Minnesota AG dismisses DOJ FACE Act claims against Don Lemon, anti-ICE protesters
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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is rejecting allegations that anti-ICE protesters who stormed a church in his state over the weekend violated a federal law the Justice Department has cited as a possible violation.
Senior DOJ officials say they are looking into whether the perpetrators who disrupted the services of the Church of St.
The FACE Act does it is a federal crime, with potentially steep penalties and jail time, to use or threaten to use force to “harm, intimidate, or disturb” a person seeking reproductive health services, or a person lawfully attempting to exercise the First Amendment right to freedom of religion in a place of religious worship. It also prohibits intentional damage to property at a facility that provides reproductive health services or a place of religious worship. The Ku Klux Klan law makes it a federal crime for individuals to deny citizens their civil rights.
DON LEMON RESPONDS TO TRUMP DOJ’S INVESTIGATION, REPRESENTS HEARING AT MINNESOTA CHURCH’S COMMUNITY PROTEST
Anti-ICE protesters targeted Cities Church in Minneapolis on Sunday, shouting down congregants during services. (Facebook/DawokeFarmer2)
Appearing on former CNN host Don Lemon’s YouTube show, Ellison insisted that the FACE Act is only about reproductive rights.
“And the FACE Act, by the same token, is designed to protect the rights of people who want reproductive rights… so that people for religious reasons can’t use religion to hack women’s reproductive health facilities,” Ellison told Lemon.
“How they apply any of these laws to people protesting the behavior of a religious leader is beyond me,” Ellison added.
DON LEMON PLACED ‘NOTICE’ BY DOJ FOR COVERING UP CHURCH CHURCH CHURCH CHANGE.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the anti-ICE protestors did not violate the FACE Act as the DOJ is putting together the pressing charges. (Tim Evans/Reuters)
Lemon himself has been swept up in the controversy as he provided an embedded report from Cities Church documenting the chaos that erupted.
While the liberal host insisted that his actions were protected by the First Amendment as a journalist, Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for human rights, suggested Lemon’s participation was illegal.
“The house of worship is not a public forum for your protest!” Dhillon told Lemon about X. “It’s a place protected from acts exactly like federal criminal and civil laws! And the First Amendment doesn’t protect your fake journalism from disrupting a prayer service.”
“You are aware,” he added.
ST PAUL PASTOR DISCUSSES ANTI-ICE DISRUPTING CHURCH SERVICE, SAYS ‘WE WORSHIP JESUS’
Don Lemon told Fox News Digital that he stands by his reporting. (Don Lemon/YouTube)
“It is noteworthy that I have been considered as the face of the protest that I was covering as a journalist – especially since I was not the only journalist there. That arrangement explains,” said Lemon. Fox News Digital in the statement. “Even more telling are the violent threats, as well as homophobic and racist comments, directed at me online by MAGA supporters and amplified by sections of the right-wing media.”
“If this much time and energy is going to be spent on outrage, it could be better spent investigating the tragic death of Renee Nicole Good – the very issue that brought people to the streets in the first place,” Lemon continued. “I stand by my report.
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