On Thursday, a federal magistrate judge in Minnesota shut down the Justice Department's attempt to bring charges against Don Lemon over his involvement in Sunday's anti-ICE protest at St. Paul's Cities Church. The decision leaves the former CNN anchor legally off the hook — at least for now. The DOJ hasn't ruled out pursuing him through other channels. Attorney General Pamela Bondi had previously warned that "no one is above the law" in the church incident and suggested that Lemon would face charges.
The protest itself targeted St. Paul's Cities Church on Sunday because left-wing agitators suspected the pastor had cooperated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Lemon live-streamed the entire spectacle as agitators stormed the church, telling his viewers that "the freedom to protest" is what the First Amendment is all about.
During the livestream, Lemon asked the pastor, “What do you think of this?”
“I mean, this is unacceptable,” the pastor told him. “It’s shameful. It’s shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship.”
That’s when Lemon insisted that the agitators had every right to be there.
“Okay, but listen,” he began. “There’s a constitution and a First Amendment to freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest.” That argument made no sense because the First Amendment doesn’t give anyone the right to demonstrate on private property.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon revealed earlier this week that federal prosecutors were pursuing multiple potential charges over the church invasion, citing the FACE Act as one possible avenue. She noted that while the law has traditionally been used against pro-life activists, the Biden Justice Department expanded its use, and the Trump administration now plans to apply the same legal tools against left-wing extremists who targeted churchgoers.
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Dhillon also revealed that another tool at their disposal was the Ku Klux Klan Act. "In other cases, the Biden DOJ used the Klan Act conspiracy charges tacked onto the FACE Act in the case of protests outside abortion clinics to bring much longer sentences," she explained. "So there are a number of tools available to us."
She added, "The Klan Act is one of the most important federal civil rights statutes, and it goes back to the time when President Lincoln emancipated the slaves, and yet the southern states, Dixiecrats mainly, were refusing to give them equal rights.”
The failure to charge Lemon left many people angry and wondering why he avoided charges.
Abbe Lowell, Lemon's attorney, claimed the magistrate's decision confirms that Lemon's actions were First Amendment-protected reporting. According to Lowell, they were "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.”
But that’s not the real reason. And now we know why.
Bill Melugin of Fox News revealed in a post on X that the federal magistrate who refused to sign off on an arrest warrant for Don Lemon is Douglas L. Micko, and his wife works as an Assistant Attorney General in Minnesota AG Keith Ellison's office. That's right: The judge who decided Lemon shouldn't face charges has a spouse working for one of the most anti-ICE state officials in the country.
Lemon has insisted he had "no affiliation to that organization" and claimed he "didn't even know they were going to this church until we followed them there.” But video footage he posted on YouTube tells a different story. While driving to the church, Lemon told viewers, "We don't know what's happening. We kind of do, but we don't know how it's going to play out… we'll get to see what happens after this sort-of surprise." He also said from the car, "We just found out about this this morning. I'm just trying to figure out if it's best for me to go inside so I can tell what happened.”
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Once at the site, Lemon told his crew he would "go inside and give the rundown on what's going on," but directed his driver and cameraman not to step onto the church's property. He appeared to enter the church before the agitators, and the pastor could be heard on Lemon's audio feed before the service was interrupted by shouting. Lemon wasn’t an objective observer; he was an active participant.
Lemon has predictably played the victim card. He told Fox News Digital he stands by his reporting and has been subjected to online threats as a result of the controversy. Poor thing.
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