Former CNN host Don Lemon reacted to criticism Tuesday after being put “on notice” by the Department of Justice civil rights chief over his coverage of an anti-ICE protest at a church in Minnesota.
“Whatever they do, let them do it, but in the end, I’m telling you, I don’t think that they’ve realized that people are fed up with this,” Lemon, now an independent journalist, said in an interview with podcaster Jennifer Welch. ”That’s why you see so many people out in the streets. That’s why those protesters went into the church.”
Protesters disrupted a Sunday morning service at Cities Church in St. Paul, and alleged the church’s pastor, David Easterwood, was the same David Easterwood who is a top ICE official in the state, CNN reported. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told CNN that it “will never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers,” pressed about the pastor’s connection with ICE. It was not immediately clear if Easterwood was at the service when the protest took place.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced Sunday night that the DOJ will pursue charges against the protesters. She also called Lemon’s coverage of the protest “pseudo journalism” and said he was “on notice.”