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Former CNN Anchor Don Lemon and Independent Journalist Georgia Fort Released from Federal Custody

HeadlineFeb 02, 2026

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort were arrested last week on federal charges for reporting on a peaceful protest inside a St. Paul church where a top ICE official serves as a pastor. A federal grand jury indicted Fort and Lemon for interrupting church service and depriving congregants of their religious freedom. Lemon and Fort maintain that they were not participating in the protest but were reporting as journalists. Lemon and Fort were released from federal custody on Friday and vowed to fight the charges and keep reporting. Here’s Georgia Fort speaking shortly after she was released.

Georgia Fort: “I would challenge every journalist in America to ask themselves how it felt to them today to see their colleagues be arrested for reporting the news. And if any of them say that it made them fearful, it made them concerned, it made them second guess going out tomorrow and covering what’s happening in their communities, then, yeah, I would say that that was probably the intent.”

We’ll speak with Georgia Fort later in the broadcast.

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