Former CNN anchor turned independent journalist, Don Lemon, found himself under arrest on Thursday night in Los Angeles. Federal authorities apprehended him on allegations of breaching federal law during his coverage of an anti-ICE protest in Minnesota.

Lemon wasn’t the only journalist facing law enforcement scrutiny at the Minnesota protest. On the same night, local independent journalist Georgia Fort alerted her followers that the FBI was at her door, intending to arrest her for her involvement in the protest. Attorney General Pam Bondi later confirmed Fort’s arrest, asserting that she, Lemon, and others were part of a “coordinated attack” on a church. Two additional individuals, including Jamael Lundy, a candidate for the Minnesota State Senate, were also taken into custody.

In response to the arrest, Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, released a statement on Lemon’s social media, emphasizing his client’s intention to contest the charges. Lowell noted that Lemon, a vocal critic of the Trump administration, had been attending the Grammy Awards when arrested. “Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” Lowell declared.

Lowell further criticized the Trump Justice Department, accusing it of prioritizing Lemon’s arrest over investigating federal agents involved in the deaths of Minnesota protesters, questioning the allocation of resources.

Just two weeks before his arrest, Lemon was present with protesters at a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, documenting the event as part of his journalistic duties. Reports from NPR identified one of the church’s pastors as David Easterwood, acting field director of the St. Paul ICE office. The federal government argued that Lemon was participating as a protester rather than as a journalist, seeking a warrant for his arrest and others for allegedly disrupting churchgoers’ rights to worship. However, a local magistrate judge and a federal appellate panel denied the warrant against Lemon and several protesters.

CBS News reported that a grand jury convened on Thursday, involving the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), to issue the arrest warrant.