Fired CNN host Don Lemon might get prosecuted by the Justice Department for joining anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters who stormed a Minnesota church service Sunday because the pastor is allegedly tied to ICE, Civil Rights Division Chief Harmeet Dhillon implied Sunday night.The assistant attorney general had already confirmed her division was investigating potential violations of the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act by the church crashers, a rare but statutorily permissible use of the 1994 law. It has overwhelmingly been used to prosecute pro-life activists who seek to blockade abortion clinics, with President Trump pardoning 23 in his first week back in office.
“A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest!” Dhillon wrote on X, sharing Newsmax host Todd Starnes’ quotes of now-independent video journalist Lemon when he explained to viewers that crashing the church was justified by “the freedom to protest” and “protests are not comfortable.”
Dhillon said the church was “a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws!” and the First Amendment does not protect Lemon’s “pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service. You are on notice!”
She reiterated Lemon’s potential culpability Monday morning to conservative podcaster Benny Johnson and also faulted Minnesota state prosecutors for not arresting crashers yesterday, distinguishing them from DOJ prosecutors who must go before a federal judge to get arrest warrants.
Rapper Nicki Minaj, a new convert to the Make America Great Again movement, also denounced the “c–k suckin'” Lemon for tagging along with protesters calls for Lemon’s incarceration. “HOW DARE YOU? I WANT THAT THUG IN JAIL!!!!! HE WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO ANY OTHER RELIGION,” she wrote on X.
TMZ emphasized Lemon is gay, making Minaj’s crude insult a “homophobic slur.” (Both are black.) Lemon told the entertainment outlet “I’m not surprised Nicki Minaj does not understand journalism and is weighing in on matters that are above her capacity.”
Referring to the Chucky doll image in Minaj’s post, Lemon said she should have posted a “Pick Me” doll, which refers to slang for women who seek male attention by disparaging other women. CNN fired Lemon in part for disparaging women over 50 as not in their “prime,” specifically former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley.
