As news broke on Thursday that the FBI was making arrests in Minnesota in connection with the invasion by “protesters” of Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, this past Sunday, reports began surfacing that a magistrate judge had refused to sign off on charges against “the biggest name there” that morning, former CNN host Don Lemon.
A magistrate judge rejected federal prosecutors’ bid to charge journalist Don Lemon related to the church protest, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation.
Lemon was among those on who entered the church. Lemon has said he is not affiliated with the protest organizers and was there chronicling as a journalist.
RedState has independently confirmed that the judge declined to sign off on charges against Lemon, who maintains he was at the protest — which involved members of the “Racial Justice Network,” but appeared to be focused on anti-ICE advocacy — committing an “act of journalism.”
SEE ALSO: Breaking: FBI Arrests Ringleaders of Commie Horde That Stormed Cities Church (Updated)
Don Lemon Digs the Hole Even Deeper With Vile Comments About Parishioners in MN Church Incident
The reason(s) for the judge’s refusal aren’t clear at the moment.
What we don’t know yet — and is a signficant question — is whether the Magistrate who refused to sign the complaint for Don Lemon did so because he wasn’t convinced the facts set forth provided PC for the criminal charge alleged, or he wasn’t convinced that the charge itself is…
— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) January 22, 2026
What we don’t know yet — and is a signficant question — is whether the Magistrate who refused to sign the complaint for Don Lemon did so because he wasn’t convinced the facts set forth provided PC for the criminal charge alleged, or he wasn’t convinced that the charge itself is legally applicable to the conduct alleged in the affidavit.
Normally we would not see a rejected criminal complaint because it’s not posted on the Court’s docket and Lemon is not otherwise charged so DOJ’s policy is to not comment about him.
The question now is — if he was only going to be charged with a FACT Act misdemeanor, will DOJ now charge him via Information and simply bypass the need for a Complaint.
They could do that today.
As Ship notes in his tweet, however, that’s not the end of the line for potential charges against Lemon. The Department of Justice (DOJ) may opt to charge him via Information.
At minimum, it appears that Lemon and his cohorts are swiftly being disabused of the notion that storming a church is a solid idea — unless hiring a criminal defense lawyer is high on your list of priorities.
RedState will, of course, continue to follow the story and report on any further developments.
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