Judge declines to sign off on charges against former CNN anchor Don Lemon

A federal magistrate judge declined to sign off on charges against Don Lemon, the former CNN anchor, in connection with a protest at a Minnesota church over the weekend, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The magistrate’s decision “enraged” attorney general Pam Bondi, according to NBC News and CNN.

The refusal comes as Donald Trump and other allies have called for Lemon to be arrested after he attended and broadcast a protest in which demonstrators interrupted a service at Cities church in St Paul over the weekend. Protesters said they were there because a pastor at the church was the acting field director of a local ICE office and videos of the incident went wild.

The justice department did not immediately return a request for comment.

“I saw him the way he walked in that church, it was terrible,” Trump said of Lemon earlier this week. “I have such respect for that pastor. He was so calm, he was so nice. He was just accosted. What they did in that church was horrible.”

Bondi announced two of the protesters had been arrested on Thursday morning. “WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP,” she said in a post on Twitter/X.