Don Lemon invokes scripture while defending arrest at Minnesota church

Former CNN host Don Lemon cast himself as a persecuted journalist in a Substack post on Saturday, quoting the Bible as he responded to his arrest on federal charges stemming from an anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church last month.

Lemon, who was released without bail on Friday, said he was acting as a journalist, but prosecutors allege he collaborated with activists who disrupted services at the Cities Church.

Citing John 8:32, Lemon wrote, “There is a passage in the scriptures that says, ‘The truth will set you free.’” “But it doesn’t say it will protect you from cages. It doesn’t say it will save you from the consequences of seeing too clearly. It doesn’t say it will make the powerful comfortable.”

Lemon said he learned that lesson “from experience, not theology,” writing: “The government determined that my work as a journalist was punishable, not protected speech.”

WASHINGTON POST CALLS MN CHURCH PROTEST ‘ATTACK ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM’, DON LEMON AS ‘INTERNET PROVOCATOR’

Throughout the post, Lemon compared his arrest to historic efforts to silence journalists and civil rights figures and wrote that freedom of the press exists only as long as it does not challenge those in power.

Lemon wrote: America He “likes the idea of ​​a free press,” but only as long as journalism doesn’t “disturb the comfort” or “reveal what the power chooses to conceal,” saying the First Amendment exists to protect accountability, not convenience.

Prosecutors charged Lemon with conspiracy to commit disenfranchisement and a FACE Act violation stemming from his participation in an anti-ICE protest that disrupted church services in Minnesota.

DON LEMON LISTEN TO HUNTER BIDEN’S LAWYER TO FIGHT TRUMP DOJ CHARGES

Don Lemon was arrested in St. Louis on suspicion that his pastor was colluding with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He livestreamed leftist agitators attacking St. Paul’s Church of the Cities. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)

Lemon, St. Paul during Sunday services earlier this month. He attracted attention after a live broadcast of activists breaking into St. Paul’s Cities Church and said he was there on journalistic duty; The indictment alleges that he acted in coordination with the protest organizers before their arrival.

Parishioners told investigators that agitators blocked stairwells and hallways inside the church, prevented parents from reaching children in the downstairs child care area and made it difficult for worshipers to leave the sanctuary, according to a Jan. 20 federal affidavit.

One congregation member reported fearing the agitators might be armed after hearing shouts that sounded like the word “shoot.”

DAVID MARCUS: DON LEMON’S ‘OTHER’ Unforgivable Crime Was Against His Former Profession

Parishioners at Cities Church reported that agitators terrorized them and shouted in their faces. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Other churchgoers described the agitators shouting in the faces of parishioners, including women and young children, causing some children to cry.

Allegedly, a woman fell and was injured while worshipers escaped through a side exit.

The affidavit alleges that the group entered the church in a coordinated manner, disrupted the service and frightened parishioners, causing the service to be interrupted.

Video of the incident reviewed by investigators shows a church pastor asking a person to leave the building, saying he needed to “take care of my church and my family.”

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION

The pastor appeared visibly distressed as activists continued to confront him, according to the affidavit.

Despite these allegations, Lemon blamed his arrest on Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and, citing James Baldwin, he compared it to the treatment of civil rights leaders and journalists who he said were punished for challenging power.