St. Paul City Attorney Irene Kao — a warrior against what she calls "structural racism" — announced this week that she won't bother bringing state charges against those radicals who stormed into Cities Church in January.

Kao's apparent tolerance for militant leftist agitation has left the church's lead pastor, Rev. Jonathan Parnell, and others wondering whether the woke prosecutor's purported "commitment to protect religious people includes evangelical Christians."

A mostly peaceful church invasion?

Don Lemon — the former CNN talking head who suggested in October that "black people, brown people" should take up arms against Immigration and Customs Enforcement — apparently joined radicals from Racial Justice Network, Black Lives Matter Minnesota, and BLM Twin Cities for a so-called "ICE Out Action" in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 18.

'The law will bend for those whose cause aligns with the politics of those in power.'

Rather than interfere with federal law enforcement operations, this motley crew of leftists stormed into Cities Church, doing their apparent best to drown out sounds of Sunday worship.

Nekima Levy Armstrong, founder of the Racial Justice Network and former president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP, claimed responsibility for the disruption and indicated that Cities Church was targeted because "David Easterwood is a Pastor at this church and the Acting Field Director for the ICE office in St. Paul."

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The radicals refused requests from church officials to leave the premises and instead hectored churchgoers and screamed in the aisles and pews.

The Trump Justice Department took the matter seriously, securing indictments against all 39 individuals suspected of disrupting the church service, including Lemon, Armstrong, and Jamael Lydell Lundy — a radical who previously worked for Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum; has served as the right-hand man for Mary Moriarty, Hennepin County’s Soros-backed prosecutor; and is married to St. Paul City Councilwoman Anika Bowie.

Whereas the DOJ appears keen on holding the suspected church invaders accountable for federal civil rights violations, Irene Kao is evidently of a different mind.

Decision, backlash

Kao, the leftist daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, announced this week that her office will not bring state-level criminal charges against Don Lemon and his comrades.

"Our office has a legal and ethical obligation to file charges only when the available evidence establishes probable cause and supports a reasonable likelihood of conviction beyond a reasonable doubt," Kao said in a statement.

"Following a careful evaluation of the video footage, investigative reports, and other available materials, prosecutors determined that the current evidence is insufficient to meet that standard for criminal charges under Minnesota state statutes," continued the woke prosecutor.

After noting that her decision should not be read as an endorsement of illegal behavior, Kao wrote, "The right to peacefully protest is protected, as is the right to exercise one’s religious beliefs."

"Balancing these equally important rights is paramount to our decision today," continued the leftist prosecutor.

Doug Wardlow, director of litigation for Truth North Legal and representative for Cities Church, said, "The St. Paul city attorney’s decision treats the church like it's a public sidewalk — as if the sanctuary were an open forum that anyone may seize mid-service, rather than private property where a congregation has the right to worship undisturbed."

"By wrongly characterizing the invasion and takeover of a worship service as First Amendment-protected conduct, the city attorney’s office sends an unmistakable signal: The law will bend for those whose cause aligns with the politics of those in power," added Wardlow.

Rev. Jonathan Parnell said in a statement, "According to the St. Paul city attorney’s logic, it is perfectly fine for agitators to invade a mosque, a cathedral, or a temple, intimidate the families and children inside, and shut down their religious gathering. Just call it a 'protest.'"

The Cities Church pastor noted further that "City Attorney Irene Kao’s decision not to charge the agitators who invaded our church on January 18, 2026, leaves us to question whether her commitment to protect religious people includes evangelical Christians."

In addition to facing criticism for setting a dangerous precedent, Kao has been questioned over her possible self-interest in the case.

After all, Jamael Lydell Lundy, one of the radicals whom Kao let off the hook, is married to a member of city council — the very council that confirms the mayor's city attorney appointments.

KSTP-TV has doggedly — but so far unsuccessfully — pressed the offices of Kao and Democratic Mayor Kaohly Her about whether the case should have been handled externally to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

David Schultz, professor of political science and legal studies at Hamline University, told KSTP that Kao's handling of Lundy's case creates the "possible appearance of a conflict of interest."

"Send it outside City Hall, not even move it to a different attorney in City Hall, but to basically hire an outside firm, review the file, and make their own independent decision regarding whether or not to prosecute or not," said Schultz. "That way it would clearly have addressed any of the concerns about the appearance of conflict of interest, and again, assured the public that there was no favoritism going on here."

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