Courage, as they say, is doing what is right even when it is difficult. But what we are witnessing in this newly unsealed federal indictment is something quite different altogether.
A federal grand jury has returned charges against former television personality Don Lemon, alleging he conspired with protesters to storm a Minnesota church and trap frightened worshippers inside during what should have been a peaceful Sunday service on January 18th. The charges are serious: conspiracy to violate the right of religious freedom at a house of worship and violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, better known as the FACE Act.
Now, let us be clear about what the FACE Act represents. This is the same federal statute that the Biden administration wielded like a cudgel against peaceful anti-abortion demonstrators, sending grandmothers and prayer warriors to federal prison for praying outside abortion facilities. The irony here is thick enough to cut with a knife.
Lemon was arrested Thursday evening alongside eight co-conspirators. His defense? He claims he was merely covering the protest as an independent journalist. The indictment, however, paints a markedly different picture.
According to court documents, Lemon attended what prosecutors describe as a “pre-op briefing” where organizers laid out their target, Cities Church in St. Paul, and provided detailed instructions on how the operation would unfold. This does not sound like the behavior of a detached journalist seeking to report the news. This sounds like something else entirely.
What followed was a carefully orchestrated effort to maintain operational secrecy. While livestreaming to his audience, Lemon explained he was in Minnesota with an organization preparing for a “resistance” operation against federal immigration policies. Yet he deliberately withheld crucial details, reminding co-conspirators not to disclose their actual destination. At one point, he stepped away from his microphone to prevent it from picking up portions of the planning session.
The indictment alleges Lemon thanked protest leader Nekima Levy Armstrong for her work and reassured her he was not revealing their plans. Before arriving at the church, he told his livestream audience they were heading to “the operation” but would not give away any information. When a fellow demonstrator mentioned they needed to catch up with others, Lemon replied, “Let’s go, catch up,” while continuing to stream and saying, “We can’t say too much. We don’t want to give it up.”
Then came the church invasion itself. Prosecutors allege Lemon entered with the “first wave of agitators” and participated in oppressing, threatening, and intimidating the congregation and pastors by physically occupying the main aisle and front rows, engaging in menacing behavior, chanting and yelling loudly, and physically obstructing congregants attempting to exit the building.
Perhaps most damning is what Lemon himself acknowledged on his livestream. He observed a young man who appeared frightened, scared, and crying. He admitted the congregants’ reactions were understandable because the experience was “traumatic and uncomfortable,” which he said was the purpose. In his own words, “the whole point of [the operation] is to disrupt.”
There is an old saying in journalism: you cover the news, you do not make it. If these allegations prove true in court, Don Lemon crossed that line with both feet. Religious freedom is not a partisan issue. It is a constitutional guarantee that protects all Americans, regardless of their faith or political beliefs.
The question now becomes whether justice will be applied equally, or whether we continue down this troubling path where the law means one thing for some Americans and something entirely different for others.
Related: Trump Escalates Criticism of Omar and Walz Amid Growing Minnesota Fraud Revelations
