The Department of Justice is going “to the ends of the Earth” to press charges against former CNN host Don Lemon for his alleged role in storming a St. Paul, Minnesota, church with a group of anti-ICE activists Sunday, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said Friday.
A federal magistrate judge in Minnesota refused to sign off on charges against Lemon on Thursday but authorized the arrests of three activists who were tied to the mob. Still, the Justice Department is exploring ways to prosecute Lemon, Dhillon told conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly, calling the judge’s actions “frustrating.”
“We are going to do it because that is what is required for justice here, and from Sunday, when I first saw the video that Don Lemon himself put out about his conduct that day, it was clear to me that we have the predicates for pursuing FACE Act and conspiracy,” she said.
The FACE Act penalizes those who “by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with any person lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.”
“We have aggressively and very rapidly sought legal process,” Dhillon said.
“He is not out of legal jeopardy and he has lawyered up, he has a prominent lawyer and we’re gonna pursue this to the ends of the Earth,” she said.
🚨NEW: @HarmeetKDhillon tells @megynkelly DOJ will pursue Don Lemon charges “TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH”🚨
“He is NOT out of legal jeopardy.”@DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/W1XjXvlTjV
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) January 23, 2026
Lemon responded to the Trump administration’s efforts to arrest him, saying Thursday, “Here I am.”
His attorney, Abbe Lowell, released a statement saying that the First Amendment protects Lemon since he joined the protest “as a reporter.”
“It was no different than what he has done for more than 30 years, reporting and covering newsworthy events on the ground and engaging in constitutionally protected activity as a journalist,” the statement read.
“Should the Department of Justice continue with a stunning and troubling effort to silence and punish a journalist for doing his job, Don will call out their latest attack on the rule of law and fight any charges vigorously and thoroughly in court,” it continued.
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Monday that such protections don’t extend to “being part of the group that storms inside of a church.”
“Freedom of the press extends to a lot of different areas,” Blanche told Fox News’s Will Cain. “It does not extend to somebody just trespassing and being embedded with a group of rioters and being part of the group that storms inside of a church… the fact that Mr. Lemon thought that was a good idea, and then raced away from it saying it was ‘freedom of the press’ — well, we’ll see.”
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