NEWNow you can hearken to Fox Information articles!
Former CNN host Don Lemon make clear how his arrest over the Minnesota church storming transpired throughout an interview Monday with ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel.
Lemon started by revealing that his legal professional Abbe Lowell had reached out to the Justice Division previous to the arrest to debate his consumer turning himself in as prime DOJ officers spoke overtly about in search of costs in opposition to him, however that Lowell “by no means heard again.”
He then supplied a timeline of what had transpired late Thursday night time main as much as his arrest, how he had attended pre-Grammy occasions and that it wasn’t till he bought again to his resort in Los Angeles that he was accosted by federal brokers.
“I press the elevator button after which hastily, I really feel myself being jostled and other people attempting to seize me and put me in handcuffs,” Lemon mentioned. “And I mentioned, ‘What are you doing right here?’ They mentioned, ‘We got here to arrest you.’ I mentioned, ‘Who’re you?’ After which they, like, lastly id themselves.”
DON LEMON RELEASED FROM CUSTODY AFTER LA COURT APPEARANCE
Ex-CNN host Don Lemon recalled his arrest in Los Angeles throughout his look on “Jimmy Kimmel Stay!” on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (Screenshot/ABC)
The ex-CNN star then mentioned he then demanded to see a warrant, which the brokers who grabbed him did not have, so he mentioned they needed to “wait” for an FBI agent from exterior to deliver a duplicate of the warrant on a cellphone.
“It needed to be possibly a dozen individuals, which is a waste, Jimmy, of assets,” Lemon advised Kimmel. “As a result of I had advised them weeks earlier than, possibly a couple of times… that I might simply go in and so they did not should be — the parents that had been simply working there that day and so they did not should have all of those individuals following me round.”
“It is greater than only a waste of assets,” Kimmel reacted.
“You are proper about greater than only a waste of assets,” Lemon responded. “They need that. They wish to embarrass you. They wish to intimidate you. They wish to instill worry, and in order that’s why they did it that manner.”
DON LEMON’S LENGTHY HISTORY OF ANTI-ICE RHETORIC
Lemon was arrested and charged Friday with conspiracy to deprive rights and violation of the FACE Act for his involvement within the anti-ICE protest that disrupted providers at a Minnesota church.
Lemon went viral final month for livestreaming left-wing agitators who stormed St. Paul’s Cities Church throughout Sunday providers. Lemon has maintained he was there as a journalist, not as a protester. Within the indictment, nonetheless, the DOJ accuses him of coordinating with the protest organizers earlier than they arrived on the church.
Don Lemon went viral for livestreaming protection of an anti-ICE protest at St. Paul’s Cities Church. (Don Lemon/YouTube)
“I’ve spent my complete profession masking the information. I cannot cease now,” Lemon advised reporters exterior the courthouse on Friday. “There isn’t any extra necessary time than proper now, this very second, for a free and impartial media that shines a light-weight on the reality and holds these accountable. And I cannot cease now. I cannot cease ever.
“Final night time, the DOJ despatched a crew of federal brokers to arrest me in the midst of the night time for one thing that I have been doing for the final 30 years. And that’s masking the information. The First Modification of the Structure protects that work for me and for numerous different journalists who do what I do. I stand with all of them, and I cannot be silenced. I sit up for my day in courtroom.”
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST MEDIA AND CULTURE NEWS
Don Lemon speaks to the media after a listening to on the Edward R. Roybal Federal Courthouse in Los Angeles on January 30, 2026. (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP by way of Getty Photos)
A federal Justice of the Peace decide beforehand rejected the Justice Division’s preliminary try to deliver costs in opposition to Lemon. The DOJ then sought an indictment from a Minnesota grand jury.
Previous to the arrest, Lemon dared the Trump administration to make him “into the brand new Jimmy Kimmel.”
Kimmel, a fierce Trump critic, was briefly suspended by ABC final 12 months following his remarks concerning the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk that caught the eye of the Federal Communications Fee. Like Kimmel, Lemon has turn into a liberal people hero for his combating with the Trump administration.
Lemon’s subsequent courtroom look is scheduled for Feb. 9 in Minneapolis.
