Former CNN host Don Lemon said he is standing by his reporting after the Justice Department warned him over his presence at an anti-ICE protest held at a St. Paul church.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Lemon said he was unfairly portrayed as a central figure in the protest despite attending in a journalistic capacity. “It’s notable that I’ve been cast as the face of a protest I was covering as a journalist—especially since I wasn’t the only reporter there,” he said. “That framing is telling.”
Lemon added that the situation has been compounded by online harassment, including violent threats and homophobic and racist attacks, which he said were driven by MAGA supporters and amplified by segments of the right-wing media.
“If this level of time and energy is going to be spent manufacturing outrage, it would be far better directed toward investigating the tragic death of Renee Nicole Good—the issue that brought people into the streets in the first place,” Lemon said. “I stand by my reporting.”
Lemon drew widespread attention on Sunday after reporting from inside Cities Church during the protest, where he told viewers that the First Amendment protects the right to protest.
However, Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, suggested that Lemon’s involvement in the incident may have crossed legal boundaries.
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