Journalist Don Lemon set to be arraigned in Minnesota church protest case

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Former CNN host turned independent journalist Don Lemon is set to be arraigned in federal court in Minnesota on Friday along with four other defendants who were indicted for their alleged roles in disrupting a service at church where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official was a pastor.

Also scheduled for arraignment Friday is civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, the subject of a photo posted on an official White House social media account that was altered to falsely show her crying when she was arrested. The picture is part of a deluge of AI-altered imagery circulating since the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers in Minneapolis amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Arraignments in federal court typically include the entering of pleas and scheduling of future proceedings. It wasn’t clear ahead of the hearing if Lemon planned to personally appear or let his legal team handle the hearing. His attorney, Joe Thompson, did not return calls seeking comment this week.

Two more defendants, including independent journalist Georgia Fort, are to be arraigned next week. Nine defendants in all are charged in the case.

Lemon had previously said through another attorney, Marilyn Bednarsk, that he planned to plead not guilty to federal civil rights charges over his coverage of the protest at a Southern Baptist church in St. Paul.

Protesters interrupted the service at Cities Church on Jan. 18 by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis last month. Lemon has said that he was not affiliated with the group and that he was there as a journalist to cover the event for his livestream show.

“I have spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now. In fact, there is no more important time than right now, this very moment for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable,” Lemon told reporters after his arrest.

The church protest drew sharp complaints from conservative religious and political leaders. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned in a social media post at the time that “President Trump will not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship.” Even among clergy who oppose the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics, there was discomfort with such protests.

The 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act prohibits interference or intimidation of “any person by force, threat of force, or physical obstruction exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.” Penalties can range up to a year in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.

Thompson is one of several former prosecutors who have left the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office in recent weeks amid frustration with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown in the state and the Justice Department’s response to the shootings of Good and Pretti.

Thompson, who is one of four lawyers registered to represent Lemon going forward, had been leading the sprawling investigation of major public program fraud cases for the office until he resigned last month. The Trump administration has cited the fraud cases, in which most defendants have come from the state’s large Somali community, as justification for its immigration crackdown.