Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday schooled far-left ABC host George Stephanopoulos on the legal basis for Don Lemon’s indictment after he stormed an ongoing church service with radical left thugs while pretending to be a journalist.
Lemon was arrested on Friday morning for his involvement in storming a Minneapolis church earlier this month with deranged leftist activists. Lemon and his fellow anti-ICE insurrectionists illegally invaded the church service, interrupting worship and shutting down the church because the pastor has alleged ties to ICE.
Lemon livestreamed his participation in the event. “This is what the First Amendment is about, the freedom to protest,” Don Lemon said as his crowd harassed families with children. “I’m sure people here don’t like it, but protests are not comfortable.”
During an interview on ABC’s This Week, Stephanopoulos referenced a judge’s decision to toss charges against Lemon and suggested he was just “reporting what was going on,” and Blanche hit him with the facts.
“Conveniently missing from what you just showed, George, is the appellate court and a judge on the appellate court who said just a few days later, there was clearly probable cause, and it wasn’t even a close question,” Blanche said.
“And by the way, a grand jury, which is what our system has set up to determine whether probable cause exists, concluded that there was probable cause. That indictment is now public. Everybody in this country can pull it up and read for themselves and see what the grand jury found that Mr. Lemon did.”
“I don’t know if you’ve watched the videos or read the indictment about what it’s alleged that Mr. Lemon did. But if anybody in this country thinks that that is, quote, ‘independent journalism,’ I would like to have a conversation with you,” Blanche continued. “It doesn’t matter if you happen to be a former CNN journalist. It doesn’t matter if you’re a rioter. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re peacefully protesting. You are not allowed to do that.”
WATCH:
Stephanopoulos: When do you believe that Mr. Lemon crossed the line from reporting on what was going on to criminal activity?
Blanche: Conveniently missing from what you just showed, George, is the appellate court and a judge on the appellate court who said just a few days later, there was clearly probable cause, and it wasn’t even a close question. So — and by the way, a grand jury, which is what our system has set up to determine whether probable cause exists, concluded that there was probable cause. That indictment is now public. Everybody in this country can pull it up and read for themselves and see what the grand jury found that Mr. Lemon did. I am not going to comment on the charges specifically because it’s not appropriate.
But it’s interesting that — that we talk about the First Amendment right. You have a right, a freedom of religion, which is just as important as any other right that we have. And, George, I don’t know if you’ve — if you’ve watched the videos or read the indictment about what it’s alleged that Mr. Lemon did. But if anybody in this country thinks that that is, quote, “independent journalism,” I would like to have a conversation with you.
Now, he’s obviously has a very good lawyer. He can raise defenses in court to the extent he wants to, but nobody in this country should feel comfortable storming into a church while it’s ongoing and disrupting that church service and thinking that we’re just going to stand by and let that happen because there is a statute that does not allow that to happen. It doesn’t matter if you happen to be a former CNN journalist. It doesn’t matter if you’re a rioter. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re peacefully protesting. You are not allowed to do that.
As noted in the unsealed indictment, Lemon and his co-conspirators “oppressed, threatened, and intimidated the Church’s congregantsand pastors by physically occupying most of the main aisle and rows of chairs near the front of the Church, engaging in menacing and threatening behavior,(for some) chanting and yelling loudly at the pastor and congregants, and/orphysically obstructing them as they attempted to exit and/or move aboutwithin the Church.”
Then, while “pepper[ing] him with questions to promote the operation’s message… ignored the pastor’s request and did not immediately leave the Church,” the indictment reads.
Lemon was further involved in the planning stages of the attack on religious freedoms. As The Gateway Pundit reported, Lemon actually admitted that he was embedded with co-conspirator and BLM activist Nekima Armstrong and the group of rabid protestors and that he had direct knowledge of the plan but could not disclose it to his audience. “These operations are surprise operations,” Lemon said on his livestream. “Again, we can’t tell you where they’re going.”
As noted in the indictment, “At the pre-operation briefing, defendants ARMSTRONG and ALLEN advised other co-conspirators, including defendants KELLY, LEMON, [], LUNDY, CREWS, FORT, and [] about the target of their operation (i.e., Cities Church) and provided instruction on how the operation would be conducted once they arrived at the Church.”
“During a discussion with defendant ARMSTRONG at thepre-op briefing, (a) defendant LEMON thanked defendant ARMSTRONG forwhat she was doing and assured her that he was ‘not saying … what’s going on’ (ie, was not disclosing the target of the operation); (b) defendantARMSTRONG explained that ‘Operation Pullup’ was a “clandestine” operation in which she and other agitators would ‘show up somewhere that isa key location, [where the targets] don’t expect us … , and we disrupt businessas usual. That’s what we’re about to go do right now.’; and (c) defendant Lemon said he would see her there,” the indictment continues.
“Before heading to the Church to join his co-conspirators, defendant LEMON advised his livestream audience that, ‘We’re going to head to the operation. Again, we’re not going to give any, any of the information away’ (ie. operational details that would disclose where he and his coconspirators were heading).”
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