Stephanopoulos Tries to Defend Don Lemon Storming a Church, Blanche Destroys Him in Seconds [WATCH]

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche challenged ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos during an exchange over the indictment of Don Lemon, accusing the media of omitting key legal findings and mischaracterizing the nature of the alleged conduct.

The exchange centered on whether Lemon’s actions during a church service constituted journalism or criminal behavior, with Blanche pointing to court rulings and the grand jury process as the basis for the indictment.

“So when do you believe that Mr. Lemon crossed the line from reporting on what was going on to criminal activity?” Stephanopoulos asked.

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Blanche responded by saying critical legal context had been left out of the discussion, including findings from the appellate court and the grand jury.

“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,” Blanche said.

“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.”

Blanche said the indictment is available for public review and lays out the allegations in detail.

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“Everybody in this country can pull it up and read for themselves and see what the grand jury found that Mr. Lemon did,” he said.

Blanche declined to comment on the specific charges but emphasized that the case involves competing constitutional rights, including freedom of religion.

“I am not going to comment on the charges specifically, because it’s not appropriate, but it’s interesting that that we talk about the First Amendment right, you have a right of freedom of religion, which is just as important as any other right that we have,” Blanche said.

He questioned whether the conduct described in court filings could reasonably be described as journalism.

“And 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 now,” Blanche said.

Blanche noted that Lemon is entitled to legal representation and the opportunity to present defenses in court but said that professional status does not exempt anyone from the law.

“He’s obviously has a very good lawyer. He can raise defenses in court to the extent he wants to,” Blanche said.

Blanche stressed that disrupting a religious service is prohibited under federal law, regardless of intent or identity.

“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,” he said.

He added that the law applies equally to everyone.

“It doesn’t matter if you happen to be a former CNN journalist. It doesn’t matter if you’re a writer. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re peacefully protesting. You are not allowed to do that,” Blanche said.

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