Don Lemon Slams Minnesota Pastor for Not Acting As a ‘Representative of the Lord’ When Anti-ICE Protesters Stormed Church

Don Lemon said he was not a fan of how the Minnesota pastor he interviewed over the weekend dealt with anti-ICE protesters storming his church and wrecking its service, with Lemon arguing the pastor did not handle the situation like a good Christian would.

Lemon went on the I’ve Had It podcast on Monday to discuss the chaotic scene from a day earlier. He told progressive host Jennifer Welch that he understood why pastor Jonathan Parnell was upset by the protesters ruining his service — but that he should have welcomed them with open arms anyway.

The ex-CNN star said:

What I would’ve done, Jen, is I would’ve said “No, we live in a country where we welcome dissent, we welcome the right to peaceably assemble. We welcome that. And so, we may not like it [because] it is uncomfortable.

“But that is what protest is about — discomfort. So since you’re here, please, please, calm down, let’s try to talk. What would you like us to do?”

Lemon added a moment later that the pastor had a “natural reaction” when he started to “preach against” the protesters.

“But I think if you’re going to be a representative of the Lord and of God, then perhaps you should conduct yourself as such,” he said.

The media veteran may have viewed the protest as a peaceful one, but the Trump Justice Department did not.

Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, publicly rebuked Lemon on Sunday night.

“A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service,” she wrote on X. “You are on notice!”

Welch told Lemon on Monday that the Justice Department and its leaders, like Attorney General Pam Bondi, clearly had their “panties in a wad” over Lemon following the protesters into the church. The reason?

“They have a problem with those kind of white people being confronted and called out on their hypocrisy,” Welch claimed.

She said the people who attend churches like the one Lemon went to — Cities Church in Minneapolis — are full of racist Donald Trump supporters.

“That is one of those White Evangelical churches that turn out to vote for Donald Trump, 80+ percent of that sect of Christianity,” Welch said. “These are the ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ folks, the people who feel like America is for Americans and America only. These are white nationalists.”

Her conversation with Lemon comes after Lemon livestreamed the anti-ICE protesters storming a church and confronting the pastor because they believed he worked as an immigration agent.

The protesters ran into the church and started screaming and chanting slogans like “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!” and “ICE OUT” repeatedly.

A number of church attendees were irate with the intrusion and yelled at the protesters to beat it. Lemon defended the protesters — saying they were simply exercising their Constitutional rights to protest.

“This is what the First Amendment is about, the freedom to protest,” Lemon told viewers. “I’m sure people here don’t like it, but protests are not comfortable.”

He noted a moment later that a young man was not comfortable with the loud interruption and was “frightened… scared [and] crying” in the corner.

Watch above.

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