Trump Tears Into Don Lemon for Free Speech Defense, Calls Minnesota Church Storming ‘Horrible Thing to Witness’
President Donald Trump slammed Don Lemon during Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast, calling out the former CNN host for claiming “journalistic freedom” after joining anti-ICE agitators who stormed a Minnesota church last month. Trump praised the Justice Department for pursuing charges and called the event “violent” and “illegal.”
“I watched that tape, and you know, that was violent,” Trump said. “The minister was great. He was so calm and good — they’re screaming at him, terrible, right in the middle of a church service, it’s got to be illegal.”
Trump didn’t refer to Lemon by name but made clear he was referencing the former anchor’s conduct. “They’re bad people. You have one Trump hater in particular,” he continued. “They tried to use freedom of the press and all this to get out of a criminal event, but that was a horrible thing to witness.”
Lemon was arrested on January 30 in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy Awards. His arrest stemmed from his role in the January 18 church invasion in St. Paul, where congregants were targeted after reports surfaced that a pastor had past ties to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Federal prosecutors say Lemon had advance knowledge of the disruption and streamed it on his YouTube show. He and others are accused of blocking exits and threatening worshippers. Charges were brought under the FACE Act, a law meant to protect access to clinics and places of worship.
The Trump administration has taken a hard line on the incident. “I’m not doing it, but Pam [Bondi] is doing it,” Trump said, referencing the Attorney General. “And I’ll tell you, people are happy with the job that’s taking place because they’re bad people.”
“They want to intimidate you. They want to instill fear,” Lemon later said on Jimmy Kimmel’s show, defending his actions as journalism and asserting his First Amendment rights. His legal team maintains that he was merely documenting a protest.
The Biden-era FACE Act provision used in this case includes protections for religious services, making the charges viable. Lemon is accused of physically obstructing attendees as chaos erupted in the sanctuary.
Trump warned that failure to prosecute the event could set a dangerous precedent. “If we allowed that to go on, you wouldn’t be able to have a church,” he said. “Everybody would be afraid to go to church.”