President Donald Trump has suggested that two of his long-running adversaries, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Rep. Ilhan Omar, should be “thrown in jail” while reacting to an anti-ICE protest.
In a typically deranged Truth Social post, the 79-year-old president said he had watched footage of a “Church Raid” in Minnesota—believed to be the protest documented by former CNN host Don Lemon—while suggesting those taking part were “agitators and insurrectionists.”
Lemon livestreamed the protest in the city where 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by ICE officer Jonathan Ross.
The Sunday protest, which disrupted a service at Cities Church in Minneapolis, was organized over claims that a pastor there works for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Trump blasted those taking part in the protest, then turned on Walz and Omar, posting on Truth Social around 1:30 a.m. ET as he made his way to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“Just watched footage of the Church Raid in Minnesota by the agitators and insurrectionists. These people are professionals! No person acts the way they act. They are highly trained to scream, rant, and rave, like lunatics, in a certain manner, just like they are doing. They are troublemakers who should be thrown in jail, or thrown out of the Country,” Trump wrote.
“The first to go should be Walz, and Fake Sleazebag, Ilhan Omar, who is supposedly worth over $30 Million Dollars, even though she’s never had anything but a Government job. Investigate these Corrupt Politicians, and do it now!”
Trump and fellow MAGA figures have been launching racist attacks against Omar, a Muslim of Somali origin, for several years. The disputed claim that Omar is worth $30 million stems from the congresswoman’s financial disclosures last May, which showed that two assets tied to her husband, Tim Mynett, had maximum valuations of $5 million and $25 million. The total cost valuations do not represent Mynett’s individual shares in the businesses.
Trump has also baselessly suggested Omar could be behind an alleged large-scale government benefits fraud scandal in Minnesota. Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential hopeful, announced he will not seek a third term as Minnesota governor after receiving intense MAGA criticism over his handling of fraud claims in the state’s social service programs.
Lemon has defended his coverage of the anti-ICE protest at the Minneapolis church, noting that the demonstration was a protected First Amendment act. Multiple MAGA figures called for Lemon to be arrested for documenting the protest, with Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights and a top Trump ally, threatening Lemon with charges under the Ku Klux Klan Act or the FACE Act.
“A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service,” Dhillon also posted on X. “You are on notice!”
The Daily Beast has contacted Walz’s and Omar’s offices for comment.
