UPDATE 5-Ex-CNN journalist Don Lemon arrested after anti-ICE church protest in Minnesota

Former CNN news anchor Don Lemon was due in court on Friday after being arrested on federal charges for his role covering a ‌protest at a Minnesota church against Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, the Justice Department's latest move against a critic of the Republican president.

Former CNN news anchor Don Lemon was due in court on Friday after being arrested on federal charges for his role covering a ‌protest at a Minnesota church against Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, the Justice Department's latest move against a critic of the Republican president. Lemon, now an independent journalist after being fired by CNN in 2023, livestreamed a protest that disrupted a January 18 service at Cities Church in St. Paul against Trump's deployment of thousands of armed immigration agents into Democratic-governed Minnesota's biggest cities. The White House touted Lemon's arrest, posting ⁠a photo of him with the caption: "When life gives you lemons" followed by an emoji of chains. Free press advocates voiced alarm over the arrest.

A Justice Department official said Lemon was charged with conspiring to deprive others of their civil rights and violating a law that typically has been used to crack down on demonstrations at abortion clinics but also forbids obstructing access to houses of worship. There have been frequent street confrontations in Minnesota between federal agents and protesters, intensifying after agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens, one before and one after the Cities Church protest.

Lemon is ​due to make a court appearance later on Friday in Los Angeles after being arrested there late on Thursday by FBI and Homeland Security Investigations agents. A federal magistrate judge last week had declined to issue an arrest warrant for Lemon.

Lemon had been under ‍FBI surveillance for several days leading up to his arrest, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity. The FBI declined to comment. Lemon's lawyer Abbe Lowell said his client was doing journalism protected by the U.S. Constitution First Amendment, which ensures freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

"This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand," Lowell said in a statement. Independent local journalist Georgia Fort and two others also were arrested, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Trump appointee.

Leita Walker, a lawyer for Fort, said her client was at the church "documenting an ⁠event of significant ‌public interest and concern" and would defend herself against what she called efforts ⁠to "intimidate journalists." TRUMP CRITICS TARGETED Outrage over the Minneapolis tumult has caused a political crisis for Trump, with Republicans divided over whether his immigration crackdown has gone too far, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

Trump has blamed the Cities Church protest on "agitators and insurrectionists," accusing them of intimidating Christian worshippers. The Justice Department over the past year has tried to prosecute ‍a succession of Trump's critics and perceived enemies. Its charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who both led investigations into Trump, were thrown out by a judge.

It is also investigating nine Democratic lawmakers, a former CIA director and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, ​who has resisted Trump's pressure to rapidly lower interest rates. Lemon spent 17 years at CNN, becoming one of its most recognizable personalities, and did not shy from criticizing the government on air. Lemon was fired by CNN after making on-air comments about ⁠women and then-Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley that were considered sexist. Lemon later apologized.

Trump frequently lambastes journalists and news outlets, going further than his predecessors by sometimes suing them for damages or stripping disfavored outlets of access-granting credentials. FBI agents with a search warrant seized laptops and other devices this month from the home of a Washington Post reporter who has ⁠covered Trump's firing of federal workers, saying it was investigating leaks of secret government information.

PRESS ADVOCATES ALARMED Press advocates called the FBI search involving the Post reporter and the arrests of Lemon and Fort an escalation of attacks on press freedom. Trump has said his attacks are because he is tired of "fake news" and hostile coverage.

"Reporting on protests isn't a crime," said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute. Jaffer called the arrests alarming, and said Trump sought "to tighten the vise around press freedom."

Journalists covering U.S. protests ⁠sometimes get arrested by local police, accused of blocking roads or getting in law enforcement's way. Legal experts said they were unaware of any U.S. precedent for journalists being arrested after the fact, or under the two laws used to charge Lemon and Fort, ⁠including the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 measure that ‌prevents obstructing access to abortion clinics and places of worship. After the protest, prosecutors secured arrest warrants for three people involved, but the magistrate judge declined to issue warrants for Lemon and the video producer who joined him at the church, along with several other people who had been at the demonstration.

The judge said prosecutors had not shown "probable cause" that the others, including Lemon and the producer, had broken ⁠a law.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)