Balanced News from the Left, Center and Right

Don Lemon was arrested in Los Angeles Thursday evening by federal authorities following a protest that disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota on January 18.

The Details: Journalist Don Lemon (Left bias) along with three other people, including another independent journalist, Georgia Fort, were arrested in connection with the anti-ICE church protest. While Lemon faces charges for violating federal law during the protest, it is yet unclear what those specific charges are for. Lemon is reportedly still in custody and scheduled to go before a magistrate judge in California on Friday. US Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced the arrests on X Friday morning, and said "More details soon." Fort posted a video to her followers saying "agents are at my door right now," with a grand jury indictment and that her attorney advised her to comply with them.

For Context: Lemon was formerly employed by CNN (Lean Left) for 17 years until being fired in 2023. In 2024, Lemon started a new show independently, called The Don Lemon Show. The church protest followed unrest in Minnesota over federal immigration enforcement and the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents.

How The Media Covered It: Some outlets on the right like Breitbart (Right) and Townhall (Right) referred to Lemon as a "disgraced former CNN anchor" and called the church protest "a riot," saying "Lemon was part of a gang of January 18 rioters who stormed St. Paul's Cities Church." Both outlets referred to the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which a local Minnesota judge refused to sign an arrest warrant for. The Townhall article said, "Lemon might have gotten lucky the first time," adding that the FACE Act covers religious services, "which is something Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison laughably only thought applied to abortion clinics." The outlet reported that the Justice Department dropped the initial warrant, which paved the way for a grand jury indictment, which according to the article seems to be the case here. Breitbart also said that "it is believed he [Lemon] will be charged what's known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, or the Enforcement Act of 1871, which outlaws interfering with civil rights, like religious worship." Outlets on the left like MS Now (Left) tended not to mention either the FACE Act or the Ku Klux Klan Act, and instead focused more on questions surrounding freedom of the press and first amendment rights. The Guardian (Left) highlighted commentary from director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Seth Stern, who called the arrest "a naked attack on freedom of the press" and said it "is a clear warning shot aimed at other journalists" with "the unmistakable message" being that "journalists must tread cautiously because the government is looking for any way to target them." The outlet also mentioned that CNN condemned the arrest of their former employee.  

Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Support our mission. Suggest an improvement to this summary.