Washington DC - President Donald Trump's attorney general, Attorney General Pam Bondi, ordered the arrest of former CNN host Don Lemon over coverage of widespread protests against federal forces occupying Minneapolis.

Bondi said in a post on X that Lemon and several other people had been arrested "at my direction" on unspecified federal charges in connection with what she called a "coordinated attack" on the Cities Church in St. Paul, the twin city of Minneapolis.

Lemon, now an independent journalist, was among the reporters who covered a protest against the immigration crackdown at the church where an official with ICE is also a pastor.

Lemon's lawyer said he was taken into custody in Los Angeles overnight, adding that his work covering the protest "was no different to what he has always done."

A magistrate judge in Minnesota had declined last week to charge Lemon.

The journalist's former CNN colleague Jim Acosta blasted the Trump administration in a post on X, saying: "This is outrageous and cannot stand. The First Amendment is under attack in America!"

Three other people were charged last week for the Cities Church protest.

Minneapolis has been roiled by non-stop protests against the deployment of some 3,000 federal immigration agents, who have been occupying the city and terrorizing local communities.

Two US citizens – mother-of-three Renee Good and ICU nurse Alex Pretti – have been killed by ICE and Border Patrol agents.