Arrest of Don Lemon sparks debate over free speech rights versus freedom of religion

Don Lemon’s arrest has set off a very public clash between free‑speech advocates and those who argue the case raises serious religious‑freedom concerns.

The former CNN anchor and frequent critic of President Trump was taken into custody and later released after livestreaming anti‑ICE protesters who last month stormed a St. Paul, Minnesota, church to demand the resignation of the pastor, whom, according to court filings, they believed to be a federal immigration officer.

Mr. Lemon has vowed to fight the charges after he was indicted, along with a group of activists, by a federal grand jury in Minnesota. They were charged with conspiracy against the right of religious freedom at a place of worship and injuring, intimidating and interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom at a place of worship.

On Sunday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche avoided weighing in on the specifics of the indictment but stressed that debates over Mr. Lemon’s First Amendment defense shouldn’t overshadow the fact that the “right of freedom of religion” is just as important as any other individual right.

“I don’t know if you’ve watched the videos or read the indictment about what it’s alleged that Mr. Lemon did, but if anybody in this country thinks that that is ’independent journalism,’ I would like to have a conversation with you,” Mr. Blanche said on ABC’s “This Week”. “Nobody in this country should feel comfortable storming into a church while it’s ongoing and disrupting that church service and thinking that we’re just going to stand by and let that happen, because there is a statute that does not allow that to happen.”

“It doesn’t matter if you happen to be a former CNN journalist,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a writer. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re peacefully protesting. You are not allowed to do that.”

President Trump told reporters Saturday night that he “did not know anything” about the case, but he did note Mr. Lemon is a “sleezebag.”

“He is washed up,” Mr. Trump said, adding that the spike in attention is probably the “best thing that could happen to him.” 

“He was a failed host, and now he is in the news.”

In an affidavit, Department of Homeland Security Special Agent Timothy Gerber said “30-40 agitators … disrupted the religious service” at Cities Church in St. Paul on Jan. 18. He said Mr. Lemon and the rest of the group “intimidated, harassed, oppressed, and terrorized the parishioners, including young children, and caused the service to be cut short and forced parishioners to flee the church out of a side door, which resulted in one female victim falling and suffering an injury.”

The indictment says that “young children were left to wonder, as one child put it, if their parents were going to die.”

The case had been previously rejected by a magistrate judge.

A good chunk of the protest was captured live by Mr. Lemon, who arrived with the protesters and interviewed the pastor and congregants, who were frustrated by the interruption. Mr. Lemon was arrested in Los Angeles while covering the Grammy Awards.

“Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump Justice Department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case,” his attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. “This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand.”

Mr. Lemon was fired from CNN in 2023 and has since worked as an independent journalist.