Chapter 1: What events led to the church drama covered by Don?
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Thank you so much. Oh, wow. That was this morning. I had a little suit and tie on because I was hosting a Dr. King breakfast, which just was amazing. So let me just say this. Is there anything going on in the news? Is there anything happening in the news today? I got to tell you, you know, it's weird sometimes when these things happen.
Usually every time there's something big that happens in my life, I am the person who is like least connected to it. I've been sort of in a protective bubble. Last night when this all started happening, I was like delayed in an airport and could not figure out how to get, you know, to get all the stuff that I needed, just trying to deal with like rearranging flights and all of that.
And then today I was like, I was in the middle of this Dr. King thing, which was great to all of the support that I got and the encouragement saying, We got your back. Don't worry about it. The number of attorneys who are like, this is a slam dunk. You better call us. We're going to mobilize civil rights attorneys, huge attorneys.
So, you know, we'll see what if I need any of that or any of that happens. But it just makes you feel good, especially the people who fought for our freedom, for civil rights and who actually worked for.
with dr king uh reaching out and offering their support so that means a lot to me the world to me another person uh that means the world to me is my brother from another mother who is always there and when i need to talk to someone like and i need someone who's been there i call it old heads is mr dl hugley my friend dl called me just before the show and cheered me up and uh dl
Come on into the program.
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Chapter 2: How does Don Lemon describe his experience at the church protest?
Wait, talk more about that. But don't protest the churches. I mean, they weren't so mad when you protested and bombed the black churches. So what are you saying explicitly, specifically?
I think Jesus protested in his temple. He protested in church. He didn't like the greed and corruption we saw. There are two times in the gospel Jesus protested twice. So if he can do it, you can too. I think it's ironic that the very people who... I wasn't protesting. I was just reporting. Of course you weren't. I understand that. But you're going to have to explain that to me.
Can you guys get my picture? I've never taken a picture with a classmate before. It's so crazy. Of course you weren't. But the more salient point is that The very people who are angry that protests erupted in church are the very people who tried to, this administration tried to get courts to allow them to arrest migrants in church. They wanted to arrest them in church.
And the funny thing about church is Jesus told us exactly how he wanted us to treat the strangers. He wanted us to feed him. He wanted the clothing. He wanted to protect him. He didn't say, hey, after all that, throw him in vans and drive him to Venezuela. He didn't say that.
Yes, you're right. And look... I want you to stand by because I want to bring someone in. And that is Mr. Attorney General. Are you there? The Attorney General of Minnesota, Mr. Keith Ellison, is here. Thank you, Attorney General, for joining me. Thank you for joining DL.
Thanks, Ellis. Wait a minute. I got a Klansman and an Attorney General. I've never been in this situation before.
First time for everything, brother.
Attorney General, I know you know what's going on. I'm sure you've heard of what's going on. What do you think of this and what happened at the church and all that?
Well, let me tell you. I think that... You know, the protest is fundamental to American society. This country started in a protest and, you know, it's freedom of expression. People have a right to lift up their voices and make their peace. And none of us are immune from the voice of the of the public.
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Chapter 3: What support did Don receive from civil rights leaders?
You know, your First Amendment prerogatives are interfering with their tyrannical prerogatives. And that's how it is.
Can I ask you something? You can jump in if you have a question, but I want to ask you about what I've heard is there's the FACE Act that they want to try to prosecute people for the activists. And they're saying that with me, but again, I'm not an activist. I'm not one of the protesters. And then the what is it called? The KKK Act, right, DL, that they're saying? Sure. The Ku Klux Klan Act.
Can you tell us about that? Are you familiar with that? No, I can only say this. I was asking the Attorney General if he's familiar.
Yeah, I'm familiar with the FACE Act. In Minnesota, we uphold the right of a woman to choose, and some of the activists will sort of interfere. So we're in both. The law has to do with whether or not people's freedom to protest And generally regarding reproductive clinics and things like that. So that's the FACE Act. And then, you know, you have, you know, but how are they tying you into it?
That is escaping me.
I don't know. There's someone in here saying, Don, you were chanting. I never chanted at all. Someone said, Don, you were chanting. Never chanted. That's not what I was doing at all.
Well, if you're chanting, well, Don, let me just tell you, when you're not chanting, chanting cannot be a crime. It's freedom. of expression, right? I mean, I can tell you that, you know, you may not have been chanting, or you may have been, I don't know, you say you weren't chanting, I believe you, but chanting can never be the basis of a criminal act, right?
In America, you can chant What's hard for me to accept is when in Charlottesville they chanted Jews will not replace us, that was protected. There were good people on both sides. Oh, wow. I have fought and advocated for the right of everybody to say anything they want to. I'm a proponent of the First Amendment.
It is clear that this administration and MAGA in general despises protesters way more than they despise pedophiles. When somebody says stand back and stand by, when they say racist things, their speech is protected. And I advocate for that. I want everybody to be able to say what they say. But let somebody speak up in opposition.
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Chapter 4: How do the guests view the implications of MAGA's reactions?
right? So how they are stretching either of these laws to apply to people who protested in a church over the behavior or the perceived behavior of a religious leader is beyond me. But they don't mind stretching these days. I mean, how do they have under investigation Jerome Powell, head of the Fed, James Comey, Letitia James, Mark Kelly, who's a U.S. senator who said that
Soldiers can disobey illegal orders. And now you got walls and fray. We are in the age where the president and the Department of Justice do not care about true legality. They care about using the criminal justice system as a weapon. So I think that the FACE Act and the KKK Act are, on their face, inapplicable. And so it doesn't make sense to me. I've been a lawyer for 35 years.
So that's my two cents on that, bro.
Well, I appreciate your two cents on that, Mr. Attorney General. Some of the protesters, well, not directly, but a friend of a protester reached out and said they're concerned. How concerned should these protesters be about being charged?
Well, in the age of Trump, everybody better be concerned. I mean, like I said, in the age of Trump, you got Tish James, James Comey, Jerome Powell, Mark Kelly, and the mayor of Minneapolis and the governor. I mean, these are clearly engaged in legal activity. So I would not tell anybody, oh, don't worry about that. That's an idle threat. I believe you will be vindicated.
I will believe you will get justice. But between the moment that they try to arrest you or investigate you and when you're finally set free, I think you ought to take them seriously. I do.
D.L., what were you saying?
I think that last week I watched the president of the United States of America talk about how civil rights was bad and unfair to white men. Now, civil rights wasn't called superior rights. It wasn't called equal rights. It was called civil rights. And the whole of the country burned up. People were hung. Dogs were sucked and sick on people. There were riots.
All because you asked white people to be nice. Nice. Civil. Civility is the lowest form of human. You'll say, if I'm going to court, I'm going to be civil. We have civil disobedience. This thing is about subjugation. It is about bringing people to hear. You cannot tell me freedom when you're denied. You owe freedom to me when you try to deny it to other people.
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Chapter 5: What legal perspectives are shared regarding the protests?
And what I, my response to her deal was that it should have been a pick me doll because that was more descriptive of her because she's such a pick me.
I tell you what, her husband is a registered sex offender. Let's be clear. She's more worried about, I think they're safer around you than him. Her brother has been in jail. Let's be clear. She shouldn't even mention kids. She should mention Cabbage Patch Kids, New Kids on the Block, Sour Patch Kids.
Kid Cudi.
Well, Don, all I want to say is I didn't know any of that. Keep getting out of this. Let me just say, though, I didn't know any of this, but it sounds to me like she's trying to get her man a pardon, and so she's kissing ass real hard to certain people.
Yeah, man. And maybe her brother. That's what I said today. Harvey Levin asked me on TMZ. People say what they want about TMZ. TMZ has always been really good to me. And when they ask me to come on, I come on because they're straight shooters. Harvey Levin said, what I saw was journalism. And then we talked about the whole Nicki Minaj thing. And I told him I don't usually respond to that.
But Nicki Minaj, I believe, is trying to garner something from the Trump administration.
And you would think that a woman that sang a song called Anaconda would know a snake when she saw one. Hey, gentlemen. I got to bounce.
Don, DL, bless you guys. I just want to say one quick thing before I hit the door. The KKK Act was a piece of legislation designed to protect African-Americans who were being literally terrorized and murdered and killed because we newly emerged from bondage and servitude.
So the Reconstruction Congress passes the act to say that the federal government will not allow the Klan to attack African-Americans asserting their rights. So think about the perversion of the federal government saying, oh, we're going to use this act to punish people who are reporting on facts going on.
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Chapter 6: How does the discussion address the First Amendment rights?
They were like, okay, no big deal. Good. Which is amazing they had that attitude. And now people are like, oh, I can't get out of my house. I'm nervous or whatever. I mean, to a person, oh, that's great. You're standing on something. You're getting in good trouble. And so I was like, okay.
All right, I'm down, I'm okay. Maybe- But all you were doing, all you did was chronicle it. Right. All you did. And so, to me, like, I see these conflations. Like, a lot of people will tell me that, on the right, will tell me how much Charlie Kirk was like Martin Luther King.
And I believe that they'll actually believe that when white people name a street after Charlie Kirk, that they scared to drive down. That's what I know. I don't mess around on Charlie Kirk Boulevard. And Charlie Kirk Boulevard will be in the roughest streets in our neighborhoods. Thank you, brother. I love you, man. I love you, too. You be careful out here. Hold your head, man. We got you.
All right. Thank you. The one thing I won't do is hold your burning cross. I won't do that.
my deal thank you all right baby boy for sure love you man see you later baby see you soon um we got much much more we have some a great panel of attorneys legal minds here we can discuss what's going on okay and so you want to hear from them uh two minutes please a word from our sponsors and we're back with a long segment and we're going to discuss it with these two very smart legal people here here it is
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Chapter 7: What is the significance of the KKK Act in the current context?
She said, you're a lawyer first. Legal commentary first, legal analysis first, and then commentary. I'm back.
Sorry, guys.
Commentary that is supported by the facts and by the legal training.
Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Charles, thank you.
Welcome back to the Down Limit Show.
Thank you. Thank you, Charles. Thank you, Monique. Hey, listen, Charles, I just heard from the producers. I didn't see when DL was on that you wanted to come on. I'm sorry. I'm going to try to get him back. I texted him. Let's see if he comes back. Please do.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Please do. Yeah. So good to see you, although under the circumstances, perhaps not so much.
No, I am so thankful to see him, and I'm not outside with my free Don Lemon sign. Thank you, guys. I am so thankful that I do not have to fly to Minnesota this day.
Yes, I know. Monique, you and a couple of other people are ready to, you know, come and take your earrings off with some Vaseline.
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Chapter 8: How does the episode conclude regarding Don's journalistic integrity?
He was already a very important historical figure. Just want to say that on behalf of my friend. The reason why they're using his name and throwing
don's name in is because he is a very important historical figure and now he's a very historical figure important figure in independent media but i don't have to tell you charles that whether don was taking it seriously or not for the past 24 hours jones presley has been taking it well look my name just make sure he can just make sure he can play our tour days no hang time there's
been the whole time because it is serious and it ain't and it ain't gonna be no case no because here's the thing don has to keep doing his work and the reason yes he does he's surrounded with is so they can understand i will punch you in the face and ask questions later and it will be a legal punch it will be you've never seen us coming it will be don't play that with him it will be there is an army don't get confused he's not one man because you see one man behind a microphone
There is an army, and we don't play about our people. Now, when people can't pronounce the name of their own fraternity, I leave them alone. I leave them to their own devices.
Watch your mouth. Watch your mouth now. Hang on. Hang on.
It's not his fault. It's not his fault. No, you're not going to tell me to hang on about him, Gil. I will add something to it.
It's not his fault. He had to pull his tongue out of somebody's ass to say it. It's crazy. You can't just, you know what I'm saying?
He has his own struggles, and so I leave him to it. But where John Lewis is concerned... Watch. I'm just... Watch.
Well, let me say... Monique, let me just say this. I got to go and finish my drink, but I will say this. It's always good to see you, team. Monique, I adore you. Don, let me just say this. Whatever happens to you, you better be able to play these days. I don't block these off of my cabinet. If Kobe can go to court and play, you can go to court and play, Devin. So... All right, Black Klansman. I...
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