Lemon told viewers he held off on publicizing details of the church-storming to avoid exposing the ‘secret’ operation
Disgraced former CNN host Don Lemon colluded with anti-ICE activists now under investigation for storming a Minnesota church on Sunday—a “clandestine” operation that Lemon helped keep secret ahead of time before publicizing it once it began.
Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 over mistreatment of female colleagues, accompanied Minneapolis lawyer Nekima Levy Armstrong on “Operation Pull Up” at Cities Church in Saint Paul to protest the ICE shooting earlier this month of 37-year-old Renee Good. According to Armstrong, the operation targeted Cities Church because an associate pastor is allegedly the acting director of Saint Paul’s ICE office.
“We show up somewhere that is a key location,” Armstrong told Lemon in an interview prior to the event. “They don’t expect us to come there. And then we disrupt business as usual.”
Lemon, who kissed Armstrong on the cheek at the beginning of their interview, accompanied the activist and others, including Saint Paul school board member Chauntyll Allen and members of Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, from its staging site in a Dollar General parking lot to the church. At the church, Armstrong and her cohort disrupted the service with shouts of “ICE Out!” and other slogans. The pastor targeted in the operation was not present at the church on Sunday.
The Department of Justice is investigating the incident, and there are growing calls on social media to arrest Lemon. Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon said Sunday that she is investigating the incident for a potential violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which makes it illegal to block access to houses of worship. Dhillon also took a swipe at Lemon, writing that his “pseudo journalism” is not protected by the First Amendment.
“You are on notice!” she wrote.
Lemon responded to Dhillon’s remarks, distancing himself from Armstrong’s organization.
“I had no affiliations with that organization,” Lemon said in a video Sunday night. “I didn’t even know they were going to this church until we followed them there. Why don’t you talk to the actual person who is in charge of the organization and whose idea it was to have the protest at the church before you start blaming me for stuff for which you have no idea?”
Neither Armstrong nor Lemon responded to requests for comment.
A review of Lemon’s live feed shows he was an enthusiastic supporter of “Operation Pull Up,” even as he at times denied being a participant.
Lemon opened his live stream saying he had conducted “some reconnaissance” and had been speaking to an organization “that’s gearing up for resistance and protest.” Lemon said he had been “pleasantly surprised seeing the community coming together” in the wake of Good’s shooting.
While claiming to be an impartial observer of “Operation Pull Up,” he took repeated measures to withhold details of the operation from his live stream.
“These are resistance protesters that are planning an operation that we’re going to follow them on,” he said. “I can’t tell you exactly what they’re doing.” But he described it as an operation “where they surprise people, catch them off guard, and hold them to account.”
“Because they are strategizing, I don’t want to get too much of their information there,” said Lemon, also admitting that he “turned my camera off” at one point to avoid publicizing the “secret” plans.
He thanked Armstrong for inviting him to join the event. After the operation, Armstrong thanked “all of the activists who showed up + independent journalists,” listing Lemon and others.
Inside the church, Lemon sought to cast himself as a neutral journalist observing the foray.
“I’m not part of the group, I’m just here photographing, I’m a journalist,” he told a person off camera. “We’re here just chronicling and reporting. We’re not here with the activists, but we’re just here reporting on them.”
But moments later, Lemon praised the tactics of “Operation Pull Up.”
“That’s what I believe when I say everyone has to be willing to sacrifice something,” he said. “You have to make people uncomfortable in these times. You have to be willing to go into places and disrupt and make people uncomfortable.”
Lemon, who noted seeing parishioners of the church praying and “crying” during the mayhem, turned his microphone to Cities Church lead pastor Jonathan Parnell.
“This is unacceptable, this is shameful,” said Parnell. “To interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship.”
Lemon attempted to badger Parnell with questions about whether Jesus would support ICE operations, but Parnell asked him to leave the premises.
“I have to take care of my church and my family, so I actually would ask that you would leave this building,” said Parnell.
Lemon exited the church seven minutes later and filmed outside as parishioners left the church.
“It’s uncomfortable and traumatic for the people here… that’s what protesting is about,” he said.
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