The Don Lemon Church Protest Case and the FACE Act Fight

Summary

Morning Wire Podcast Summary

Episode: The Don Lemon Church Protest Case and the FACE Act Fight
Date: March 15, 2026
Hosts: John Bickley & Georgia Howe
Guest: Kristen Wagner, CEO & President, Alliance Defending Freedom

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the developing legal case involving former CNN anchor Don Lemon, who participated in a protest that disrupted a Minnesota church service, triggering both civil and federal FACE Act charges. The discussion, featuring Kristen Wagner from the Alliance Defending Freedom, analyzes the facts of the case, explores the application and controversy around the FACE Act, and addresses broader issues of how current laws are weaponized against religious organizations and pro-life advocates.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Background and Incident Recap

• [03:33] Overview of the Protest:

  • In the wake of high political tensions surrounding immigration and ICE, a Minnesota church service at City’s Church in St. Paul was disrupted by Black Lives Matter protesters. The church was targeted because one of the pastors worked with ICE.
  • Don Lemon participated in the protest, reportedly helping plan and record the event. His own admissions and actions are documented in various videos.

• [04:36] Evidence of Child Endangerment:

  • DOJ indictments allege that children were separated from parents during the protest, unable to access or retrieve them, causing fear and distress.
  • Video evidence shows Lemon interrogating the pastor while the pastor invokes the church’s mission of peace.

The FACE Act: History and Application

• [07:26] What is the FACE Act?

  • Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (1994): Passed to prevent obstruction at abortion clinics but was broadened to cover houses of worship and pro-life pregnancy centers for bipartisan support.

• [08:45] Application to the Lemon Case:

  • The act criminalizes force, threat of force, or obstruction of facility entrances—including churches.
  • Video and witness accounts suggest the protesters, including Lemon, could be in violation.

• [09:58] Conservative Criticism of the FACE Act:

  • The act is criticized for uneven application, primarily targeting pro-life activists while largely ignoring violence and threats against churches and pro-life centers, especially after the Dobbs decision leak.
  • High-profile cases cited include disproportionate FBI responses and severe sentencing for peaceful pro-life protesters.

• [11:27] Is the Act Being Politically Weaponized?

  • Wagner argues the Trump administration is applying the law more evenhandedly, prosecuting cases involving violence and direct obstruction, regardless of political alignment.
  • Historic application includes not just Christian churches but also Jewish synagogues.

Don Lemon’s Legal Outlook

• [12:41] Prospects for Conviction:

  • The First Amendment is unlikely to protect Lemon in this scenario since trespass and obstruction of religious services are not shielded by free speech.
  • Key legal questions: Did Lemon conspire to violate church members' rights, and did he use force or obstruction?

  “My hope would be that justice would be served.” — Kristen Wagner [13:41]

Broader Implications for Religious Liberty

• [13:52] Current Trends:

  • Rise in cases against religious organizations and pro-life centers; ADF is representing multiple cases at the Supreme Court, including state attempts to demand donor lists without cause.
  • The need for religious organizations to proactively understand and defend their rights is emphasized.

  "We see an increasing amount of targeting and weaponizing laws against religious organizations, including religious pro life pregnancy centers." — Kristen Wagner [13:52]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Don Lemon, during the protest:

  "There's a constitution in the First Amendment to freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest." [06:07]

• Pastor's response:

  "We're here to worship Jesus because that's the hope of these cities, that's the hope of the world, is Jesus Christ. I'll be very respectful." [06:11]

• Kristen Wagner on First Amendment:

  "Just because you have a microphone in your hand doesn't mean that you have special First Amendment free speech rights.” [06:31]

• Wagner, on the FACE Act's original intent:

  “The whole point of that act was to target pro life advocates and to ensure that they can't stand close to abortion facilities.” [07:35]

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Important Timestamps

• 03:33 – Kristen Wagner recounts the protest and Don Lemon’s involvement
• 05:19 – DOJ evidence of children separated from parents
• 06:07 – Pastor and Don Lemon confrontation (audio exchange)
• 07:26 – Wagner explains the FACE Act
• 08:45 – Application of the FACE Act to the Lemon case
• 09:58 – Conservative critique of the FACE Act’s uneven enforcement
• 11:27 – Discussion on whether the law is politically weaponized
• 12:41 – Wagner outlines what the jury will consider in Lemon’s case
• 13:52 – Wagner discusses broader trends, ADF cases, and advice for religious organizations

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Tone and Takeaway

The episode maintains a serious, fact-focused, and somewhat skeptical tone, reflecting on perceived double standards and legal weaponization against religious liberties. The speakers emphasize the need for equal application of laws and the importance of religious communities understanding and defending their legal rights.

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Conclusion

This legal edition of Morning Wire provides context and analysis on the Don Lemon church protest case, shedding light on the controversial FACE Act, its history, and its current ramifications for both sides of the political spectrum. Listeners are encouraged to stay informed and proactive in safeguarding constitutional rights in light of increasing legal challenges to religious practice and free speech.

Transcript

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[Don Lemon]

I am just shocked that something that I've been doing for the last 30 years was deemed as something that we should not do.

[John Bickley]

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon finds himself back in the news again after a member of the church that he and several protesters stormed filed her own lawsuit against them, alleging the event caused emotional distress.

[Georgia Howe]

Lemon is already up against federal face act charges from the doj.

[John Bickley]

In this episode, we talk to Kristen Wagner, CEO, president and chief counsel for Alliance Def Freedom, about the different legal avenues at play in the Lemon case. I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. This is a legal wire edition of Morning Wire.

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[John Bickley]

Joining us now to discuss church protests, the Face act, and the bigger picture issues behind it all is Alliance Defending Freedom President and CEO Kristen Wagner. Kristen, thanks for coming on.

[Kristen Wagner]

Thank you for having me.

[John Bickley]

So for those who haven't been tracking these cases as closely as maybe we have, can you quickly catch us up and explain what has happened recently?

[Kristen Wagner]

Sure. Well, in the wake of high political tensions involving illegal immigration and ICE and right after the death of Renee Goode, there were a number of protests that took place in Minnesota and one of them included in a church. Essentially what happened was the Minnesota Black Lives Matter group began to plan a protest and to disrupt a church service by storming the church. During the service in St. Paul and City's Church, which was interrupted, one of their pastors actually is bi vocational and has a job also working for the local field office at ice, which is why they selected that church. I think something else to think about it that probably made it even more noteworthy was who joined that storming of the church and that was Don Lemon, the former CNN anchor. He helped, it appears, with the videos both before, during and after by not only recording what they were doing, but as he said in his own words, doing reconnaissance related to the planning of that storming of the church and disruption.

[John Bickley]

Yeah, maybe an admission that he would want to take back on camera at this point.

[Kristen Wagner]

I would sure think so. If I was his lawyer, I would tell him he definitely did it the wrong way. One of the things that he claimed with the pastor as an example on video was that he had a First Amendment right to be there. That is certainly not true. And again, the Statements about him doing reconnaissance, essentially helping to plan that storming of the church service, as well as then being in there and engaging, it appears, according to some allegations, even in physical obstruction of some of the congregants, being able to ingress and egress.

[Interviewer]

So is there evidence that these protesters actually got between children and their parents?

[Kristen Wagner]

The Department of Justice, under the Trump administration, has filed about 39 different indictments. And in those indictments, it does indicate that children were unable to get access to their parents, that they were afraid for their safety, and rightly so, and that those parents were not able to go retrieve those children. There are many videos of this online on what happened, and I think it would scare any parent that might have had, for example, a child in a Sunday school classroom or a nursery when this was coming in, with the chanting, with the yelling, and again, with even Don Lemon's actions on video where he is interrogating the pastor who's simply saying to him, look, we're about the love of Jesus. And he just keeps repeating that and saying, I need to go help my people.

[Church Pastor]

This is unacceptable. It's shameful. I have to take care of my flock. Listen, we live in a.

[Don Lemon]

There's a constitution in the First Amendment to freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest.

[Church Pastor]

We're here to worship. We're here to worship Jesus because that's the hope of these cities, that's the hope of the world, is Jesus Christ. I'll be very respectful.

[Don Lemon]

Please don't push me.

[Interviewer]

I think most of us journalists haven't, you know, interrupted a religious gathering and shoved a microphone in a pastor's face. Does the First Amendment actually apply in this scenario? And why is the federal government now involved?

[Kristen Wagner]

Well, aside from what actually happened to the church, what is also deeply concerning is that a former CNN anchor could botch the First Amendment so badly. Just because you have a microphone in your hand doesn't mean that you have special First Amendment free speech rights. And that's certainly true in this instance. The First Amendment applies against the government. So if you are standing on a public sidewalk as an example, you would have the right to engage in free speech. But journalists don't get a free pass to enter private property and speak to and. And go wherever they want. In fact, that's called trespass under the law. And as a result, the local officials, as well as the state officials in Minnesota should have pursued this both on a criminal level, and they did not. And so the federal government, through the Department of justice, has had 39 indictments now, under two federal statutes, one is called the FACE act, and the other is called Conspiracy Against Rights.

[John Bickley]

So a lot of the focus nationally has been on the FACE act component of this case. Let's back up a little bit. First, what is the FACE act and why was it passed?

[Kristen Wagner]

The FACE act stands for the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. It was passed in 1994. President Clinton signed it. The whole point of that act was to target pro life advocates and to ensure that they can't stand close to abortion facilities. Those who are involved in the pro life movement know that, for example, sidewalk counselors play a vital role in being able to peacefully kindly help women who want to have conversations before they have abortions. So this act was designed to intimidate those pro life advocates, but in order to get bipartisan support, they actually had to include protections for houses of worship under that act, as well as religious pro life pregnancy centers. And so that's why the FACE act is implicated here. An example of that, though, has to do with how it has been applied in previous administrations. And I think that's one reason why it's also so controversial here.

[John Bickley]

All right, so this act really did begin in order to curb the rights of the pro life side, but now it's boomeranged back on people trying to use it to disrupt a church service. How does it apply specifically in this case?

[Kristen Wagner]

Well, the language of the act is very important, and it basically says that both in houses of worship and in instances that are involving reproductive centers who are addressing it, whether it be pro life pregnancy centers or abortion facilities, that individuals violate the law and face both criminal and civil sanctions if they use force or the threat of force, or they physically obstruct an entrance or exit of one of these places, either of a church or of a pro life pregnancy center. If you do that, you violate the law and you're actually subject to prison time under this act. So the allegations here, and I think the video, confirms that it's likely that a number of people did violate the FACE act by disrupting the church service and also obstructing and even using potentially threats of force to intimidate others in exercising their First Amendment rights under the free exercise of religion clause.

[John Bickley]

So this is a potentially positive implementation of this law from sort of the conservative perspective.

[Interviewer]

Why have so many conservatives called for the repeal of this act anyway? Your organization, for example, has called for

[John Bickley]

its repeal numerous times, correct?

[Kristen Wagner]

Absolutely. There are a couple reasons why, but the first and most important is it's not applied evenhandedly. It was designed to target pro life activists. It has been weaponized against pro life activists. And the primary example we can look at is what happened after the Dobbs decision was leaked. We saw hundreds of pregnancy resource centers, as well as churches that were not only vandalized, but firebombed. There were death threats painted across their buildings. And the Biden administration essentially did nothing under this act. They did not prosecute all, but maybe two cases that went, and they weren't even involving houses of worship, and they sought minimal sentences. We can contrast that with how the Biden administration treated those who were peacefully outside of abortion clinics, wanting to minister to women. One of those was Mark Hauck as an example. Mark was standing with his son, and a Planned Parenthood volunteer came up to him, intimidating him. And Mark shoved that volunteer out of his son's face. He faced prison time for that. As a result, he was going to turn himself in because he knew the charges were filed. And instead, the Biden administration's FBI sent about two dozen FBI agents to swarm his house. A second example is a young woman named Eva. Eva actually was about 80 years old at the time, in a wheelchair, sitting outside of an abortion clinic, peacefully singing and worshiping, and she was facing 11 years of prison time. Some of these individuals, about two dozen cases received again in sentencing, up to, like, 57 months in prison.

[John Bickley]

It's honestly hard to believe the Biden administration pursued those cases. On the other side. Can the same accusations of political targeting be turned against the Trump administration here? Could critics of Trump not say the FACE act is being used to target Don Lemon and others in a similar way?

[Kristen Wagner]

It's important that the act be applied neutrally. And it's not only important for constitutional reasons, for rule of law, but no one should be facing violence or threats of violence in exercising their constitutional rights. But we can easily contrast these two situations to. To know that it is being applied in an appropriate way. First of all, the Trump administration has actually already used this in a different house of worship involving a Jewish synagogue. In addition to that, though, we also know that in terms of the evenhanded nature of it, contrasting peaceful protesters or even peaceful individuals who are praising and worshiping outside of an abortion facility to those who are literally mobbing a church service, causing the church service to be canceled. Those are very different things. And the Trump administration is rightly prosecuting under these laws.

[John Bickley]

So the big question now, do you

[Interviewer]

think Lemon will actually be found in violation of the FACE Act?

[Kristen Wagner]

Well, I think that the case is going to be decided likely by a jury. And as it is, the jury will apply the facts to the law, and so we will see how those facts play out. I don't think that the First Amendment will play a role in it. Again, journalists don't get free passes to invade the privacy rights or the private property rights or the free exercise rights of others. So it simply shouldn't be an issue. I think there are two criteria that the jury will be looking at. The first is when Don Lemon says that he was doing reconnaissance before the event occurred and he was filming at it and he was engaged with them after. That certainly starts to look like a conspiracy to deny rights of the church members. A second thing that I think the jury will also be looking at in the case has to do with what did he do while he was there? Were there any threats of force? Did he physically obstruct people from getting in and out or from getting to their children? As we talked about, if the answer is yes to either one of those questions, my hope would be that justice would be served.

[John Bickley]

Now, we focused on Don Lemon here because this is a high profile case, but there's lots of cases like this. What are you guys seeing in terms of cases that you're representing right now?

[Kristen Wagner]

We see an increasing amount of targeting and weaponizing laws against religious organizations, including religious pro life pregnancy centers. In fact, we have four cases pending at the US Supreme Court right now. One of those actually is involving a religious pro life pregnancy center where the New Jersey attorney general has targeted them and has suggested that they need to turn over names of their donors and other private information, even when there's been no allegation of wrongdoing. We also have the Church and Ministry alliance, which is helping organizations on a daily basis, responding to inquiries that they're getting from the government. So I think the best advice and the takeaway here is people need to be smart. They need to be proactive. They need to know what their rights are. And organizations like adf, as well as others, can certainly help do that so that we can exercise our constitutional rights.

[Interviewer]

Well, we've all seen how quickly religious liberties can be curbed, like we saw during the COVID lockdowns. And in this Lemon case, you can see how easy it is for agitators

[John Bickley]

to get in there and disrupt worship services.

[Interviewer]

So important cases here. Thank you so much for joining us.

[Kristen Wagner]

Thank you for having me.

[Georgia Howe]

That was Kristen Wagner, CEO, president and chief counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom. This has been a legal wire edition of Morning Wire,

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