Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, announced Monday that journalist Don Lemon may face charges any moment afte he joined a group of anti-ICE agitators who stormed a church in St Paul during a service. The pastor of the church was blamed for his alleged ICE link and Don Lemon was present, livestreaming the protest, triggering questions whether he was aware of the protest.Charges under the Ku Klux Klan Act may be pressed against Don Lemon, Dhillon hinted at the Benny Johnson Show. “The Klan Act is one of the most important federal civil rights statutes. Its a law that makes it illegal to terrorize and violate the civil rights of citizens. Whenever people conspire this, the Klan Act can be used,” she said.”Everyone in the protest community needs to know that the fullest force of the federal government is going to come down and prevent this from happening and put people away for a long time.”
Did Don Lemon interrupt service in church?
Lemon, a former CNN journalist who was fired from the organization in 2023, defended his presence at the church when the protest took place and said he did not have any prior knowledge and he is not part of the organization either. He was there as he had been documenting protest against ICE in Minnesota following the shooting of Minneapolis woman Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross. “A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! 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,” Dhillon wrote on X.Dhillon said Don Lemon’s role as a journalist can’t shield him. “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,” Dhillon said.”It isn’t and so we’re getting our ducks in a row, putting the facts together, and this is a very serious matter,” she continued. “Come next Sunday, nobody should think in the United States that they’re going to be able to get away with this. Everyone in the protest community needs to know that the fullest force of the federal government is going to come down and prevent this from happening and put people away for a long, long time.”