Judge rejects DOJ's attempt to charge Don Lemon over Minnesota church protest: report

Don Lemon said that he has no affiliation with the group that organized the protest and was there chronicling it as a journalist

By Natalia Mittelstadt

Published: January 22, 2026 1:31pm

A magistrate judge rejected the Justice Department's attempt to charge journalist Don Lemon over a protest at a Minnesota church service, according to a report.

An anonymous source who was not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation told The Associated Press about the judge's decision on Thursday.

Lemon entered a service at the Cities Church in St. Paul on Sunday, along with protesters, where a local official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement serves as a pastor. He said that he has no affiliation with the group that organized the protest and was there chronicling it as a journalist.

“Once the protest started in the church we did an act of journalism which was report on it and talk to the people involved, including the pastor, members of the church and members of the organization,” Lemon said in a video posted on social media. “That’s it. That’s called journalism.”

Lemon worked at CNN until he was fired in 2023.