President Donald Trump amplified an error-ridden message from a supporter on his Truth Social account on Monday in an effort to argue that former CNN anchor Don Lemon should be imprisoned for livestreaming an anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church.
The message, initially posted on X, read, “A small group of elderly ladies were protesting at an abortion clinic and were given 40 years in prison for violating the FACE Act.”
“I would like to see the same kind of sentence for Don Lemon and the people that broke into that church and did that during services,” the post continued.
While the post does not name a specific case, Trump last year pardoned a number of anti-abortion activists who were convicted under the FACE Act of blocking access to abortion clinics at the beginning of his second term. One woman, Lauren Handy, who had been sentenced to nearly five years in prison in May, 2024, was later discovered to be in possession of fetal remains. Handy, however, is in her early thirties.
Trump reposted it without comment. The original poster later acknowledged their error in a follow-up, writing, “Wasn’t 40 yrs. … was 40 months. Im having a rough typo day.”
Lemon found himself in MAGA’s crosshairs after livestreaming an anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in Minneapolis. Protestors said that they disrupted the service because a pastor who works at the church also works for ICE.
Trump supporters and allies were quick to condemn Lemon for his participation, with Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, warning Lemon, “You are on notice!”
Speaking to far-right influencer Benny Johnson on Monday, Dhillon suggested that the DOJ intends to charge Lemon under the Ku Klux Klan Act.
“The Klan Act is one of the most important federal civil rights statutes. Its a law that makes it illegal to terrorize and violate the civil rights of citizens. Whenever people conspire this, the Klan Act can be used,” Dhillon told Johnson.
The Enforcement Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, was passed to prevent states from discriminating against voters based on race; Dhillon appeared to suggest that it could be invoked against Lemon on the grounds that he interfered with parishioners’ right to worship.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Justice for comment.
BREAKING: DOJ Announces Intention to Charge Don Lemon under the Ku Klux Klan Act.
The KKK Act makes it illegal to threaten, hurt, or intimidate people to prevent them from exercising their God-given rights.
HARMEET DHILLON: “The Klan Act is one of the most important federal… pic.twitter.com/GWnXAMtWc9— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 19, 2026
In a video posted on Sunday night, Lemon clarified that he was present as a journalist covering the protest, and nothing more.
“The MAGA administration and the fake news MAGAs are losing their mind over something that’s not even true,” Lemon said.
“I had no affiliations with that organization. I didn’t even know they were going to this church until we followed them. We were there chronicling protests. Once the protest started in the church, we did an act of journalism, which was report on it and talk to the people who were involved, which included the pastor, members of the church, and members of the organization. That’s it.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
In an interview with I’ve Had It podcast’s Jennifer Welch, Lemon responded to Dhillon’s comments and further explained how he found himself at the church on Sunday.
“I was asking people what’s going on on the ground, and they said there’s this thing happening that they’ve been sending out flyers for, perhaps you want to cover this, and I said sure, and they ended up at a church… I didn’t even know they were going to a church,” Lemon explained.
“Now all of a sudden it blew up into this big thing where I am the one who is leading the protest, and somehow I am the agitator here when I’m just the journalist.”
Protests against ICE in Minneapolis have been ongoing since the shooting death of 37-year-old mom-of-three Renee Nicole Good at the hands of ICE agent Jonathan Ross earlier this month.
On his livestream, Lemon reminded viewers, as well as the pastor of Cities Church who called the protest “shameful,” that the right to protest is protected by the First Amendment.
“This is what the First Amendment is about, the freedom to protest. I’m sure people here don’t like it, but protests are not comfortable.”
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