Former CNN anchor Don Lemon is facing potential federal charges after joining protesters who disrupted a Sunday service at Cities Church in St. Paul on January 18, 2026. The Department of Justice has announced it will pursue charges under both the FACE Act and potentially the KKK Act — the same legal framework the Biden administration used against pro-life protesters at abortion clinics.
But beyond the legal jeopardy Lemon now faces, there’s a more immediate problem: he told his livestream audience that the protesters had a First Amendment right to do what they were doing. (YouTube 51:56) They don’t. And viewers who believe him could find themselves in serious legal trouble.
What Happened
Protesters targeted Cities Church because one of its pastors, David Easterwood, serves as the acting director of ICE’s St. Paul field office. Easterwood appeared alongside DHS Secretary Kristi Noem at a Minneapolis press conference last October and has been named in pending lawsuits over ICE tactics in Minnesota. He was not present during Sunday’s service.
Demonstrators, organized in part by Black Lives Matter Minnesota and led by activist Toshira Armstrong under the banner “Operation Pull Up,” entered the church during worship chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good” — a reference to the 37-year-old mother of three fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis earlier this month.
Lemon wasn’t a bystander who stumbled onto the scene. On his own livestream, he admitted he conducted “reconnaissance on the ground” with the protest group beforehand, described their plan as a “surprise operation” designed to “catch people off guard,” and acknowledged he knew in advance what was going to happen but couldn’t tell viewers where they were going.
St. Paul police remained outside the church during the disruption and did not intervene.
The Physical Confrontation
Footage from Lemon’s own YouTube stream — timestamped at approximately 52 minutes — appears to show him grabbing lead pastor Jonathan Parnell’s arm inside the sanctuary. Parnell, who was attempting to manage the volatile situation, created space with a defensive gesture. Lemon’s response: “Please don’t push me.”
The sequence is clear in the video: Lemon seemed to initiate physical contact, the pastor responded defensively, and Lemon immediately reframed the interaction as if he were the one being encroached upon.
The First Amendment Claim That Isn’t
At 51:56 in his livestream, Lemon stated: “Listen, we live in a — there’s a constitution in the first amendment to freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest.”
This is where Lemon’s commentary crosses from questionable journalism into civic misinformation.
The First Amendment does protect speech and assembly. But it protects them from government interference. It does not — and has never — granted citizens the right to enter private property against the owner’s wishes.
A church is private property. Even when its doors are open for worship, the invitation is purpose-limited: you are invited to participate in the service, not to disrupt it. The moment that purpose is exceeded, you are trespassing. The moment you conspire with others to do so, you may be violating federal civil rights law.
The actual text of the First Amendment protects “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” Storming into a private religious service to “surprise” people and “hold them to account” is not peaceable assembly. It is precisely the conduct the FACE Act was written to prohibit.
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The Legal Response
Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X that she spoke directly with the pastor and that “attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, confirmed the investigation and announced the department’s intention to pursue charges. In an interview on the Benny Johnson Show, Dhillon indicated that both the FACE Act and the KKK Act (18 U.S.C. §§ 241/242) — which prohibits conspiracy to violate citizens’ civil rights — are under consideration.
The KKK Act was originally passed in 1871 to combat Klan terrorism against freed slaves. The Biden DOJ used it extensively against pro-life protesters, stacking conspiracy charges on top of FACE Act violations to secure longer sentences. That precedent now applies equally to those who disrupt church services.
Why This Matters Beyond Lemon
Don Lemon has a platform. His livestream reached an audience that heard him claim First Amendment protection for entering a private church during a planned disruption. Some viewers may now believe they can do the same.
They cannot.
The First Amendment is not a skeleton key to private property. It does not transform trespass into protected speech. It does not shield participants in a planned disruption from conspiracy charges simply because they were also filming.
Lemon may have decades of broadcast experience, but his constitutional analysis wouldn’t pass a high school civics exam. And the people who act on his misinformation — believing they have rights they do not have — will be the ones who pay the price.
The DOJ investigation is ongoing. No formal charges have been filed as of publication.
Dave Soulia | FYIVT
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