Vice President JD Vance said the case against former CNN reporter Don Lemon is "rock solid" after he was charged with his involvement in an anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church last month.
Vance said in an interview with Megyn Kelly on Wednesday that Lemon was "the dumbest man in television, formerly."
"No one is objecting to you standing outside of a church and protesting, no one is saying you can't protest the Trump administration's immigration policies or frankly our policies on anything else," Vance said.
"What you cannot do is go into somebody's house of worship and prevent them from exercising their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion," Vance added.
The vice president noted the FACE Act forbids people from intimidating others at a house of worship or from interfering in a religious service.
"We have a rock-solid violation of the FACE Act, which is you were sticking a microphone in the face of a minister during the church service while the people you were with preventing people from leaving," Vance said.
"That's a violation of the law. That's not about the First Amendment," Vance added.
Lemon was charged last Friday with federal civil rights crimes in connection with an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church, the Department of Homeland Security said.
He is charged with conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during a Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as a pastor.
Another journalist and two protest participants were also arrested.
Attorney General Pam Bondi later announced on X that the arrest of Lemon, as well as fellow protesters Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, were executed "at my direction."
She posted a 16-second video on social media at 11:41 a.m., without mentioning Lemon or any of those arrested by name, that citizens have the right to worship freely and safely and if anyone interferes, "we are coming after you."
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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