Don Lemon pleads not guilty to civil rights charges in a Minnesota church anti-ICE protest

street. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Former CNN host turned freelance journalist Don Lemon pleaded not guilty to federal civil rights charges Friday, charged at a protest at a Minnesota church where the Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as pastor. Four other people are also scheduled to stand trial in this case.

Read more: Read the full indictment against Don Lemon, Georgia Fort and others charged in Minnesota

Lemon did not comment to reporters as he entered the courtroom accompanied by his attorney, Joe Thompson. Nearly two dozen demonstrators stood outside the building chanting, “Pam Bondi must go” and “Protect the press.”

Civil rights attorney Nikema Levy Armstrong is also scheduled to be arraigned on Friday. The prominent local activist was the subject of a doctored photo posted on official White House social media that falsely showed her crying during her arrest. The image is part of a deluge of AI-altered images that have circulated since the killings of Rene Judd and Alex Peretti by federal officers in Minneapolis amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

Lemon’s attorney did not return calls this week seeking comment. Summons in federal court typically involve filing motions and scheduling future proceedings. Lemon said he plans to plead not guilty.

Other defendants at the protest at the Southern Baptist Church in St. Paul are scheduled to be arraigned next week, including another freelance journalist, Georgia Forte. Nine people were charged in this case.

Protesters interrupted a service at Cities Church on Jan. 18 by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” a reference to the 37-year-old mother who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis last month. Lemon said he was not affiliated with the group and that he was there as a journalist to chronicle the event for his live show.

He watches: Arrests of journalists fuel backlash as anti-customs protests spread from Minneapolis

“I have spent my entire career covering the news,” Lemon told reporters after his arrest. “I will not stop now. In fact, there is no more important time than now, this very moment for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable.”

The church protest sparked sharp complaints from conservative religious and political leaders. White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt warned in a post on social media that “President Trump will not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship.” Even clergy who oppose the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics have expressed discomfort.

All nine were charged under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994, which prohibits interfering with or intimidating “any person by force, threat of force, or physical obstruction seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom in a place of religious worship.” Penalties can reach up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

Thompson is one of several former prosecutors who have left the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office in recent weeks due to frustration with the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration enforcement in the state and the Justice Department’s response to the killings of Judd and Pretty.

Thompson, one of four attorneys registered to represent Limon, had led a wide-ranging investigation into major fraud cases in public programs for the district attorney’s office until his resignation last month. The Trump administration has cited fraud cases, in which most of the defendants come from the state’s large Somali community, as justification for its immigration crackdown.