An independent journalist who accompanied former CNN host Don Lemon during a protest at a Minnesota church said she was arrested Friday morning for filming the demonstration.
“There’s agents at my door,” Georgia Fort said in a Facebook Live video as officers arrived at her home around 6 a.m. local time. “As a member of the press, I filmed the church protest a few weeks ago and now I’m being arrested for that.”
In the video, a female officer can be heard telling Fort to hurry and come outside. Fort added, “It’s hard to understand how we have a Constitution, constitutional rights, when we can just be arrested for being a member of the press.”
Authorities have not publicly detailed the charges against Fort or Lemon related to the Jan. 18 protest at Cities Church in St. Paul. About 30 to 40 people entered the church after allegations that one of its pastors worked with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Lemon said he attended the protest only as a journalist.
“We’re not part of the activists, but we’re here just reporting on them,” Lemon said in a video recorded at the scene.
Lemon was arrested earlier this week in Los Angeles while covering the Grammy Awards, according to his attorney, Abbe Lowell.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X that Lemon, Fort and two activists were arrested at her direction “in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church.” In total, seven people have been arrested in the case.
At my direction, early this morning federal agents arrested Don Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) January 30, 2026
More details soon.
Lowell criticized the Justice Department’s actions, linking the arrests to recent fatal shootings by federal agents in Minnesota.
“Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump Justice Department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest,” Lowell said in a statement. “This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment will not stand.”
Lemon previously told NBC News that he was unfairly singled out.
“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.
A federal magistrate judge last week rejected prosecutors’ attempt to file criminal charges against Lemon, the Associated Press reported. It remains unclear whether revised charges have been approved.
