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Tags: donald trump | church | protest | minnesota | doj | jail | investigation

Trump: Minneapolis Church Protesters Should Be Thrown in Jail

By    |   Tuesday, 20 January 2026 08:12 AM EST

President Donald Trump called for those involved in the "Church Raid" in Minnesota to serve jail time, just hours after Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon told Newsmax she is seeking to prosecute the perpetrators.

"Just watched footage of the Church Raid in Minnesota by the agitators and insurrectionists," Trump wrote on Truth Social early Tuesday morning. "These people are professionals!

"No person acts the way they act. They are highly trained to scream, rant, and rave, like lunatics, in a certain manner, just like they are doing.

"They are troublemakers who should be thrown in jail, or thrown out of the Country."

Trump also called for investigations into Democrat Gov. Tim Walz and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., whom senior Trump administration officials have suggested may already be under Justice Department scrutiny.

"The first to go should be Walz, and Fake Sleazebag, Ilhan Omar, who is supposedly worth over $30 Million Dollars, even though she's never had anything but a Government job," Trump's post continued.

"Investigate these Corrupt Politicians, and do it now!"

Violators will face the "full force" of the Justice Department, Dhillon told Newsmax's "Wake Up America" on Monday morning.

That could include former CNN host Don Lemon, who was present and may have had advance knowledge of the disruption, according to Dhillon.

"The people who did this made a big, big mistake — whoever they are," Dhillon said. "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 the church was disrupted, forcing parishioners and children to flee.

"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."

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.

© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


US
President Donald Trump called for those involved in the "Church Raid" in Minnesota to serve jail time, just hours after Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon told Newsmax she is seeking to prosecute the perpetrators.
donald trump, church, protest, minnesota, doj, jail, investigation, harmeet dhillon
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2026-12-20
Tuesday, 20 January 2026 08:12 AM
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