White House claps back after Don Lemon says Trump should be excluded from White House correspondents’ dinner
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The White House has responded to former CNN host Don Lemon‘s suggestion that President Trump opposes the First Amendment and should be disinvited to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“President Trump is the most transparent and accessible President in American history to the media and his return to the White House saved the legacy media from going out of business,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told The Daily Signal in a statement Monday.
“There has never been a greater champion of the First Amendment than Donald J. Trump who has implemented an unprecedented expansion of press access to cover him,” Ingle added. “Don Lemon is a low ratings loser that no one takes seriously.”
Don Lemon’s Claim
Lemon called on the White House Correspondents’ Association to rescind its invitation to Trump to attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, in part because Trump’s Justice Department is charging Lemon for his alleged role in a church invasion.
“I am a living example of the president who does not care about the First Amendment, and a president who would rather jail reporters or journalists than hear the truth does not deserve the honor or the privilege to be able to sit in a room of people who do that,” Lemon said on MS Now’s “Clock It” podcast Thursday.
The podcast’s co-host, Eugene Daniels, had noted that the association traditionally invites the president to the dinner, though President Trump has not yet attended while in office. Trump said he would attend this year’s dinner on April 25.
“You don’t believe in the First Amendment? You insult reporters? You call them names? You jail journalists? Then you are not even worthy of being a part of this,” the former CNN host argued.
If you do these things, Lemon said, “Then you don’t believe in the Constitution and the First Amendment.”
“There is no way that I would invite this man to anything, especially to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” the former CNN host added.
Neither the White House Correspondents’ Association nor the White House responded to The Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication time.
White House Changes
Critics have noted that the Trump White House has barred the Associated Press from certain events and threatened to revoke broadcast licenses from networks over critical coverage.
Yet the White House also expanded press access to the White House press room, allowing non-traditional and conservative outlets that had been excluded in previous administrations. Jay Carney, former White House press secretary for President Barack Obama, praised the changes as “admirable.”
President Trump also signed an executive order on the first day of his second term, prohibiting federal agencies from interfering with Americans’ constitutionally protected speech, as the Biden administration did during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Church Invasion
A federal grand jury indicted 39 people, including Lemon, on two charges: violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which also protects access to churches; and violating the Ku Klux Klan Act, which criminalizes efforts to deprive Americans of their fundamental rights—in this case, the right to the free exercise of religion.
The group entered Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, and began loudly disrupting the ongoing Sunday service.
According to the indictment, between 20 and 40 agitators, who claimed to be opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement because one of the church’s pastors worked for ICE, refused to leave when asked and shouted, “Who shut this down? We shut this down!”
The indictment also mentions that agitators screamed at crying children, blocked parents from getting to their children in Sunday School, and that one agitator told a child his parents were Nazis and going to hell.
The indictment states that Lemon strategized with the group’s leaders before the invasion, and notes that Lemon said the group planned to “disrupt business as usual” at the church. Lemon appeared to hide the target location on his livestream before the disruption.
Lemon and two others allegedly confronted Cities Church Pastor Jonathan Parnell, blocking him in.
When people finally exited the church, Lemon observed that they were “frightened,” “scared,” and “crying.” He said that was understandable because the experience was “traumatic and uncomfortable,” which he added was the purpose of the incident.
Parnell later said Lemon was “in on the terror” of the church invasion.
Lemon has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
What About the First Amendment?
Many Democrats have condemned the charges against Lemon.
Lemon will speak at a First Amendment Week at Loyola Marymount University Wednesday.
Renee Carlson, general counsel at True North Legal, which represents Cities Church, condemned Loyola Marymount University for choosing to honor Lemon as a First Amendment hero.
“Don Lemon has made a mockery of the First Amendment,” Carlson previously told The Daily Signal. “Calling him a hero for violating others’ constitutionally protected freedom of worship is a farce.”
“It’s like giving ‘Lia’ Thomas a women’s athlete of the year award,” Carlson quipped.
Lemon did not respond to a request for comment.
[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]