Don Lemon Hires Ex-Fed Prosecutor Amid Anti-ICE Church Protest Charges

Don Lemon is preparing for trial and the former CNN anchor isn’t just lawyering up, he’s surrounding himself with high-powered legal firepower, including a former federal prosecutor who resigned in protest of Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Lemon is facing federal charges after livestreaming an anti-ICE protest that stormed Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, during Sunday services on January 18. Prosecutors say he was not just covering the protest he was actively coordinating with organizers and helped facilitate the disruption of religious worship, in violation of federal law.

Now, Lemon has hired Joseph Thompson, a former U.S. attorney who worked in the very office that charged him, to help lead his defense. Thompson joins Abbe Lowell, a seasoned Democrat defense lawyer best known for defending Hunter Biden and high-profile D.C. elites.

Thompson reportedly resigned from the U.S. Attorney’s Office last month to protest the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement raising immediate ethical questions about whether his new role defending Lemon is a political statement or a legal strategy.

Lemon is currently charged with:

• Conspiracy to violate the right of religious freedom at a house of worship

• Violating the FACE Act, which prohibits disrupting religious services

Court documents show that Lemon was fully aware of the activists’ plans ahead of time. He even muted his livestream microphone during a planning session to avoid broadcasting tactical details, prosecutors said.

“There is nothing in the Constitution that tells you what time you can protest,” Lemon claimed during the livestream. “That’s the whole point of it, to disrupt, to make uncomfortable.”

The protest, organized by Black Lives Matter Minnesota and the Racial Justice Network, targeted the church because one of its pastors reportedly works for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Dozens of protesters, led by activist and reverend Nekima Levy-Armstrong, stormed the sanctuary during the sermon, chanting “ICE out of Minnesota” and “hands up, don’t shoot.” Parishioners were forced to leave. Worship was suspended.

The federal charges come amid growing concerns about left-wing activists targeting religious institutions, particularly when they’re tied to law enforcement or conservative causes. Lemon has made no effort to walk back his involvement instead blaming the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement for fueling the protest.

“This is the beginning of what’s going to happen here,” Lemon said on camera. “When you violate people’s due process… people get upset and angry.”

But in the eyes of federal prosecutors, this wasn’t just “people getting upset.” It was a calculated invasion of a house of worship, aided by a national media personality who cheered it on in real time.

Now, with a former federal prosecutor and political operative on his legal team, Lemon is positioning himself as both a defendant and a progressive martyr hoping the courtroom becomes a stage for his activist narrative.

The question remains: Will the courts treat this like a free speech case or like a deliberate assault on religious freedom?

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