On Monday\u2019s show, Kimmel began the conversation by asking Lemon how he was feeling: \u201cI don\u2019t know \u2014 that\u2019s an honest answer,\u201d Lemon said. \u201cI\u2019m OK. I\u2019m not going to let them steal my joy, but this is very serious. These are federal criminal charges.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lemon was arrested \u2014 along with three others in attendance at the protest \u2014 at the direction of Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, who said on X<\/a> that it was in connection to what she described as a \u201ccoordinated attack\u201d on the church, located in St. Paul. Lemon is charged with conspiracy to deprive the church congregants of their rights and interfering by force with someone\u2019s First Amendment rights. Lemon has denied participating in the protest at the church \u2014 assembled to decry that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field officer apparently serves as a pastor there \u2014 saying he was present in a journalistic capacity.<\/p>\n Playfully acknowledging that he hasn\u2019t been a favorite of President Trump\u2019s since his time on CNN, Lemon said he hadn\u2019t been concerned about his possible arrest \u2014 even with a re-post by Trump calling for it \u2014 until it gained steam by members of Trump\u2019s cabinet, including Bondi and Todd Blanche, the U.S. deputy attorney general. Lemon said that after retaining a lawyer and volunteering to turn himself in to handle the matter without fanfare, he \u201cnever heard back from them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat is customary in a situation like this, that someone would be allowed to turn themselves in,\u201d Lemon said. \u201cPeople who are who are accused of much worse things than I am accused of doing, they are allowed the courtesy. I mean, Donald Trump was allowed the courtesy to turn himself in …\u201d<\/p>\n Lemon went on to detail the moments leading up to his arrest Thursday, which came after a night of covering a Grammys event for the Black Music Collective<\/a> and attending a post-party celebration.<\/p>\n \u201cI got back to the hotel, I walked in with my swag bag from the thing … and I pressed the elevator button and all of a sudden I feel myself being jostled, people trying to grab me and put me in handcuffs,\u201d he recounted. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018What are you doing here?\u2019 And they said, \u2018We came to arrest you.\u2019 I said, \u2018Who are you?\u2019 Then finally they identified themselves. And I said, \u2018If you are who you are, then where\u2019s the warrant?\u2019 And they didn\u2019t have a warrant, so they had to wait for the someone from outside, an FBI guy, to come in to show me a warrant on a cell phone … They took me outside FBI guys were out there. It had to be maybe a dozen people, which is a waste, Jimmy, of resources … They want to embarrass you. They want to intimidate you. They want to instill fear.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he hadn\u2019t realized how much attention his arrest had generated until he saw CNN broadcasting the story on a TV monitor where he was being held. <\/p>\n \u201cI could see \u2018Former CNN anchor Don Lemon arrested in Los Angeles,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI said to the guy, \u2018Is that happening a lot?\u2019 He goes, \u2018You\u2019ve been on all morning, yeah. And he says, \u2018This is a big deal.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n During the conversation, Kimmel criticized what he felt was a lack of attention to the recent search by FBI agents of the home of a Washington Post reporter<\/a> who covers the federal government. Lemon, who parted ways with CNN in 2023<\/a>, attributed it to a fear among the leaders of corporate press enterprises.<\/p>\n \u201cCorporate media has been neutered right now. They are afraid, and that\u2019s the reason I\u2019m so happy with what I do, because I\u2019m closer to the ground,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is not time for folly. It\u2019s not time for false equivalence, and putting people on television and on news programs, giving them a platform, who come on just to lie. …. Some things are objectively bad and I think its important in this time to point that out.\u201d<\/p>\n Lemon hitting the late-night circuit intensifies its spotlight as a free-speech battleground. The Trump era has prompted more pointed and passionate takes from most of the major hosts that, in turn, have captured the attention and ire of the president, who has provoked threats against them and their broadcasters. <\/p>\n Last year, CBS announced it was canceling \u201cThe Late Show\u201d after a three-decade run \u2014 a decision the company attributed to financial reasons and not, as many have speculated, because of host Stephen Colbert\u2019s criticism of a settlement<\/a> between the Trump administration and Paramount, the parent company of CBS, over a 2024 \u201c60 Minutes\u201d interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n More recently, Kimmel faced a brief suspension<\/a> last fall over comments regarding the killing of right-wing activist and influencer Charlie Kirk (ABC ultimately reinstated Kimmel<\/a> following public backlash.) In fact, Lemon referenced that situation prior to his arrest, when a judge dismissed prosectors\u2019 initial charging effort: \u201cThis is not a victory lap for me because it\u2019s not over. They\u2019re gonna try again,\u201d Lemon told his followers on his YouTube show after the judge\u2019s ruling. \u201cGo ahead, make me into the new Jimmy Kimmel, if you want.\u201d<\/p>\n Last Friday, addressing a crowd outside the courthouse upon his release, Lemon said, \u201cThere is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable. I will not stop now, I will not stop ever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Making his first major post-arrest television interview Monday on \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!,\u201d Don Lemon detailed the moments surrounding…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":562716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[158395,12424,1582,276,15328,30573,638,167844,50812,34024,6616,127271,2961,224,2444,5337,5349,1807,277,245641],"class_list":{"0":"post-562715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-anti-ice-protest","9":"tag-arrest","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-cbs","13":"tag-church","14":"tag-company","15":"tag-don-lemon","16":"tag-jimmy-kimmel-live","17":"tag-journalist","18":"tag-judge","19":"tag-kimmel","20":"tag-la","21":"tag-los-angeles","22":"tag-los-angeles-times","23":"tag-losangeles","24":"tag-moment","25":"tag-president-trump","26":"tag-trump","27":"tag-youtube-show"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116005361639448906","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770101231_592_hqdefault.jpg\")
<\/p>\n