Before Donald Trump started an illegal war against Iran, DOJ superseded the indictment against Don Lemon and others, adding 30 new alleged co-conspirators. Pam Bondi did so at the opportunity cost of keeping Minnesotans safe.
In the 37 days between when she originally charged Nekima Levy Armstrong and two other people on January 20 and the February 26 indictment, Bondi’s DOJ dropped a number of cases against allegedly serious criminals and kept hundreds of HSI agents in Minnesota, effectively choosing to pursue Lemon (as Harmeet Dhillon rashly boasted to Megyn Kelly), “to the end of the earth” rather than those serious crimes. But, based on the new indictment, Bondi has still not found much evidence that the Cities Church protesters intended to deprive members of the Cities Church of their right to worship, which would be needed to convict on a Conspiracy against Rights case.
While DOJ was hunting Don Lemon, it dropped four drug prosecutions
Start with the opportunity cost of rounding up all 39 protestors.
Pam Bondi’s DOJ has been letting allegedly dangerous defendants, including drug dealers, go free. Both the Star Tribune and the AP have covered the number of criminal cases that Minnesota’s US Attorney’s office has dropped in the face of staffing shortages and the flood of immigration habeas cases created by Stephen Miller’s invasion of Minnesota.
During the period Bondi was pursuing the Cities Church case, the following cases were dismissed for what appear to be staffing collapses:
- On January 23, MN USAO moved to dismiss a case, charged a year ago, of intent to distribute 500 grams of meth (a judge had just granted a Franks hearing challenging the warrant used in the investigation).
- On January 23, MN USAO moved to dismiss a case, charged last September, of intent to distribute cocaine and possessing a firearm in furtherance of trafficking.
- On January 27, MN USAO moved to dismiss a case, charged in December, of intent to distribute 500 grams of meth (the defendant still faces state charges).
- On January 29, MN USAO moved to dismiss a case, charged last May, of intent to distribute 500 grams of meth. A successful bid for detention last January described his criminal history extended 30 years, with the possibility the defendant would face a mandatory sentence of 25 years in prison.
- On February 23, Judge David Doty dismissed a felon in possession of a gun case because MN USAO had basically forgotten to take the defendant, who had been detained for months, to trial.
These are in addition to a number of cases charging undocumented immigrants for returning after previous deportations that were dismissed, which were dismissed when the person was deported (in these cases, the charges make deportation quicker).
DOJ’s surge of HSI investigators outlasted its surge of immigration goons
During the same period, ICE sustained its surge of Homeland Security investigators well past the time it started drawing down its Enforcement and Removal Operations surge.
4. During Operation Metro Surge, approximately 3,000 additional ERO officers and HSI agents were detailed to the St. Paul Field Office. These details have come at different times and for varying lengths of time. Typically, the ERO St. Paul Office is staffed with approximately 190 officers covering the five states of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa. In the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, ERO has approximately 80 officers.
5. As of February 23, 2026, there are approximately 270 ERO officers and 700 HSI agents on detail to the St. Paul Field Office.
6. After February 25, 2026, approximately 107 ERO officers will remain on detail to the St. Paul Field Office. HSI anticipates that there will be approximately 300 agents on detail to the St. Paul Field Office by March 2026.
It’s unclear what these HSI officers have been doing. In testimony last week that led to her firing, Kristi Noem claimed they were chasing the Somali fraud that Joe Biden’s DOJ started uncovering years ago.
But with few exceptions (the shooting of Marimar Martinez is one), most investigations of surge-related defendants, including in Minnesota, have been led by HSI officers.
This case is no exception. The affiant in the original complaint was attested by Timothy Gerber, a guy who just started at ICE last year (after working as an IRS investigator before that), who has focused largely on the kinds of crimes associated with Stephen Miller’s invasions — things called “assaults on federal officers” (which often get dismissed), things called human rights violations (which often reflect an attempt to champion white nationalism), and immigration violations.
I am a Special Agent (SA) with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and have been so employed since March of 2025. In my capacity as a Special Agent, I am responsible for conducting investigations into the federal laws enforced by HSI. Since March of 2025, I have investigated various criminal violations relating to child exploitation, assaults on federal officers, human rights violations, and immigration violations.
At its height, DHS had one in ten of HSI’s 7,100 officers nationwide deployed to Minnesota. When you pull that many people into immigration surges, you pull them off their day jobs investigating things like child sex trafficking and other kinds of transnational trafficking.
And to the extent that the Administration used these surged HSI officers to track down the 30 defendants they had not originally charged, it means other crimes, crimes like child sex trafficking, are not getting investigated.
The superseding indictment presents little evidence of intent to deprive congregants of their right to worship
Based on the things and people added to the indictment, superseding the indictment did not add much of substance to the indictment. Just two of the new defendants, Satara Strong-Allen and Monique Cullars-Doty, are described to have participated in the planning of the protest. One more woman, Tiffany Lynn Dunlap, chanted “ICE Out.” Otherwise, most of the new defendants simply showed up (and given that the superseding indictment dropped a claim that all co-conspirators attended, some apparently did not attend the planning meeting or drive with others to the church).
Overt Act #3: On January 17, 2026, defendants [Chauntyll Louisa] ALLEN and [Satara Diann STRONG Allen] conducted reconnaissance around the Cities Church in preparation for the next day’s takeover operation at the Church and made a video documenting their observations, including the location of parking areas, where they could “pull up,” and ALLEN noting that “my thoughts are to be able to clog up this whole alleyway right here.”
Overt Act # 4: On January 17, 2026, defendant ALLEN sent her reconnaissance video via text message to defendant [Nekima Levy] ARMSTRONG for her use in preparing for the takeover operation against the Church.
Overt Act #5: On January 17, 2026, defendants ARMSTRONG, ALLEN, and [Monique Cassandra Cullars-DOTY] exchanged text messages regarding the contemplated operation against the Church and whether members of the Church would be able to see their approach to the building.
[snip]
Overt Act # 12: On January 17, 2026, defendant ARMSTRONG exchanged text messages with a person who advised her of defendant LEMON’s plan to travel to Minneapolis for the Operation PullUp action.
[snip]
Overt Act #22: While in his vehicle, defendant LEMON mentioned to defendants RICHARDSON and BEUTE, “I don’t think we can go ahead. I don’t think we can go inside, right?” and then answered his own question “No, no, no” but defendants LEMON, RICHARDSON, and BEUTE nonetheless entered the Church shortly thereafter and joined his co-conspirators in the operation against the Church.
[snip]
Overt Act #31: While inside the Church, defendant [Tiffany Lynn] DUNLAP personally participated in the disruptive takeover operation with other defendants by holding up an anti-ICE sign and chanting “ICE Out!” and “We have nothing to lose but our chains!”
More importantly, this new information, which appears to rely on the exploitation of Nekima Levy Armstrong’s and Chauntyll Allen’s texts (and so possibly their phones), does nothing to prove that whatever conspiracy there might have been had, as its purpose, the deprivation of Cities Church members’ right to worship.
Co-conspirators must intend to deprive victims of their rights
To understand the challenge here, consider the jury instructions from Douglass Mackey’s trial on the same conspiracy charge.
In order to establish that the defendant entered into a conspiracy against rights, as charged in the indictment, the government must prove each of the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
First, that two or more persons entered into the particular unlawful agreement charged; and Second, that the defendant knowingly and intentionally became a member of the conspiracy.
[snip]
The indictment alleges that the objective of the charged conspiracy was to injure, oppress, threaten or intimidate one or more persons in the free exercise and enjoyment of their right to vote. The government must therefore prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knowingly and intentionally joined the conspiracy with the intent to further that objective. In this case, the government has alleged that the object of the conspiracy was specifically to “injure” one or more persons in the free exercise and enjoyment of their right to vote. I instruct you that the statute covers conduct intended to “obstruct,” “hinder,” “prevent,” “frustrate,” “make difficult or impossible,” “or indirectly rather than directly assault” free exercise of the right. For example, “hinder” is defined as “to make slow or difficult the progress of, to hamper, to hold back, to prevent, to check.”
It does not require the possibility of physical force or physical harm. Thus, conduct that makes the right to vote more difficult, or in some way prevents voters from exercising their right to vote can constitute an “injury” within the meaning of the law.
[snip]
The key inquiry is whether the defendant joined the conspiracy charged in the Indictment with knowledge of the basic aim and purpose of the unlawful agreement and with the intent to help it succeed. [my emphasis]
The case against Mackey was backed by exhibits like this, explicitly discussing suppressing pro-Hillary voting turnout with a hoax.
Remember that Mackey’s case was overturned not because he did not attempt to cheat Hillary voters out of their vote, but because he was not present in chatrooms when this planning went on (and DOJ may face a similar problem with many of the defendants charged here, including Lemon). Remember, too, that Don Jr has confessed to participating in these chat rooms and this figure, P0TUSTrump, was pushing Podesta emails in the same way Don Jr was known to in other places.
Jury instructions in this case, if it goes to trial, would be similar (though the Cities Church superseding indictment removed the “injury” language that had been in the original indictment), swapping out the language about right to vote for right to worship.
Prosecutors have to prove that the protestors had the intent of depriving members of Cities Church of their right to worship. It may not be enough to prove that their protest had the effect of disrupting their service. They likely will need to prove that a protest focused entirely on ICE was instead about religion.
Notably, while the indictment lists every alleged co-conspirator who posted the advertisement for the protest to social media (including several of the new defendants), it never posts the ad itself, which focuses on MLK Jr and ICE.
Not only is there no hint of depriving people of their rights (indeed, most participants wouldn’t know that a church was involved until quite late in the event, and the ad was a tribute to a Christian faith leader), but what overt acts get billed as describing intent in the indictment focuses on immigration, not faith.
Overt Act #31: While inside the Church, defendant DUNLAP personally participated in the disruptive takeover operation with other defendants by holding up an anti-ICE sign and chanting “ICE Out!” and “We have nothing to lose but our chains!”
One exception may be William Kelly, described to have told kids in the church their parents were Nazis who would go to hell.
Overt Act # 30: While inside the Church, defendant KELLY (a) disrupted the service by chanting, “This ain’t God’s house. This is the house of the devil”; (b) approached one female congregant, who was with two young children, and demanded to know in a hostile manner why she was not involved in and supportive of the takeover operation; and (c) screamed “Nazi” in congregants’ faces and asked child congregants. “Do you know your parents are Nazis? They’re going to burn in hell.”
More tellingly, the indictment rewrote this passage of the complaint, in which Don Lemon explains that he is a Christian:
31. [Lemon] then approached the pastor and began asking him questions. In response to a question from [Lemon], the pastor (Victim #7) said, “We were interrupted by this group of protesters. We asked them to leave and they, um, obviously have not left. This is unacceptable. This is shameful. It’s shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship. [Lemon] advised the pastor that, “We live in a, there’s a constitution and the First Amendment to freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest.” The pastor replied, “We’re here to worship Jesus because that’s the hope of these cities. That’s the hope of the world is Jesus Christ.” [Lemon] interrupted and then told the pastor, “I want to be very respectful, please don’t push me, though.”
32. In the video, [Lemon] is standing very close to the pastor. In the livestream, the pastor appears to be worried and distraught about his parishioners, whom he keeps looking at. [Lemon] continues to distract the pastor with questions. The pastor then stated, “I have to take care of my church and my family. So, I ask that you actually also leave this building. [Lemon] asked, “You don’t want us to worship?” The pastor replied, “unless you’re here to worship.” [Lemon] replied, “I’m always worship[ing]; I’m a Christian.” Approximately thirteen minutes later, [Lemon] exited the Cities Church.
The indictment relayed no specifics of the conversation between Lemon and the pastor.
Overt Act # 35: With other co-conspirators standing nearby, defendants LEMON, RICHARDSON, FORT, and BEUTE approached the pastor and largely surrounded him (to his front and both sides). stood in close proximity to the pastor in an attempt to oppress and intimidate him, and physically obstructed his freedom of movement while LEMON peppered him with questions to promote the operation’s message.
Overt Act # 36: While talking with the pastor, defendant LEMON stood s0 close to the pastor that LEMON caused the pastor’s right hand to graze LEMON, who then admonished the pastor, “Please don’t push me.”
Overt Act #37: Although the pastor told defendant LEMON and other defendants to leave the Church, the defendants ignored the pastor’s request and did not immediately leave the Church.
In taking out quotations of Lemon speaking of his faith, of excluding the advertisement that paid tribute to a Christian leader, DOJ has suppressed exculpatory evidence that this was not about faith.
The superseding indictment is a tactic
So let me repeat, again. Between the first and the second indictment, DOJ seems to have exploited the texts of Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen, whom they credibly treat as the organizers of this alleged conspiracy. And yet none of those new details include anything about faith. On the contrary, a good many people charged in this conspiracy speak openly of faith and God.
The new indictment doesn’t add evidence. It adds defendants.
That’s likely a tactic (and Don Lemon and Georgia Fort’s legal teams appear to agree).
As I noted, days before obtaining this superseding indictment, DOJ asked to stall the case, either via designating it a complex case or just giving the government more time, after rushing this to charges at the start. DOJ was, Lemon and Fort’s lawyers revealed in their response, struggling with the cell phones in this case.
In their papers and at Mr. Lemon’s arraignment, the Government raised particular concern about the ability to timely produce the “data found in seized cellphones” because of the use of a filter team, id. at 4-5, and because technical issues with accessing the data itself. This case involves, at most, the cell phones seized incident to the arrests of the nine defendants, and data from conduct that allegedly occurred over a single day.
We now know, based on the thin gruel that got added to the superseding indictment, that some of the most important electronic accounts to this prosecution included no evidence to support a claim of an intent to deprive Christians of their right to worship (I suspect the phones instead included affirmative evidence that some of the defendants themselves are devout Christians).
On February 23, three days before this superseding indictment, Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko responded to DOJ’s request for complex case designation by granting just a 30-day extension, with the possibility of reconsidering the request for complex designation.
According to Lemon and Fort’s renewed request to get the grand jury transcripts, the government intends to use the superseding indictment not just to renew its bid for a complex case designation (which is unsurprising and likely to work), but also intends to draw out the request to get grand jury transcripts.
Under the briefing schedule proposed by Mr. Lemon and Ms. Fort, the government’s opposition would be filed within 14 days—over four weeks after the Grand Jury Motion was filed. On February 24, 2026, defense counsel emailed government counsel requesting to meet and confer about the briefing schedule for the Grand Jury Motion and proposing a briefing schedule. On March 2, 2026, government counsel indicated via e-mail that “the Government will not be stipulating to any expedited briefing schedules” and “will be filing our response to all motions by the Court’s deadline pursuant to the arraignment order.”
But the government’s current April 23, 2026 response date (ECF 140) threatens potential and unnecessary delay. Expedited briefing is necessary to allow Mr. Lemon and Ms. Fort to raise—if their Motion is granted—any challenge to the Grand Jury presentations by the dispositive motions deadline. Additionally, in their March 2 e-mail to defense counsel, the government advised that they “will be renewing [their] motion for complex case designation later this week in light of the superseding indictment.” Such a motion, considering the 39 defendants now embroiled in this prosecution, threatens to further draw out the government’s deadline to respond to any pretrial motions, and prejudices the ability of the journalists charged in this case to have the motion heard quickly.
Pam Bondi and Harmeet Dhillon, in their race to do the bidding of the President and one of their far right allies, charged this case without first looking for evidence to sustain their theory of conspiracy. In the weeks since, they appear to have discovered a distinct lack of evidence of the sort they’ll need to sustain a conviction.
And their response to that has been to stall for time by charging 30 more people, all but a handful of whom there’s even less evidence against than the original defendants.
Compare that to the way prosecutors proceeded in the January 6 investigation, where prosecutors waited almost a year before charging both Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes to give investigators time to carry out difficult phone extractions for both. And Bondi claims that was abusive.
But there is a cost to all this. While Bondi and Harmeet have been pursuing their jihad, at a time when Minnesota’s judges and AUSAs are already buckling under the strain created by abusive ICE arrests, DOJ has been letting drug dealers go free, at least partly because of resource constraints. And some hidden number of child sex trafficking cases get left neglected because the Administration is using significant numbers of HSI agents to criminalize opposition to ICE.
Pam Bondi’s DOJ has been letting accused drug dealers go free while she has added more and more resources to chase this case. And thus far, all she has discovered once she actually investigated was a lack of evidence to prove her case.
