It finally happened. Don Lemon, who claims to be an “independent journalist,” has finally become the story.

The news broke this morning that Don Lemon, along with three others, were arrested for their involvement with the invasion and harassment at Cities Church in Minneapolis back on January 18th. Three of the ringleaders were already arrested for that invasion and protest. At the time, a warrant was sought for Don Lemon, but the federal magistrate (who had ties to his buddy Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office) refused to issue one. This time, the facts were apparently laid before a grand jury, and Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrests on X just after 9 am Eastern time.

At my direction, early this morning federal agents arrested Don Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.

More details soon.

— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) January 30, 2026

As promised, Don Lemon and the others are being charged with violations of the FACE Act.

Lemon was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles early Friday for his alleged involvement with a group of anti-ICE protesters who stormed a Minnesota church during a Sunday service Jan. 18.

He is being charged with 18 USC 241, Conspiracy to Deprive Rights, which makes it illegal for “two or more persons to agree to injure, threaten, or intimidate a person in the United States in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States,” according to the Department of Justice.

He’s also charged under 18 USC 248, Violation of the FACE Act, or the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act — a 1994 federal law that deals with access to health clinics but also covers interference with religious worship as well as conspiracy statutes.

Yes, that same FACE Act that Keith Ellison hypocritically claimed couldn’t be used to protect the freedom of religious worship. WHOOPS. It seems the monkey’s paw of the FACE Act has officially bitten Don Lemon right in the butt.

However, he has all his friends in the media screaming and crying hysterically for him. AND he has quite the expensive, high profile lawyer working for him. Say hello once again to Hunter Biden’s favorite legal eagle, Abbe Lowell!

Attorney for my colleague and friend Don Lemon has released a statement saying Don was arrested by federal agents in LA last night. This is outrageous and cannot stand. The First Amendment is under attack in America! pic.twitter.com/V4TVEK7Icy

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 30, 2026

The journalists are wailing over Lemon’s arrest, claiming that this is a violation of the First Amendment, proof that we are living in the end times of the republic, and all sorts of dire consequences – while pointedly ignoring that Don Lemon livestreamed the protest, showed himself getting in the pastor’s face with a microphone, and that the protest was happening within the church walls where the protesters got aggressive and hateful toward those in the building. The federal arrest affidavit of Nekima Valdez Levy-Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and William Scott Kelly, who were the first three people arrested after Cities Church was invaded, detailed how the congregants were terrorized by the protesters with no provocation.

The arrest affidavit filed against Nekima Valdez Levy-Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and William Scott Kelly says activists in the group told children that their parents were “Nazis” and were “going to burn in Hell.”

The document was filed by a Special Agent with the Department of Homeland Security who was conducting an investigation into the incident. It says the perpetrators “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 affidavit describes multiple examples of children in the church with looks of terror and anxiety on their faces, and adults trying to comfort them. In some cases, parents were blocked from reaching their children.

William Scott Kelly is accused of reportedly yelling, “This ain’t God’s house. This is the house of the devil.” The activists believed one of the church’s pastors is an agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A victim from the church also reports Kelly screaming “Nazi” in people’s faces, and telling children directly, “Do you know your parents are Nazis? They’re going to burn in hell.”

According to a report from KARE 11, the activists blocked stairs so parents could not reach their children, and one parent said “his children are traumatized.”

Another churchgoer “expressed fear that the agitators may have guns underneath their jackets.”

But Don Lemon was just “holding the regime accountable,” his friends claim! Which public official was he demanding answers from in the church? The pastor he interviewed wasn’t even the supposed ICE field director that the protesters claimed they were targeting. Cities Church is not a government building, it is private property. Don Lemon knew who the leaders were and coordinated the coverage of the livestream of the church invasion. The protesters knew he was with them. And when asked to leave by the pastor, Don Lemon refused and kept going.

I think he'd have a better argument had he left when the pastor directly asked him to leave.

But Lemon lectured him on the "First Amendment" instead and then spent another 9 minutes walking around, harassing congregants for "interviews." https://t.co/xCdX8HbPCc

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) January 30, 2026

The journalists who have been standing on their First Amendment rights are suddenly shocked to discover that the First Amendment has other enumerated rights, and that engaging in a conspiracy to cover an active crime doesn’t protect them from being arrested, no matter what “value” they assign to it.

CNN’s Brian Stelter says America is “better off for” Don Lemon having joined the church-storming mob…

“[Y]ou’re going to see some people, you know, on the MAGA right who are going to cheer this. At the same time, many First Amendment groups, many press freedom advocates are… pic.twitter.com/lPPLr8YJQZ

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 30, 2026

Notice that the “journalists” who are defending Don Lemon aren’t asking the congregants of Cities Church for their side of the story now. Funny, that. The church released a statement thanking the DOJ for acting to protect their freedom to worship. Watch all of Don Lemon’s media buddies ignore that statement because it smushes their narrative of the poor oppressed truth-seeking journalist straight into the pavement.

Don Lemon is going to milk this arrest for all it is worth. He’ll draw so many eyeballs to his online show, he will talk to all his sympathetic friends in the media, and he will get to be the main character for a period of time. And then he will have to actually have to deal with these charges in court, paying Abbe Lowell an obscene amount of money to try and get him off the hook. All while the livestream video he so proudly produced will live on the internet forever, and will end up being a cautionary tale about how holding a camera and/or a microphone will not protect you if you conspire to commit a crime and film yourself while doing it.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click