起诉书中多次提到了莱蒙关于该事件的视频，指控该记者告诉观众，整个目的是扰乱运营。
他说，莱蒙以独立记者的身份出现在抗议现场。1月18日，莱蒙在他的Instagram上发布了一段视频，显示抗议者大喊大叫，以及他对教徒和抗议者的采访。莱蒙在视频中说，“我们不是积极分子的一部分，但我们在这里只是报道他们。”据莱蒙的律师阿贝·洛威尔(Abbe Lowell)称，莱蒙是在报道格莱美颁奖典礼时被联邦特工拘留的。
上个月在洛杉矶举行的保释听证会上，莱蒙在自己的担保下被释放，他说，他被捕是因为“我过去30年来一直在做的事情，那就是报道新闻”，并发誓不会停止这项工作。 他说:“宪法第一修正案保护我和无数从事我工作的其他记者的工作。”。“我和他们所有人站在一起，我不会沉默。我期待着出庭的那一天。”
2026年1月18日，一群抗议者打断了圣保罗城市教堂的服务，高呼“冰出来”和“为蕾妮·古德伸张正义”。
通过AP使用Mpls司法部长帕姆·邦迪(Pam Bondi)在社交媒体上表示，莱蒙、明尼苏达州记者乔治亚·福特(Georgia Fort)和另外两人于1月30日“在我的指示下”被捕。
福特尚未提出正式抗辩，并将于下周接受传讯。她讲述美国广播公司新闻的林西·戴维斯，她在教堂抗议活动中履行记者职责。
“我是一名记者。我记录了那天发生的事情，”福特说。“公众知道那天发生了什么的唯一方式是因为你有专门的记者拍摄，他们记录了发生的事情。”
至少另有三人此前因与抗议活动有关而被捕，邦迪当时在社交媒体上说，“我们不容忍对礼拜场所的袭击。”
ABC新闻的卢克·巴尔和史蒂文·波特诺伊对此报道有贡献。
相关主题明尼阿波利斯枪击案.
Former CNN journalist Don Lemon pleads not guilty to charges in Minnesota church incident
Former CNN journalist Don Lemonpleaded not guilty on Friday to federal civil rights charges in connection with an incident in which anti-ICE protesters disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.
Lemon appeared in federal court in St. Paul before Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko, following hisarrestin Los Angeles last month.
A crowd of demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse during the hearing, shouting, "Protect the press!"
Lemon was charged with conspiracy against rights of religious freedom and an attempt to injure while exercising religious freedom in the two-count indictment. Eight others were also charged in the federal indictment. Several of the other defendants also pleaded not guilty in court on Friday, including prominent local activistNekima Levy Armstrong.
Speaking outside the federal courthouse on Friday, Lemon said, "I will not be intimidated, I will not back down, I will fight these baseless charges and I will not be silent."
Micko had previously rejected arrest warrants targeting Lemon and his producer, court filings show. The magistrate judge last month had issued arrest warrants for three people involved in the incident, though found that there was not probable cause to issue arrest warrants for the other five, including Lemon and his producer, according to the filings.
Judge Patrick Schiltz, chief of the federal district court in Minnesota, further resisted the Department of Justice's urgent push for the arrest warrants following the magistrate judge's refusal to sign them, writingto a federal appeals court on Jan. 23 that the two were "not protesters at all" and that "[t]here is no evidence that those two engaged in any criminal behavior or conspired to do so."
Schiltz suggested in another letter to the appeals court that the DOJ could either "improve the affidavit and present it again to the same magistrate judge or it can present its case to a grand jury and seek an indictment."
Lemon was subsequently charged in the two-count indictment filed on Jan. 29 and arrested the following day.
Former Minnesota U.S. attorney Joe Thompson, who resigned from the office last month, is representing Lemon in the case, court records show.
The incident unfolded on Jan. 18, when protesters entered Cities Church in St. Paul. The protesters said one of the pastors is the acting field director of the St. Paul ICE field office. Protesters were heard chanting "Justice for Renee Good" inside the church, referencing the woman fatally shot by a federal agent in Minneapolis in early January.
The indictment alleges that the nine defendants "oppressed, threatened, and intimidated the Church's congregants and pastors" by occupying space in the main aisle and rows of chairs near the front of the church and engaged in "menacing and threatening behavior."
It further alleges that Lemon "physically obstructed" congregants as they tried to leave the church.
The indictment, which includes multiple references to Lemon's video of the incident, alleges that the journalist told viewers that the whole point was to disrupt operations.
Lemon was at the protest as an independent journalist, he said. Lemon posted video to his Instagram on Jan. 18 showing protesters yelling as well as his interviews with churchgoers and protesters. Lemon said on the video, "We're not part of the activists, but we're here just reporting on them."
Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents while he was covering the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, according to his attorney, Abbe Lowell.
Following a bail hearing in Los Angeles last month, where he was released on his own recognizance, Lemon said he was arrested for "something that I've been doing for the last 30 years, and that is covering the news," and vowed to not stop that work.
"The First Amendment of the Constitution protects that work for me and for countless of other journalists who do what I do," he said. "I stand with all of them, and I will not be silenced. I look forward to my day in court."
Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social media that Lemon, Minnesota-based journalist Georgia Fort and two others were arrested on Jan. 30 "at my direction."
Fort has not yet entered a formal plea and is set to be arraigned next week. ShetoldABC News' Linsey Davis she wasat the churchprotest doing her job as a journalist.
"I'm a journalist. I documented what happened that day," Fort said. "And the only way that the public is aware of what happened that day is because you had dedicated journalists who filmed it, who documented what happened."
At least three additional people were previously arrested in connection with the protest, with Bondi saying on social media at the time, "WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP."
