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The Justice Department is mulling over whether to bring charges against ex-CNN host Don Lemon for his involvement in the disruption of a church service in Minnesota.
On Sunday, Lemon followed anti-ICE protesters into St. Paul‘s Cities Church as agitators believed its pastor was working with the Trump administration in its effort to round up illegal immigrants.
Here’s what to know about the brewing feud between Lemon and the DOJ:
Former CNN host Don Lemon went viral for his reporting on the Minnesota church that was stormed by anti-ICE agitators. (Don Lemon/YouTube)
Amid accusations that he coordinated with the anti-ICE agitators, Lemon insisted he was not taking part in the activism and was only there to chronicle their protest. He said he had no prior knowledge that the protesters were going to storm Cities Church until they arrived.
Lemon insists he has only committed an “act of journalism” and that his actions are protected under the First Amendment.
“It’s called journalism,” Lemon said. “First Amendment, all that stuff for all you people who believe in the First Amendment absolutist, there you go.
“So why don’t you talk to the actual person who is in charge of the organization and whose idea it was to have the protest at the church before you start blaming me for stuff for which you have no idea about,” he added.
DON LEMON RESPONDS TO TRUMP DOJ’S THREAT, STANDS BY COVERAGE OF ANTI-ICE PROTEST AT MINNESOTA CHURCH
The Justice Department is considering bringing charges against the anti-ICE agitators, Lemon included, specifically looking at the FACE Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act.
The FACE Act makes it a federal crime, with potentially steep fines and jail time, to use or threaten to use force to “injure, intimidate, or interfere” with a person seeking reproductive health services, or with a person lawfully trying to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship. It also prohibits intentional property damage to a facility providing reproductive health services or a place of religious worship. The Ku Klux Klan Act makes it a federal crime for individuals to deny citizens their civil rights.
Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, suggested Lemon’s participation was illegal.
“A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest!” Dhillon told Lemon on X. “It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service.”
“You are on notice,” she added.
Top DOJ civil rights official Harmeet Dhillon suggested Don Lemon’s participation in the storming of a St. Paul church could have violated the law. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Dhillon went on to tell conservative YouTube host Benny Johnson, “Don Lemon himself has come out and said he knew exactly what was going to happen inside that facility. He went into the facility, and then he began ‘committing journalism,’ as if that’s sort of a shield from being a part, an embedded part of a criminal conspiracy.”
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Fox News’ Will Cain that the DOJ was “absolutely investigating” Lemon’s conduct and scoffed at the notion that his actions are protected by the freedom of the press.
DON LEMON PUT ‘ON NOTICE’ BY DOJ FOR ROLE IN COVERING PROTEST THAT STORMED CHURCH
Lemon is remaining defiant as the legal threats are being leveled against him.
“It’s notable that I’ve been cast as the face of a protest I was covering as a journalist — especially since I wasn’t the only reporter there. That framing is telling,” Lemon told Fox News Digital in a statement. “What’s 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.”
“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.”
Lemon stands by his reporting in a statement to Fox News Digital. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison went to bat for Lemon, insisting he nor the anti-ICE protesters violated any laws.
“And the FACE Act, by the way, is designed to protect the rights of people seeking reproductive rights… so that people for a religious reason cannot just use religion to break into women’s reproductive health centers,” Ellison told Lemon on his YouTube show.
“How they are stretching either of these laws to apply to people who protested in a church over the behavior of a religious leader is beyond me,” Ellison added.
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Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report.
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