The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged roughly 30 more people who were involved in storming a Minnesota church in January, adding that 25 of them had already been arrested.
Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed in a post on X, that the DOJ had “unsealed an indictment charging 30 more people who took part” in the storming of Cities Church in St. Paul. Bondi warned that if people “attack a house of worship” the DOJ will find them and prosecute them.
“Today, @thejusticedept unsealed an indictment charging 30 more people who took part in the attack on Cities Church in Minnesota,” Bondi wrote in her post. “At my direction, federal agents have already arrested 25 of them, with more to come throughout the day.”
Bondi added: “YOU CANNOT ATTACK A HOUSE OF WORSHIP. If you do so, you cannot hide from us — we will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you.”
Bondi’s post comes after former CNN host Don Lemon recorded a live YouTube video of anti-ICE protesters storming Cities Church, after finding out that one of the pastors also worked for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In his video, Lemon clarified that he was “not part of the group,” but that he was there as a journalist “photographing.”
Breitbart News’s Katherine Hamilton reported that the DOJ later revealed that it was looking into “potential violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and the ‘KKK Act’”:
The FACE Act is a 1994 law that “prohibits the use or threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services or to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.” The act was written to equally protect abortion clinics, pro-life pregnancy resource centers, and churches; however, data indicates 97 percent of FACE Act cases since the law’s inception have been against pro-life advocates.
During an interview on The Benny Show, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon spoke about how “the Biden, DOJ used the Klan Act conspiracy charges tacked onto the FACE Act in the case of protests outside abortion clinics to bring much longer sentences.”
“So, there are a number of tools available to us. Who funded this? What other crimes may have occurred? Was there a use of the wires or the mail in preparing for this event?” Dhillon added.
“The original nine defendants in the case,” which include Lemon, who was arrested in January and charged with federal civil rights crimes, “have all pleaded not guilty,” according to CBS News.
While the indictment “accuses all 39 people of violating two civil rights laws,” there are no “additional criminal charges” added, according to the outlet.