Don Lemon Responds After Being Put 'on Notice' By Trump DOJ Following Minneapolis Church Protest
- - Don Lemon Responds After Being Put 'on Notice' By Trump DOJ Following Minneapolis Church Protest
Meredith KileJanuary 19, 2026 at 11:29 PM
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ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Don Lemon -
Don Lemon has responded after being put "on notice" by President Donald Trump's Department of Justice
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon threatened Lemon with legal action after he posted video from a Minneapolis church protest on Jan. 18
Lemon said the response from Dhillon and other MAGA faithful was "notable," as he "wasn’t the only reporter there"
Don Lemon has responded after being put "on notice" by President Donald Trump's Department of Justice.
On Sunday, Jan. 18, the independent journalist shared video footage from Cities Church in Minneapolis, during which demonstrators interrupted a service in protest of David Easterwood, a pastor and local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.
“This is what the First Amendment is about, the freedom to protest,” Lemon, 59, told viewers. “I’m sure people here don’t like it, but protests are not comfortable.”
That video went viral, with online critics accusing Lemon of instigating or organizing the protest.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon posted to X about Lemon's involvement, writing, "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, 57, then appeared on The Benny Johnson Show on Monday, Jan. 19, where she threatened to invoke multiple different acts to prosecute Lemon and other protestors. One, the FACE Act, protects against attacks or intimidation against people "lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship."
Another, the Ku Klux Klan Act, also known as the Enforcement Act of 1871, makes it a crime to deny any group or individual of "any of the rights, privileges, or immunities, or protection, named in the Constitution." The act, which was created in reaction to post-Civil War attacks by the infamously violent hate group, gives the president broad authority to enforce it, including deploying federal troops and suspending habeas corpus.
"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," Dhillon said. "Whenever people conspire, this, the Klan Act can be used."
"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," she added.
Lemon responded to the legal warning in a statement to Fox News Digital, saying, "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."
"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," he continued.
"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, I stand by my reporting."
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Among those who criticized Lemon for his attendance at the church protest was Nicki Minaj, whom the journalist also responded to on Monday.
Minaj posted her all-caps reaction to Lemon's coverage of the protest on X, writing, "DON ‘C--- SUCKIN’ LEMON IS DISGUSTING. HOW DARE YOU? I WANT THAT THUG IN JAIL!!!!! HE WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO ANY OTHER RELIGION. LOCK HIM UP!!!!!" alongside a photo of a Chucky doll.
Lemon — who is openly gay and married his longtime partner Tim Malone in 2024 — responded to Minaj in a statement to TMZ, saying, "I'm not surprised Nicki Minaj does not understand journalism and is weighing in on matters that are above her capacity. However, the more appropriate image for her post is a 'Pick Me' Doll."
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
