By Jack Queen
MINNEAPOLIS, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Former CNN anchor Don Lemon is due in federal court in Minnesota on Friday to enter a plea in a criminal case stemming from his coverage of a protest at a church against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
Lemon, now an independent journalist, livestreamed a protest against Trump's deployment of thousands of armed immigration agents into Democratic-governed Minnesota's biggest cities. The protest disrupted a January 18 service at Cities Church in St. Paul.
He was charged with conspiring to deprive others of their civil rights and violating a law that has been used to crack down on demonstrations at abortion clinics but also forbids obstructing access to houses of worship.
He is set to appear in federal court in St. Paul at 1:00 p.m. (1900 GMT).
Lemon's lawyer has called the case an attack on First Amendment free speech rights.
Trump has frequently lashed out at the media, stripping journalists of access-granting credentials and suing some news outlets over their coverage of him. The president praised the Justice Department for bringing the charges against Lemon, calling the disruption of the church service a "horrible thing."
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Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a January 30 social media video that prosecutors will come after anyone who threatens the "sacred right" to worship freely and safely.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Minneapolis and other U.S. cities in January to denounce an immigration crackdown in which federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens.
Trump has since agreed to end his deportation surge in Minnesota, with many agents set to return to their home states over the next week.
Organizers of the Cities Church protest told Lemon they chose the church because they believed a senior pastor there was working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In a livestream archived on his YouTube channel, Lemon can be seen meeting with and interviewing the activists before they go to the church. He then records the disruption inside and interviews congregants, protesters and a pastor, who asks Lemon and the protesters to leave.
Independent local journalist Georgia Fort was also arrested and charged with the same crimes. Fort has denied wrongdoing and said she was reporting on the protest, not participating. She is scheduled to enter a plea on February 17.
Lemon spent 17 years at CNN, becoming one of its most recognizable personalities, and frequently criticizes Trump in his YouTube broadcasts. Lemon was fired by CNN in 2023 after making sexist on-air comments for which he later apologized.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Nia Williams)
