President Donald Trump on Tuesday escalated his attacks on independent journalist Don Lemon, contending Lemon’s coverage of an anti-ICE protest inside a Minnesota church was inappropriate and unpatriotic.
At the White House briefing, Trump said he saw video of Lemon walking into the Cities Church in St. Paul, where protesters interrupted a Sunday service. “Don Lemon is a loser, lightweight,” Trump said, according to remarks obtained by multiple outlets. “I saw him, the way he walked in that church, it was terrible.”
Trump also criticized the protesters themselves, calling them “patriots” who deserve to be protected — and those who stormed the service “horrible.”
The uproar stems from dramatic footage recorded and live-streamed by Lemon showing demonstrators chanting slogans like “ICE out” and confronting churchgoers. The protest targeted a pastor whom activists alleged had ties to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
DOJ Threat and Free Press Debate
The Justice Department, under Trump’s administration, has weighed potential legal action against Lemon and others present during the disruption. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon posted on X that Lemon was “on notice” for his presence at what she described as an unlawful protest inside a house of worship. “A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest,” Dhillon wrote.
Dhillon further suggested federal laws such as the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act could apply to the situation, a criminal statute often used in highly charged civil rights cases.
Lemon has vehemently rejected those implications and said his actions were protected by the First Amendment.
“It’s called journalism,” Lemon told Fox News Digital. “Once the protest started in the church, we did an act of journalism … that’s it.” He later said critics were “manufacturing outrage” rather than focusing on the underlying issue that sparked protests: the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent.
Lemon also said he had no prior knowledge that the group would enter the church until he and his team followed them. “I have no affiliation to that organization,” he said in an Instagram video.
Political and Public Backlash
Republican figures have joined Trump in criticizing Lemon’s conduct. Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen called Lemon’s coverage “disgusting” and accused him of amplifying a partisan narrative while downplaying the disruption’s impact on weekend worshippers.
Meanwhile, Lemon has been the subject of vitriolic social media attacks from some conservative commentators and celebrities, including rapper Nicki Minaj, who on X called him derogatory names and demanded his arrest.
Lemon’s defenders, including Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, argue that no laws were broken and that televised protest coverage is fundamental to public discourse. “None of us are immune from the voice of the public,” Ellison said on Lemon’s podcast, touching on tensions between religious freedom and public protest.