People who disrupted a Minneapolis church service Sunday will face the "full force" of the Justice Department.
That could include former CNN host Don Lemon, who was reportedly present, according to Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights.
"The people who did this made a big, big mistake — whoever they are," Dhillon told Newsmax's "Wake Up America" on Monday morning.
"We are investigating exactly who they are, who coordinated with them, who paid for it, and who was there.
"And this will be met with the full force of the United States Department of Justice, as the attorney general has directed."
Dhillon said Attorney General Pam Bondi directed her Civil Rights Division to take swift action to investigate possible violations of constitutional and civil rights after a church was disrupted, forcing parishioners and children to flee.
Dhillon said Lemon was among those present.
"This is going to get the highest attention from the Department of Justice, because there is no more sacred right in our Constitution than the right to assemble and pray to God, and there are federal laws that protect that right," Dhillon told co-hosts Marc Lotter and Alex Kraemer.
"And what happened here was a shameful exercise of virtue signaling, disruption, fear, terror. You can see children in this video being ushered out the back by their terrorized mothers. And this is illegal."
Dhillon said two federal prosecutors were en route to Minneapolis, with FBI personnel coordinating with local authorities to investigate and potentially prosecute illegal activity, including actions involving journalist-turned-activist Lemon.
"This position of his is so stupid," she said. "I was trying to figure out how to put it in layman's terms: Imagine you have a bank robbery that's being planned by a number of criminals; they're crossing state lines, are using the wires, and then a podcaster says, Well, let me embed myself in here and come along for the ride and live stream the crime.
"That would not be protected by the First Amendment."
Dhillon rejected arguments that the actions constituted "peaceful protesting," saying her department is gathering facts for what could become a significant case.
"It is a crime to disrupt and harass and make people in a church or any house of worship feel unsafe in this country," she added, suggesting Lemon is under scrutiny for potentially being "part of that planning and show up and ride along and laugh outside about and make commentary outside about how disrupting and putting people in fear is literally part of protest and part of the plan."
"You know, we're not reaching conclusions now," she continued. "Of course, everybody is entitled to the presumption of innocence.
"But if I were giving advice to a journalist about this, which I have done in the past, I would say do not participate in a crime actively."
Dhillon finished with a warning for radical leftist leaders in Minnesota – Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Gov. Tim Walz, and Attorney General Keith Ellison – and potential Democrat leaders' obstruction efforts across the country.
"The governor, to the mayor, to the attorney general, to the district attorney, every single elected official I can think of who has touched or who has jurisdiction over this situation has not only failed, but they have fanned the flames of rage and violence in their jurisdiction," Dhillon said. "And now we are seeing what is being reaped.
"But let me be very clear: They tried this, they put their foot in the water. Their Black Lives Matter lawyer organizes protests online from what we can see so far.
"And we will not tolerate this in any American city. Zero tolerance for any attack on a house of worship in the United States. Period. Full stop.
"That is the message from Attorney General Pam Bondi. And everyone at the DOJ has gotten the message."
Dhillon drew comparisons to prior Biden administration Justice Department prosecutions involving abortion clinic protests, arguing the conduct at the church was more serious than cases previously pursued under federal conspiracy and civil rights laws.
"I want to add, before people start spazzing about the First Amendment, that the Biden administration prosecuted people peacefully praying outside abortion clinics for much, much less," she said. "Prosecuted them under conspiracy statutes, under the Klan Act, which I also have jurisdiction over at the DOJ."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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