Breaking: DOJ Confirms Charges Are Coming for Don Lemon and Anti-ICE Agitators Who Invaded Church

The Department of Justice announced Monday that it plans to charge internet personality and former CNN host Don Lemon following his participation in a disruptive incident at a church service in Minnesota alongside anti-ICE rioters.

Harmeet Dhillon, the U.S. Assistant Attorney General overseeing the Civil Rights Division under President Donald J. Trump’s second-term administration, said Lemon will be charged under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. According to Dhillon, Lemon had advance knowledge of the events and admitted he knew “exactly what was going to happen inside that facility.”

Dhillon rejected Lemon’s attempt to portray himself as a journalist merely covering a news event, stating that such a claim will not “shield” him from legal consequences.

The Ku Klux Klan Act makes it a federal crime to terrorize, intimidate, or harm individuals engaged in the lawful exercise of their civil rights. Enacted during Reconstruction to protect newly freed slaves, the statute has historically been used in civil rights prosecutions, often against government officials, but it also applies to private individuals accused of conspiring to violate civil liberties.

Dhillon pointed out that the previous Biden administration relied on the same statute to add conspiracy charges in cases involving the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994, significantly increasing potential prison sentences for defendants.

“We will pursue charges in this case,” Dhillon told Benny Johnson. “In other cases, the Biden DOJ used the Klan Act conspiracy charges tacked on to the FACE act in the case of protests outside abortion clinics, to bring much longer sentences. So there are a number of tools available to us.”

She further explained that federal investigators are examining whether the event was financially coordinated, whether mail or wire services were used to organize the rioters, and whether any participants crossed state lines—factors that could result in additional federal charges.

Emphasizing the seriousness of the statute, Dhillon said, “The Klan Act is one of the most important federal civil rights statutes… [It’s] a law that makes it illegal to terrorize citizens to violate the civil rights of citizens — to get together and conspire to violate the civil rights.”

Dhillon concluded with a warning directed at activist groups nationwide: “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.”

The move signals a sharp shift in enforcement priorities under President Trump’s DOJ, underscoring a renewed focus on protecting religious freedom, public order, and the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans.