Don Lemon is responding through his attorney after the Trump administration moved to prosecute him for attending and broadcasting a protest opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Days after the independent journalist, 59, was put “on notice” by the Department of Justice — and shortly after a federal magistrate judge reportedly declined to sign off on criminal charges — Lemon shared a statement on Instagram from his attorney, Abbe Lowell, saying Lemon is prepared to “fight any charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.”
On Thursday, Jan. 22, a Minnesota federal magistrate judge refused to sign a complaint charging Lemon in connection with a protest at a St. Paul church on Sunday, Jan. 18, according to multiple outlets including CNN, The Guardian and CBS News.
The reported refusal came days after demonstrators interrupted a service to protest David Easterwood, a pastor who also serves as a local ICE agent.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2):format(webp)/don-lemon-012226-63e8b8476e224ecab98279ec7a7903ea.jpg)
“The magistrate’s reported actions confirm the nature of Don’s First Amendment protected work this weekend in Minnesota as a reporter,” Lowell said in the statement.
Lowell added that Lemon’s actions were consistent with his long career in journalism. “It was no different than what he has done for more than 30 years, reporting and covering newsworthy events on the ground and engaging in constitutionally protected activity as a journalist,” he wrote.
“Should the Department of Justice continue with a stunning and troubling effort to silence and punish a journalist for doing his job, Don will call out their latest attack on the rule of law and fight any charges vigorously and thoroughly in court,” Lowell continued.
Lemon had initially posted video footage from Cities Church in St. Paul on Sunday, telling viewers, “I’m sure people here don’t like it, but protests are not comfortable.”
Critics accused Lemon of instigating or organizing the protest. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote on X that “a house of worship is not a public forum for your protest,” and warned Lemon that he was “on notice.”
Dhillon later said she could seek prosecution under multiple laws during an appearance on The Benny Johnson Show on Monday, Jan. 19, including the FACE Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Lemon called it “notable that I’ve been cast as the face of a protest I was covering as a journalist — especially since I wasn’t the only reporter there. That framing is telling.”
He added that he had faced threats and slurs online. “What’s even more telling is the barrage of violent threats, along with homophobic and racist slurs, directed at me online by MAGA supporters and amplified by parts of the right-wing press,” he said.
“If this much time and energy is going to be spent manufacturing outrage, it would be far better used investigating the tragic death of Renee Nicole Good — the very issue that brought people into the streets in the first place,” Lemon added. “I stand by my reporting.”
