Former CNN anchor Don Lemon has turned to a former Trump-appointed federal prosecutor as he mounts a legal defense against charges stemming from a disruptive January protest at a Minnesota church.
According to Fox News, Joe Thompson, who briefly served as acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota after his May 2025 appointment by President Donald Trump, has now appeared in court filings as counsel for defendant Don Renaldo Lemon. Thompson, who resigned from the U.S. Attorneys Office in January, previously led the high-profile probe into the sprawling $250 million Feeding Our Future food fraud scheme, a scandal tied to Minnesotas Somali community that raised serious questions about oversight of taxpayer-funded anti-poverty programs.
A notice of appearance filed Tuesday states that Thompson "shall appear as counsel of record for defendant Don Renaldo Lemon" going forward. He is expected to work alongside Lemons lead defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, the prominent Washington lawyer who previously represented Hunter Biden in his tax and gun-charge case.
The New York Times and other outlets, including NBC News, have claimed that Thompson and several colleagues resigned in protest over the Justice Departments handling of the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Good. A Justice Department official, however, told Fox News Digital that the prosecutors had submitted early retirement paperwork months before Goods death and that they remain on the job until their retirement date.
Despite that clarification, the Times reported again on Tuesday that Lemons new attorney resigned "over the Justice Departments handling of the immigration operation." The implication from liberal-leaning outlets is that internal dissent at DOJ is tied to broader Biden administration enforcement decisions that have drawn criticism from both the left and the right.
Thompson did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by Fox News Digital. His decision to represent a high-profile progressive media figure like Lemon is likely to raise eyebrows, given his background as a Trump appointee and his record of aggressively prosecuting fraud and violent crime.
Lemon faces charges of conspiracy to deprive religious freedom rights and a violation of the FACE Act after he livestreamed left-wing agitators storming St. Pauls Cities Church last month. The demonstrators targeted the church on the suspicion that its pastor had cooperated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a claim that fits a broader activist narrative portraying immigration enforcement as inherently illegitimate.
Thompsons rsum includes several other major cases, underscoring his stature within federal law enforcement circles. He filed federal charges against Vance Boelter for an alleged shooting rampage that killed Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and seriously wounded Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
The FACE Act, which the Biden Justice Department has used aggressively in recent years, makes it a federal crime, with potentially severe fines and prison time, to use or threaten force to "injure, intimidate, or interfere" with anyone seeking reproductive health services or anyone lawfully exercising First Amendment religious freedom at a place of worship. It also criminalizes intentional property damage to facilities providing reproductive health services or to houses of worship, a statute conservatives argue has been unevenly enforced against pro-life activists while left-wing vandals often escape serious consequences.
Lemon has insisted he was acting purely as a journalist and not as an organizer or participant in the church incursion. He previously told Fox News Digital that he stands by his reporting and has endured a wave of online abuse since the incident.
"Its notable that Ive been cast as the face of a protest I was covering as a journalist especially since I wasnt the only reporter there. That framing is telling. Whats even more telling is the barrage of violent threats, along with homophobic and racist slurs, directed at me online by MAGA supporters and amplified by parts of the right-wing press," Lemon said in a statement. "If this much time and energy is going to be spent manufacturing outrage, it would be far better used investigating the tragic death of Renee Nicole Good the very issue that brought people into the streets in the first place," Lemon continued. "I stand by my reporting."
The case now pits a polarizing media figure, who has long aligned with progressive causes, against a federal statute that is supposed to protect both religious liberty and access to abortion facilities, under the guidance of a former Trump-appointed prosecutor. As the legal battle unfolds, Thompsons role and the Justice Departments charging decisions will likely fuel ongoing debates over selective enforcement, political bias in prosecutions, and the line between journalism and activism in an era of live-streamed protests and escalating culture-war clashes.
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