Feds Arrest Georgia Fort And Don Lemon In Minnesota Church Case

ST. PAUL, MN — Federal agents have arrested independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort in connection with an anti-ICE demonstration that disrupted a church service in St. Paul earlier this month.

Fort, a Twin Cities-based independent journalist and vice president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, was arrested around 6 a.m. Friday and taken to the Whipple Federal Building, her attorney told the Minnesota Star Tribune.

A video from inside Fort's home showed federal agents outside coming to arrest her over her documentation of the Jan. 18 incident at Cities Church in St. Paul.

Lemon, a former CNN anchor who now works independently, was arrested late Thursday night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy Awards, according to his attorney. Lemon has said he was present inside the church solely as a journalist covering the demonstration and not as a participant.

Cities Church was targeted by demonstrators because one of its pastors serves as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s field office in St. Paul. Protesters interrupted the church service by chanting "ICE out."

According to Fort’s attorney, Leita Walker, the arrest warrant cites two charges related to interfering with the free exercise of religion in a place of worship.

The Trump administration previously sought to charge Lemon, Fort, and others under a federal law protecting religious services. However, a magistrate judge approved charges against only three individuals, rejecting the evidence against Lemon and several others as insufficient.

The Justice Department later asked a federal appeals court to force approval of additional warrants, but that request was denied.

CNN issued a statement Friday criticizing Lemon’s arrest and raising concerns about press freedom:

“The Department of Justice already failed twice to get an arrest warrant for Don and several other journalists in Minnesota, where a chief judge of the Minnesota Federal District Court found there was ‘no evidence’ of any criminal behavior involved in their work,” CNN said.

The network added that the First Amendment protects journalists reporting on events as they unfold and said it would follow the case closely.

Those charged include Minneapolis civil rights activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, St. Paul school board member Chauntyll Allen, and military veteran William Kelly.

Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, called Lemon’s arrest an unprecedented attack on the First Amendment, saying his client’s work inside the church was constitutionally protected journalism.