It looks like podcaster Don Lemon isn’t going to face any consequences for his role in the disruption of a church service in Minnesota.
A judge refused to charge Lemon in connection with the protest, according to The Associated Press.
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A magistrate judge rejected federal prosecutors’ bid to charge journalist Don Lemon related to the church protest, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation.
Lemon was among those on Sunday who entered the church in St. Paul, where a local official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement serves as a pastor. Lemon has said he has no affiliation to the organization that organized the protest and was there chronicling 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.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what the Justice Department would do after the magistrate judge’s rejection. But authorities could gather more facts and return to a magistrate judge to again seek a criminal complaint or they could seek an indictment against Lemon before a grand jury.
CNN, which fired Lemon in 2023, first reported that the judge’s decision.
🚨 BREAKING: A federal magistrate has REFUSED to sign off on the DOJ’s charges against Don Lemon, per multiple reports
Just another activist judge running cover for leftists!
There are SEVERAL other avenues AG Bondi can take to charge Lemon, and she intends to take them, per… pic.twitter.com/Pul7lXdMdk
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 22, 2026
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Lemon was present at the church when the protesters interrupted the service. The incident occurred after the protesters learned that one of the church’s pastors was the acting field office director with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The protesters wandered through the sanctuary, chanting anti-ICE slogans and speaking out against the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE officer.
Don Lemon: “Being here illegally is not a crime, it’s a misdemeanor.”
Ordinary Citizen: “Isn’t a misdemeanor a crime?”
— Verbal Riot (@verbalriotshow) January 20, 2026
Lemon livestreamed the protest and encouraged those involved.
However, not all of those involved in the demonstration were let off the hook. The judge approved charges against Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney and former president of the Minnesota NAACP chapter. The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested her days after the protest. She is facing a charge for conspiracy against rights, a federal civil rights felony, according to The Washington Post.
Chauntyll Louisa Allen, a member of the St. Paul School Board and founder of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities, is also facing charges, however the nature of the allegations has not yet been revealed.
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