Update January 23, 2026 at 12:00pm ET
We are learning more about the magistrate judge who blocked federal prosecutors’ attempt to charge Don Lemon in connection with the protest that disrupted a Sunday service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, last weekend.
As Megyn outlined on Friday’s edition of The Megyn Kelly Show, the magistrate judge has been identified as Douglas Micko, and there are questions as to whether he should have recused himself from he case due to the position of his wife Caitlin Micko.
According to multiple reports, she is an assistant attorney general in Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office, and she recently ‘loved’ a LinkedIn post from Solicitor General Liz Kramer that read, “I’m proud to help AG Ellison and the mayors protect the equal sovereignty of Minnesota and the safety of our residents by suing ICE Homeland Security today.”
On Friday’s show, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon told Megyn the potential conflicts could run deeper. “Keith Ellison ignorantly went out there and said that the FACE Act doesn’t apply to attacks on houses of worship, which… it obviously does. It is right there in the statute, and I have actually used it in court already,” she noted. “So, he is blatantly wrong; and that is her boss; and it is a conflict of interest, in my opinion.”
“I have recused myself from cases here at the Department of Justice where I have a bias or perceived bias. It is actually not just a bias – it is avoiding the appearance of impropriety,” she added. “And when your wife works for a guy who has prejudged the outcome of the issue [and said] ‘the FACE Act doesn’t apply,’ ‘ICE is bad,’ ‘We’re going to get them,’ ‘We’re going to sue them’ – which, by the way, they have lost now at the Eighth Circuit; we obtained an administrative stay from the Eighth Circuit against that silly lawsuit that they filed to enjoin and endanger ICE officers – that is a significant conflict.”
Even so, Dhillon called the ruling “disappointing” and said, in her view, the magistrate judge “clearly exhibited bias.” While she said she wouldn’t telegraph exactly what the DOJ has planned, she said “there are next moves in court in multiple directions, up and sideways and otherwise,” to get the desired charges brought against Lemon.
Lemon, meanwhile, has been making the case in the court of public opinion that his actions were protected because he was acting as a journalist, and his attorney, Abbe Lowell, took a similar position when he praised the magistrate’s decision, saying it “confirmed the nature of Don’s First Amendment-protected work.”
Dhillon disagreed. “There is no basis for him to say that the magistrate judge’s decision is just because Don Lemon was a so-called journalist. That is, I think, inaccurate and it is a fantasy,” she said. “When a journalist is also committing a crime, it is black letter law that they are not cloaked from prosecution… Journalists can and have been convicted of crimes in our country where they break the law.”
She said there are several recent examples of such prosecution under the Biden administration, and she made one thing clear about the current DOJ. “When I first saw the video that Don Lemon himself put out about his conduct that day, it was clear to me that we had the predicates for pursuing FACE Act and conspiracy,” Dhillon said. “We did our homework, sent prosecutors there to the ground, took affidavits, took evidence. They buttressed the case that we could witness from Lemon’s own testimony, and statements, and admissions against interest in his own videos. And we have aggressively and very rapidly sought legal process… We are going to pursue this to the ends of the earth.”
Original article from January 22, 2026 below:
The feds announced three arrests in connection with the anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, but Don Lemon may be off the hook thanks to a stunning ruling.
A federal magistrate judge in Minnesota reportedly rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to charge Lemon over his participation in the incident, which included livestreaming the event, confronting the pastor and some congregants, and interviewing the organizers of the “clandestine operation” that he appeared to have advanced knowledge of.
On Thursday’s show, Megyn was joined by MK True Crime contributor Phil Holloway to discuss the judge’s decision and what it means for the case against Lemon.
The Reports
On Thursday, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations announced Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and William Kelly had all been taken into custody for violating the FACE Act when they disrupted Sunday’s church service.
Lemon has tried to distance himself from the protest by claiming he was “committing journalism,” but his livestream commentary about what he knew leading up to the so-called “Operation Pull Up” and his behavior during it have called that into question.
Citing two people familiar with the case, Politico reported federal prosecutors sought to charge the former CNN anchor in connection with the protest but a magistrate judge declined to approve the charge. A federal court docket reviewed by Politico Thursday afternoon apparently included Lemon’s name among eight defendants. A short time later the case disappeared altogether from the public docket.
A source told CBS News that Attorney General Pam Bondi was “enraged” by the judge’s decision, while another person told the outlet the Justice Department could find other avenues to charge Lemon.
What Comes Next
Megyn said the situation has “politics” written all over it. “The reports are that this magistrate judge in Minneapolis has declined to sign a warrant for his arrest, apparently not persuaded by the criminal complaint filed by the DOJ that attempted to make a showing of probable cause,” she explained. “I’m not shocked… at all. I mean, judges almost always sign off on these arrest warrants… [but] this feels political.”
Holloway agreed. “This reeks of politics,” he said. “Merely holding a microphone and calling yourself a journalist might make you a journalist within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, but it doesn’t mean that you get to use it as a defense to violate other people’s First Amendment rights.”
As Holloway explained, federal magistrate judges are not appointed by the president and do not go through a Senate confirmation process. Instead, they are hired as contractors by the district court judges who are appointed. “They are essentially employees. They get hired from the local community. These are lawyers – probably people with certain political connections – who wound up getting these jobs,” he noted. “So when you factor all this in together, along with the fact that there have been warrants that were issued for other three, I smell politics and it reeks. I believe that is what it is about.”
But as reports have indicated, Holloway said the DOJ does have recourse. “The Justice Department is not stuck here. They can always go to the grand jury and they can get an indictment,” he added. “This magistrate’s word is not and will not be – mark my words – the last one on the subject.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Holloway by tuning in to episode 1,236 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.