DOJ must give judge grand jury material behind dozens being charged in anti-ICE church ambush

Paul Walsh, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Aug 19, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — Federal prosecutors are being ordered to turn over to a judge all grand jury material for her review in the case of dozens of people charged with plotting and participating in an anti-ICE demonstration inside a St. Paul church in January.

The order from U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino was issued Tuesday and sets an Aug. 25 deadline for the U.S. Attorney’s Office to comply.

Provinzino’s directive comes after Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko on June 10 denied defense motions seeking disclosure of grand jury materials. In late May, attorneys for defendant Don Lemon asked the court to unseal grand jury transcripts in his case, alleging recent examples of misconduct by the Justice Department warranted the move.

“Balancing the competing interests of maintaining secrecy of grand jury materials ... against whether a ground may exist to dismiss the indictment because of a matter that occurred before the grand jury,” Provinzino wrote, “The court agrees with the defendants that an [in chambers] review of the grand jury materials is appropriate to rule on Magistrate Judge Micko’s order” blocking disclosure.

The order calls for prosecutors to hand over to Provinzino “a copy of the transcripts and a thumb drive of any multimedia evidence” from the grand jury proceedings that led the indictments of 38 people, among them Minneapolis civil rights activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, former CNN news anchor Don Lemon and Twin Cities independent journalist Georgia Fort.

The judge said the grand jury material “should comprise any introduction, legal instruction for the two counts, witness testimony and closing [presentation], including answers to questions from the grand jurors.”

The Minnesota Star Tribune reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for a response to the order and whether prosecutors will do as directed, and spokesperson Hoang Bui said, “At this time, there are no comments from our office.”

The Justice Department charged the protesters with conspiring against the right of religious freedom and violating the FACE Act, which typically protects houses of worship, in connection with the demonstration at Cities Church in St. Paul on Jan. 18.

The protest was convened after organizers determined one of the pastors, David Easterwood, was the acting director of ICE’s field office in St. Paul.

Armstrong and three others allegedly organized the protest, dubbed “Operation Pullup,” and promoted it on Instagram and Facebook. They met at a shopping center for a “pre-operation briefing” and provided instruction on how it would commence, the charges alleged.

“Once at the church,” the indictment read, “all of the defendants entered the church to conduct a takeover-style attack and engaged in various acts in furtherance of the conspiracy.”

—Sarah Nelson of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.