Staff Reports
On January 30, 2026 federal agents took former CNN anchor Don Lemon into custody in Los Angeles in connection with a January 18, 2026 protest that interrupted a Sunday service at Cities Church in St. Paul. Lemon had been in town covering the Grammy Awards when law enforcement moved in, after prosecutors said his livestreaming and presence coincided with a group that entered and disrupted worship. The arrest is a sharp reminder that no one, not even famous media figures, is above the law when they cross the line into interfering with others’ constitutional rights.
The incident at Cities Church targeted a pastor who also serves in the local ICE field office, and protesters chanted “ICE out” while interrupting the service. Federal prosecutors opened a civil rights investigation and arrested several organizers, even as a federal magistrate initially declined to sign off on misdemeanor charges against Lemon himself. That back-and-forth only underscores a clear legal question: reporting is protected, but crossing into disruption of worship is not.
Conservatives should welcome vigorous enforcement when churches are targeted, because protecting houses of worship is a bedrock responsibility of government. Attorney General Pam Bondi and DOJ officials insisted disruptions of religious services would not be tolerated, and that message matters in a nation where public spaces of worship must remain sacrosanct. If the government enforces the law consistently, it will restore a sense of order that too many communities have lost.
Don Lemon and his defenders insist he was doing journalism, and his lawyer vowed to fight the charges on First Amendment grounds. Yet video of the event shows him embedding with protesters and broadcasting as the group entered the sanctuary—behavior that raises reasonable questions about whether he remained a neutral observer or became part of the action. The First Amendment protects reporting, not participation in tactics meant to shut down other Americans’ worship.
This moment exposes the double standard of the coastal elite media: when their own climb into the middle of confrontations, they call it brave reporting, but ordinary citizens who defend churches or speak up get smeared as extremists. Americans of faith and conscience deserve equal protection under the law, not selective outrage that excuses malevolent behavior when it suits a narrative. If we allow exceptions for celebrities and narrative-driven activists, the rule of law erodes for everyone else.
Patriots who care about religious liberty, public order, and journalistic integrity should watch this case closely and demand consistent accountability. Let the courts do their work, but let there be no doubt: disrupting a worship service is unacceptable, and high-profile names should not get a pass for doing what regular people would be arrested for. The choice is clear — we can either defend churches and the quiet rights of Americans, or we can surrender to a culture that privileges spectacle over law.
