DOJ official vows prosecution of Don Lemon after church protest: Were going to pursue this to the ends of the Earth

A senior Justice Department official vowed that the Trump administration would keep pressing for criminal charges against Don Lemon after a federal magistrate blocked an indictment against the ex-CNN anchor.“We are going to do it because that’s what is required for justice here,” Harmeet Dhillon told SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show” on Friday.Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, said the DOJ is weighing the use of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 federal law that also covers interference with religious worship, as well as conspiracy statutes.According to Dhillon, DOJ prosecutors have already developed “the predicates for pursuing FACE Act and conspiracy” charges based largely on Lemon’s own videos and statements.Dhillon said federal prosecutors moved “aggressively and very rapidly” after reviewing footage Lemon posted of himself during the Sunday protest inside Cities Church in St.Paul, Minn., where activists disrupted a worship service.Lemon’s lawyer Abbe Lowell promised to fight any future prosecution in court.“The magistrate’s reported actions confirm the nature of Don’s First Amendment protected work this weekend in Minnesota as a reporter,” the attorney said in a statement. “It was no different than what he has done for more than 30 years, reporting and covering newsworthy events on the ground and engaging in constitutionally protected activity as a journalist.”If DOJ continues “with a stunning and troubling effort to silence and punish a journalist for doing his job, Don will call out their latest attack on the rule of law and fight any charges vigorously and thoroughly in court,” Lowell added.Dhillon said DOJ teams were sent “to the ground,” collected affidavits and evidence and relied on what she described as Lemon’s “admissions against interest in his own videos.”“For 48 hours between the time that we sought these arrest warrants and the time that we were able...