Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard issued a forceful rebuke Tuesday of demonstrators who disrupted a church service in Minneapolis, calling the incident “demoniac” and emblematic of what she described as the Democratic Party’s hostility toward religious faith.
In a social media post, Gabbard said the protest reinforced one of the core reasons she left the party, accusing its members of fostering an environment antagonistic to “God and His worshippers.”
The protest occurred on Sunday, January 18, at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where roughly three dozen activists interrupted a morning service to denounce Pastor David Easterwood. Protesters allege that Easterwood also serves as the Acting Field Office Director for ICE in St. Paul, and they linked him to the January 7 fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agents during an operation in Minneapolis.
Church leaders and federal officials swiftly condemned the disruption. The Department of Justice announced it was investigating potential violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which protects religious institutions from threats and obstruction. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the department would defend the right of Americans to worship freely and without intimidation.
Gabbard’s statement framed the protest as part of a broader pattern of anti-religious sentiment.
“Those so-called ‘protestors’ who tried to intimidate and terrorize innocent women, children, and men in the Minneapolis church is just another example of their hostility towards God,” she wrote.
Gabbard, a former progressive Democratic congresswoman who joined the Republican Party in 2024, has long positioned herself as a defender of religious liberty and critic of so-called “woke authoritarianism.”
