelker to discuss our fight to defend a pro-life advocate who was unconstitutionally silenced for sharing the Gospel outside an abortion clinic.

Watch the full broadcast below: