Former CNN host Don Lemon has hired a former federal prosecutor to help defend him against charges stemming from last month’s anti-ICE activist invasion of Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
According to The New York Times, Joseph Thompson, who previously served as a federal prosecutor in Minnesota, has joined Lemon’s legal team. Thompson once worked out of the same U.S. attorney’s office that ultimately brought charges against Lemon. He will work alongside Abbe Lowell, Lemon’s lead attorney, as the independent journalist fights the case.
Thompson recently resigned from the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota. He stepped down last month in protest of the Trump administration’s immigration policies and its crackdown on illegal aliens in Minneapolis.
The charges against Lemon stem from events that unfolded on January 18, when anti-ICE activists stormed Cities Church during a religious service. Lemon filmed the protest as it happened. Prior to the invasion, he joined activists in a parking lot and appeared to withhold details about the planned operation from his audience while speaking with protesters.
Prosecutors allege that during his livestream of the group’s early gathering, Lemon “stepped away momentarily so his mic would not accidentally divulge certain portions of the planning session.” That detail was included in an indictment outlining the government’s case.
Lemon was arrested last month and charged with conspiracy to violate the right of religious freedom at a house of worship, as well as violations of the FACE Act, a federal law that bans disruption of religious services.
During the livestream, Lemon defended the protesters as they entered the church and disrupted the service. The disturbance was significant enough that parishioners chose to leave rather than wait for order to be restored. Lemon argued that the activists’ actions were constitutionally protected.
“There is nothing in the Constitution that tells you what time you can protest. You can protest at any time. That’s the whole point of it, to disrupt, to make uncomfortable. And that’s what they’re doing,” Lemon said during the broadcast. “When you see how … uncomfortably and harsh people are being treated on the streets, you have to be willing to go into places and disrupt and make people uncomfortable. That is what this country is about.”
He also blamed the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis for fueling the activist response.
“This is the beginning of what’s going to happen here. When you violate people’s due process, when you pull people off the street, you start dragging them and hurting them and not abiding by the Constitution – when you start doing all of that, people get upset and angry,” Lemon said.
The protest was organized and promoted by the Racial Justice Network and Black Lives Matter Minnesota. Activists targeted Cities Church because, according to activist leader Nekima Levy-Armstrong, one of the church’s pastors works for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“They cannot pretend to be a house of God while harboring someone who is directing ICE agents to wreak havoc upon our community,” Levy-Armstrong told Lemon. “I am a reverend on top of being a lawyer and an activist, so I come here in the power of the almighty God for righteousness, truth, and justice.”
On Lemon’s stream, Levy-Armstrong led dozens of protesters into the church during services, crowding the aisle and chanting slogans including “justice for Renee Good,” “hands up, don’t shoot,” and “ICE out of Minnesota.”
As the legal battle begins to unfold, Lemon now faces federal charges tied directly to the disruption of a house of worship — and has assembled a legal team with deep experience inside the same office bringing the case against him.
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