Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general of the United States, gave ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos a lesson in American law Sunday after the left-leaning broadcaster defended former CNN host Don Lemon for documenting a Minnesota church invasion.
Lemon was arrested Friday after livestreaming the anti-ICE storming of Cities Church in St. Paul during which children were terrified as their parents were called Nazis.
On ABC’s This Week, Stephanopoulos asked Blanche: “When do you believe that Mr. Lemon crossed the line from reporting on what was going on to criminal activity?”
Blanche responded: “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.”
Blanche continued: “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.”
WATCH:
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche takes ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos straight to the wood chipper regarding Don Lemon: “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… pic.twitter.com/q41USlIbYD
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) February 1, 2026
“Now, [Lemon] obviously has a very good lawyer,” Blanche added. “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.”
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