Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

DOJ Official’s Ominous Post Suggests Don Lemon Isn’t Out Of The Woods Yet

[Screenshot/YouTube: Click Farmers Podcast with Don Lemon]

Former CNN host Don Lemon dared the Trump administration in a Thursday video to arrest him over a Sunday protest at a Minnesota church — and one top official suggested she is happy to oblige.

Lemon said he stands “proud” as a journalist after a judge reportedly refused to approve charges against him for following and filming anti-deportation protesters who disrupted a Sunday service at Cities Church in St. Paul. Lemon said the government should “go ahead” and “keep trying” to arrest him, to which Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon replied on X, “Okay.”

Okay https://t.co/Exo4dFnww8

— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) January 23, 2026

Attorney General Pam Bondi gave the same one-word response on Thursday to a video of protester William Kelly daring her to arrest him over the church incident. Kelly and two other left-wing activists were detained and charged yesterday in what the Department of Justice (DOJ) has called a conspiracy against the churchgoers’ civil rights.

Lemon was seen in his own original footage following a group of activists around town, entering the church before their protest started and remaining inside to record their chants and shouting while a pastor asked everyone to leave.

“Look, I stand proud and I stand tall,” Lemon told his audience after news that the DOJ failed to secure charges against him. “This is not a victory lap for me because it’s not over. They’re going to try again, and they’re going to try again, and guess what? Here I am. Keep trying.”

“That’s not going to stop me from being a journalist,”  Lemon continued. “You’re not going to diminish my voice. Go ahead, make me into the new Jimmy Kimmel if you want, ’cause I’m not going anywhere, and I’m going to believe the same things … none of this is about justice. This is about power and it’s about people who are incompetent.”

Vice President JD Vance said in a Thursday interview that the Trump administration aims to show a commitment to religious liberty through the church protest cases.

“If you interrupt a church service, you ought to get arrested, you ought to go to prison,” Vance said. “And I think we wanted to send a very clear signal at the Department of Justice that you cannot interrupt people’s rightful worship without expecting there to be any consequences.”