Don Lemon ARRESTED For Violating Klan Act and FACE Act After Joining in Anti-ICE Church "Protest"

What this episode is about

Don Lemon has been arrested for violating federal laws related to civil rights and religious freedom after allegedly participating in a disruptive protest at a St. Paul church during a Sunday service. He faces charges under the Ku Klux Klan Act and the FACE Act for obstructing access to the church and interfering with worshippers' rights.

Key takeaways

• Don Lemon's antics highlight a stark reality: activism doesn't grant immunity from federal law.
• Breaking into a church during service? That's not journalism—it's a script for a courtroom drama.
• Using the KKK Act for charges shows how protests can quickly choreograph a dance with the law.
• When your protest strategy becomes a federal indictment, it’s time for a new game plan.
• Documenting your own crime on video? That’s a level of hubris best reserved for reality TV.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Megyn Kelly (Guest) · 12 min speaking
• Don Lemon (Guest)

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Don Lemon, Nikima Levy Armstrong, Shantel Luis Allen, William Kelly
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Don Lemon, Paul "Dizzy Hips" Blair
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Don Lemon, Duke Lacrosse, Duke Lacrosse fake rape case
4. 9:00 – 12:00: Don Lemon
5. 12:00 – 13:30: Birch Gold Group

Notable quotes from "Don Lemon ARRESTED For Violating Klan Act and FACE Act After Joining in Anti-ICE Church "Protest""

• What he was walking into. He knew exactly what he was walking into. and he did it anyway. Now, he wants to claim that he was a journalist and that's somehow protects him. It doesn't. Okay.

  about Don Lemon · at 1:38

• Don't forget, they brought this before a magistrate judge last week. U that magistrate judge approved the charges against the three leaders of the protest, Nikima Levy…

  about Nikima Levy Armstrong · at 2:27

• Probable cause that Don Lemon committed multiple crimes and now he will have his day in court. This morning, James Blair, a deputy White House chief of staff, said that this…

  about Paul "Dizzy Hips" Blair · at 4:32

• Shot but couldn't because we did not have permission. We'd be here all day. I'm thinking back to the very first big story I covered for Fox News, which was the Duke Lacrosse…

  about Duke Lacrosse · at 8:10

• All sorts of crimes so we could bring them live to you in the midst of them. it'd be amazing. A new year means new financial goals like making sure your savings are secure and…

  about Birch Gold Group · at 12:11

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Don Lemon — Person · Primary referenced subject · 6 mentions · first at 0:02
  Central figure in the episode’s narrative; the speaker claims Lemon was federally arrested/charged for conduct during a church protest and disputes his 'journalist' defense.
• Nikima Levy Armstrong — Person · Referenced protest leader / co-defendant (as described) · 1 mention · first at 2:22
  Named as one of the 'three leaders of the protest' whose charges were approved earlier by a magistrate judge in the account given by the speaker.
• Shantel Luis Allen — Person · Referenced protest leader / co-defendant (as described) · 1 mention · first at 2:22
  Listed with two others as protest leadership facing charges in the speaker’s retelling of the case timeline.
  Don't forget, they brought this before a magistrate judge last week. U that magistrate judge approved the charges against the three leaders of the protest, Nikima Levy…
• William Kelly — Person · Referenced protest leader / co-defendant (as described) · 1 mention · first at 2:34
  Named as one of the three protest leaders; the speaker adds character commentary about his behavior during the incident.
  Don't forget, they brought this before a magistrate judge last week. U that magistrate judge approved the charges against the three leaders of the protest, Nikima Levy…
• Paul "Dizzy Hips" Blair — Person · Referenced government official / source cited · 1 mention · first at 4:38
  Cited as confirming (per the speaker) that a federal grand jury acted regarding the case; used to bolster the episode’s claim about the indictment.

Concepts & topics

• Duke Lacrosse — Concept · Key argument · 1 mention · first at 8:20
  Used as an example to illustrate the legal boundaries journalists must respect, specifically regarding trespassing and private property.

Places & events

• Duke Lacrosse fake rape case — Event · Referenced event · 1 mention · first at 8:20
  Mentioned as an example of a past news story to illustrate journalistic ethics and legal boundaries.
  Shot but couldn't because we did not have permission. We'd be here all day. I'm thinking back to the very first big story I covered for Fox News, which was the Duke Lacrosse…

Sponsors

• Birch Gold Group — Company · Sponsor · 1 mention · first at 12:25
  Promoted as a financial service offering gold investment options, with a special rebate offer mentioned.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 We woke up this Friday morning to some breaking news. Don Lemon, the former CNN host who now makes a fool of himself on his bizarre YouTube channel, has been arrested by the feds for his role in the now infamous agitator ICE protest at city's church in St. Paul, Minnesota during Sunday service on January 18th. According to reports, he's been charged with two federal crimes. Conspiracy against rights, also known as the Ku Klux Clan Act, a felony. That's where you violate somebody else's civil rights like that to attend uh a a worship service. And he's been charged also with violating the face act, which makes it a crime to quote by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction intentionally injure intimidate or interfere with or attempt to injure intimidate or interfere with any person lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise the first amendment right of religious freedom at a place of

0:59 religious worship. Okay. So if he in short if he by physical instruction obstruction uh interfered with someone's ability to go to church he's in trouble. And that's what they're alleging that he and others went into that church. They obstructed the aisles. They obstructed the entrances, the exits, the ability of parents to get downstairs to get their children who were in the preschool uh sort of waiting area that you you put your kids to Sunday school while you're at the main church. Um and that they did it knowing that they'd be interfering in the mass and still doing it anyway.

1:37 That's what they did. Don Lemon knew what he was walking into. He knew exactly what he was walking into. Uh and he did it anyway. Now, he wants to claim that he was a journalist and that that's somehow protects him. It doesn't. Okay. So, I'm going to take you through right now um why we think John Don Lemon was not behaving as a journalist that day, but I it doesn't it it doesn't matter at all. It 100% as a journalist, this is illegal. As a journalist, this is illegal. Uh we're still waiting to get our hands on the indictment to see exactly what the DOJ is alleging. And I have been told by a reliable source that when we see the supporting affidavit, it will have far more detail than we got from the supporting affidavit for the first three who were charged. So, I'm looking forward to seeing that. And don't forget, they they brought this before a magistrate judge last week. U that magistrate judge approved the

2:32 charges against the three leaders of the protest, Nikima Levy Armstrong, Shantel Allen, and William Kelly. He's the most obnoxious of anyone, screaming in the faces of children that their parents are Nazis. Um, but at that time that magistrate judge, who don't forget his wife works for Keith Ellison, the attorney general, uh, leading the charge against ICE in Minneapolis, and his wife, the magistrate judge's wife, continues to like tweets opposing ICE. That magistrate judge at the time declined to approve charges against Lemon.

3:05 um they tried to take that judge's decision up to his district court boss, the chief judge in the district to try to get him to sign off on them. And while you have all these journalists out there now saying he said you could not bring these charges, that chief judge said you could not bring charges against Lemon. He said nothing of the kind. He said, "What are you coming to me for? If you don't like the magistrate judge's decision, you can either improve your affidavit in support of charges and try again with the magistrate judge or you do the other thing that federal prosecutors do if they want criminal charges brought and that is go before a grand jury which we understand was not in in session last week. So they had to wait until this week and that's exactly what they did yesterday. So you have idiots like Gretchen Carlson out there saying the chief judge, the district's judge said these charges could not be

4:01 brought. That's not correct. He specifically said if you want to try again, improve the affidavit and go back to the magistrate judge or just go before a grand jury, which is what federal prosecutors do all the time. And they chose B because they understood this magistrate judge was not going to be fair in any event. And guess what? A Minnesota grand jury looked at the DOJ's evidence and said, "You got him. There is probable cause that Don Lemon committed multiple crimes and now he will have his day in court." This morning, James Blair, a deputy White House chief of staff, said that this federal grand jury had in fact done this. And of course, we told you that this was happening on this program yesterday. You should tune in here regularly if you want to know the very latest and the advanced notice on the machinations of these legal cases.

4:59 Anyone who acts surprised is doing just that. They're acting. Every video of the incident looks like a textbook example of face act violations. I mean it it's all there on camera. It's truly out of the stupid criminal files. They videotaped themselves committing the crime. Here's just a flavor of what happened that day. RENE,

5:35 WHERE ARE YOU? WHERE ARE YOU? WHERE ARE YOU? WHERE ARE YOUR PEOPLE? WHY ARE YOU NOT AT WIMPLE EVERY DAY FIGHTING FOR THE HUMANITY, STANDING FOR OUR PEOPLE? WHERE ARE YOU? You drink your coffee. You got your jewelry. You have your nice clothes, but what do you do? What What do you do to stand for your Somali and Latino communities? I'm not going to comment.

5:56 Freedom. We have a duty to win. We have a duty to win. We have a duty to win. We must love and support one another.

6:13 Okay. They stormed a church and took over the church in the middle of the mass. By all accounts, those demonstrators absolutely terrorized the congregation. For the viewing audience, look how scared this child is. No child, no child, never mind in a house of God should have to feel this way at the hands of protesters. He's being comforted, held by his parent. I think the other parent there has her hand on his back and you can see he's visibly upset and we know he was because the affidavit in support of the arrest warrant for the other three who were already taken into custody says specifically that quote they were terrorized. Our children were weeping.

6:58 College students and young women were sobbing. It was impactful and it will take time for us to work through. One victim broke her arm as she ran out of the church that day as these lunatics were shouting about shooting and getting your hands up. All right. What one thought it was a shooting? Many others say they were not able to leave. And the one woman fell and injured was injured on her way out, breaking her arm. So what about Don Lemon? Now he says, "I was just a journalist and this is all over X right now. When this broke this morning, I mean it's been a sea of of misinformation on X as everybody says he's a he's a he's a journalist and all these journalism outlets. Oh, he's a journalist. What are you doing? We stand for free press. These are liars. These are agendadriven spin masters. Because actual journalists know full well you're not allowed to do this. If I could tell you the number of

7:58 times that I've been out covering news with my cameras and something happened where my cameras and I wanted my producer and my photog and I wanted to go onto private property to get the best shot but couldn't because we did not have permission. We'd be here all day. I mean, I'm thinking back to the very first big big story I covered for Fox News, which was the Duke Lacrosse fake rape case. We were all over Durham. We we found the accuser. No one else had found her. She was not being named by the press. We found her name. We found where she lived. Nobody knew. It was in this very sketchy neighborhood. We were told by the cops not to go there, but we did anyway. Uh, in other words, they were worried for our safety, but we went into the neighborhood anyway. And we found her house. She was in it. We knew she was in there. Do you think I would have loved to go in there with my photog?

8:56 You bet I would have. Why didn't I? Because it's not legal. That's private property. And when I put it to you in terms of of a person's home, it's very easy to understand, right? Of course, you can't do that. I I If you were in the middle of a news story, could CBS News come through your front door and photograph you? Could the New York Times? Of course not. Why? Because that's your private property and they don't have permission. So that's just one reason you can't do it. It would be trespass. It would be a criminal act of trespass. And every news organ, every single one out there right now that's saying this is an outrage. He did nothing wrong absolutely knows this, but they are ignoring it. But Don Lemon is is in so much more trouble than that because he did not just trespass into somebody's private property, which a church is, absolutely is. He did not have an invitation to be there and he

9:50 trespassed. He made the colossal blunder of doing it into a house of worship in the middle of a religious service. That was a colossal blunder because now you're talking about rocksolid rights that the churchgoers have under the constitution and under federal statutes not to be bothered while they're worshiping. And Don Lemon is either too stupid or too rude to know that. Okay. He either was too dumb to check with his very famous, very well- paid lawyer, Abby Lol, before he did this colossally stupid thing or he did know and he flouted the law intentionally. Either way, he's in a ton of trouble because you do have a constitutional right to worship in peace and you have a statutory right to do it under the face act and the clan act for that matter.

10:45 All right, so he messed with the wrong group of people. I would have been in trouble had I gone into Crystal Mangum's house under the trespass laws. And he not only violated the trespass laws, he stepped in a whole host of other because it was a religious house in the middle of a service. That's the difference here. It doesn't matter whether he participated as a protester, which there is a very strong case he did, or if he did it as a journalist. It doesn't matter. I could not go into an abortion clinic as Megan Kelly journalist with a bunch of prolifers who were impeding women's access to the clinic. Even they wouldn't have to be putting chains on the door into the surgery room if they were standing between an abortion seeker and the surgical facility or never mind the abortion facility at large. They'd be committing a crime. And if I were in there too, I would be also committing a crime. I You don't get a

11:48 pass just by saying, "Well, I'm just here to put it on my YouTube channel." That's not how it works. Or even CBS Evening News or 60 Minutes or ABC Nightly. Sorry. Every real journalist knows that does not give you a free-for-all pass to do whatever the you want. If only. I mean, if only we'd have amazing gets all the time. We would be we would be participating in all sorts of crimes so we could bring them live to you in in the midst of them. I mean, it'd be amazing. A new year means new financial goals like making sure your savings are secure and diversified. Will this be the year you decide to talk to someone from Birch Gold Group? They use an educational approach with a deep understanding of macroeconomics. There are forces pushing the dollar lower and gold higher, which is why they believe every American should own physical gold. So, until January 30th, if you're a first-time gold buyer, Birch Gold is offering a

12:43 rebate of up to 10 grand on qualifying purchases. To claim eligibility and start the process, just text MK to the number 989898. Birch Gold can help you roll an existing IRA or 401k into an IRA in gold, and you are still eligible for a rebate of up to $10,000. Consider making right now your first time to buy gold and take advantage of a rebate up to 10,000 bucks when you buy by January 30th. Text MK to the number 989898. Claim your eligibility today. Again, just text MK to the number 989898. Thanks so much for watching. If you like what you just saw, hit the subscribe button for more clips and full episodes.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Don Lemon ARRESTED For Violating Klan Act and FACE Act After Joining in Anti-ICE Church "Protest""?

Megyn Kelly (Guest), Don Lemon (Guest).

What is "Don Lemon ARRESTED For Violating Klan Act and FACE Act After Joining in Anti-ICE Church "Protest"" about?

Don Lemon has been arrested for violating federal laws related to civil rights and religious freedom after allegedly participating in a disruptive protest at a St. Paul church during a Sunday service. He faces charges under the Ku Klux Klan Act and the FACE Act for obstructing access to the church and interfering with worshippers' rights.

What is mentioned in this Megyn Kelly episode?

8 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Don Lemon, Duke Lacrosse, Nikima Levy Armstrong, Shantel Luis Allen, William Kelly, Paul "Dizzy Hips" Blair. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Don Lemon ARRESTED For Violating Klan Act and FACE Act After Joining in Anti-ICE Church "Protest""?

The episode runs 13 min; the transcript is about 2,245 words in 17 timestamped sections.

More from Megyn Kelly

• All analyzed episodes
• Books mentioned on Megyn Kelly
• People mentioned on Megyn Kelly
• Sponsors mentioned on Megyn Kelly
• Topics mentioned on Megyn Kelly