Don Lemon has been charged for joining the mob that stormed a Minneapolis church service and intimidated congregants. Lemon has entered a plea of not guilty:
Former CNN host Don Lemon has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from his coverage of a protest last month at a church over federal immigration raids in the US state of Minnesota.
Lemon, 59, was charged with conspiracy to deprive rights and interfering with religious freedoms by allegedly obstructing someone's First Amendment rights by force.
He was arrested after entering the Cities Church in St Paul on 18 January with protesters who said one of its pastors was an immigration enforcement official.
This week Lemon was on the podcast of Jim Acosta, who also fancies himself to be a "journalist" but is in reality essentially a Democrat activist that CNN used to try and pass off as an objective reporter.
Lemon, with Acosta's assistance, is sticking to the "I was doing journalism" claim and has a non-surprising theory for why congregants might not have believed that claim:
🚨 Don Lemon says people in the Minnesota church he entered didn’t believe he was a journalist because he’s black pic.twitter.com/wnucwRCHKV
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) February 19, 2026
Is taking part in a mob but yelling "I'm a journalist" a get out of jail free card? You could run into a hospital screaming "I'm a doctor" but that doesn't mean it'll be legal for you to go operate on somebody.
Lemon says this all could be happening because he's black, or there's another possibility that he (and Acosta) didn't consider:
That, or b/c he wasn't doing journalism
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 19, 2026
Everyone knows Don Lemon isn’t a real journalist. Has nothing to do with his skin color though.
— Alithia Ergo (@alithiaergo) February 19, 2026
He was a coordinator masquerading as a journalist. https://t.co/IedAsDsvci
— helen henning (@helenckh) February 19, 2026
You'll notice that Acosta only showed a short clip because the entire video, including Lemon interacting with the agitators outside (he even bought them coffee and donuts), destroys the "I was just covering this as a journalist" excuse.
*****