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CNN Has-Been Don Lemon Just Made the Mistake Of His Life – He Should Lawyer Up

Updated: POLITICS

The more details that emerge about Don Lemon’s role in the takeover of a Minnesota church on Sunday, the clearer it becomes that he may want to retain counsel—quickly. Any pretense that he was merely an objective observer collapses under the weight of his own social media trail. In a stunning act of self-sabotage, Lemon himself has done more to undermine a “just doing journalism” defense than any outside critic ever could.

If you haven’t already seen the footage, it’s worth watching. Left-wing anti-ICE activists—largely drawn from Black Lives Matter–aligned groups—forced their way into a church, disrupted a worship service, harassed congregants, and then brazenly refused to leave private property. As if the spectacle weren’t damaging enough, Nekima Levy Armstrong, who cast herself as the protest’s ringleader, promptly took to Facebook to name her supposed co-sponsors and spell out their political agenda.

Here’s Lemon with the set-up:

LEMON: Into Minneapolis a little bit ago and did some reconnaissance on the ground, speaking to an organization here that is gearing up for resistance and protest. I’ve been surprised, pleasantly surprised with the community coming together, diverse community. If you see this and you first pull up and you’re like, “Wait a minute, which operation are we at,” and as it turns out, because we’re like, “Well, this is kinda MAGA-coded, right,” so the American flag or whatever,

But these are resistance protesters that are planning an operation and we’re going to follow them on. I can’t tell you exactly what they’re doing, but it’s called Operation Pull-up, and it’s Nakema Armstrong, and she has been doing this since George Floyd, Dante Wright, and others, where they surprise people, catch them off guard, and hold them to account. And that’s what we’re doing here, and then after that, after we do this operation, you’ll see it live. These operations are surprise operations; again, I can’t tell you where we’re going.

That turned out to be a spectacularly bad decision. DOJ Civil Rights chief Harmeet Dhillon has already made it clear that the department intends to pursue federal charges against those who storm places of worship—and she has explicitly indicated that this incident is no exception:

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This was not a reporter chasing a tip off a police scanner. Everything about Lemon’s conduct suggests advance knowledge and active coordination with the activists involved. He didn’t stumble onto the scene—he arrived with them, as part of the group, fully aware of what was coming. By his own words, this was something he helped plan, casually referring to it as “after we do this operation.”

Even if one were inclined to grant him the benefit of the doubt and assume he expected a protest outside, that excuse evaporates the moment the group began storming the church. At that point, Lemon had every opportunity to disengage, contact law enforcement, and remove himself. He chose not to.

Which brings us to Lemon’s conduct once the intrusion began. He didn’t remain outside to document events as a journalist would. He went in—joining the invasion of the church and openly aligning himself with the activists’ cause. He even lectured the pastor, absurdly claiming the mob had a First Amendment right to protest inside a private house of worship. As if that weren’t enough, Lemon then pressed the pastor on why he wasn’t doing more to placate the very people who had just stormed his church:

PASTOR: This is unacceptable. It’s shameful. It’s shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship.

LEMON: But, their repost will…

PASTOR: I have to take care of my flock, my family…

LEMON: Okay, but listen, we live in, there’s a constitution, the First Amendment to freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest.

PASTOR: We’re here to worship Jesus because the hope of these cities, that’s the hope of the world is Jesus Christ.

LEMON: I’m going to be very respectful. Please don’t push me.

PASTOR: We’re here to worship Jesus. That’s why we’re here. That’s what we’re about.

LEMON: Do you think Jesus would be understanding and love these folks?

PASTOR: We’re about spreading the love of Jesus…

LEMON: But did you try to talk to them?

PASTOR: No one is willing to talk. I have to take care of my church and my family, and also ask you to leave this building.

LEMON: You don’t want us to chronicle what happened?

PASTOR: We’re here to worship

LEMON: I always worship, I’m a Christian.

What Lemon does to the pastor in that video is among the most deranged conduct I’ve ever seen from someone pretending to be a journalist—and that label barely applies here. It belongs in the same hall of shame as Jim Acosta’s grotesque stunt of “interviewing” an AI version of a dead child to advance gun control. This is not reporting. It’s moral exhibitionism, and it’s repulsive.

Nothing Lemon says or does in that footage remotely resembles unbiased newsgathering. He isn’t documenting a crime; he’s rationalizing it in real time—providing verbal cover and encouragement for activists actively violating the law inside a church. Combine that with evidence that he coordinated with the group beforehand, and it’s difficult to see how he didn’t place himself squarely in legal jeopardy.

The full video only makes matters worse. After the pastor explicitly tells Lemon to leave the building, he ignores the request and spends another nine minutes wandering around inside attempting to “interview” people. Churches are not “open to the public” in the sense Lemon seems to imagine, and once you’re told to leave private property, journalism is not a magic permission slip. Trying to draw a legal distinction between Lemon’s actions and those of the activists he embedded with is an exercise in motivated reasoning.

And it’s worth noting that the excuses now being assembled in Lemon’s defense were nowhere to be found on January 6th. Right-wing journalists who entered the Capitol to film events were still charged. This church was private property. Don Lemon had no inherent right to storm it, occupy it, or interrogate its pastor—no matter how desperately he wants to cosplay as a reporter.

In any event, the DOJ is on the case and will decide how to proceed. Lemon should probably call his lawyer, though.

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