Federal Agents Arrest Don Lemon Over Minnesota Church Protest

The former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested late Thursday night on charges that he violated federal law during a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minn., his lawyer said, in a case rejected last week by a magistrate judge.

Mr. Lemon has said he was simply reporting as a journalist when he entered the Cities Church on Jan. 18 to observe a demonstration against the immigration crackdown in the area.

The protesters interrupted a service at the church, where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as a pastor, and chanted “ICE out.” Afterward, the Trump administration sought to charge eight people over the episode, including Mr. Lemon, citing a law that protects people seeking to participate in a service in a house of worship.

But the magistrate judge who reviewed the evidence approved charges against only three of the people, rejecting the evidence against Mr. Lemon and the others as insufficient. The Justice Department then petitioned a federal appeals court to force the judge to issue the additional warrants, only to be denied.

Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Mr. Lemon, vowed to fight the charges.

“Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards,” Mr. Lowell said in a statement. “Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done.”

Mr. Lowell added, “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.”

The Trump administration has pursued two criminal charges against the church protesters and Mr. Lemon — conspiring to deprive rights and interfering with someone’s religious freedom in a house of worship. In the larger fight over the White House’s aggressive immigration crackdown in that city, the Justice Department has pushed hard to charge people who participated in or were at the church protest.

The administration posted arrest photos of the first arrests over the church protest, and a White House social media account posted a doctored photo of one of the people to make it look as if she was crying.

Mr. Lemon is scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday. Now that he has been arrested, he is likely to challenge the prosecution’s case by arguing that he was not protesting, but rather covering the event as a journalist.