{"id":562960,"date":"2026-02-03T09:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T09:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/562960\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T09:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T09:18:10","slug":"don-lemon-details-la-arrest-with-jimmy-kimmel-says-trump-doj-wanted-to-embarrass-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/562960\/","title":{"rendered":"Don Lemon details LA arrest with Jimmy Kimmel, says Trump DOJ wanted to ’embarrass’ him"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former CNN host Don Lemon shed light on how his arrest over the Minnesota church storming<\/a> transpired during an interview Monday with ABC\u2019s\u00a0Jimmy Kimmel.<\/p>\n

Lemon began by revealing that his attorney Abbe Lowell had reached out to the Justice Department prior to the arrest to discuss his client turning himself in as top DOJ officials spoke openly about seeking charges against him<\/a>, but that Lowell \u201cnever heard back.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then offered a timeline of what had transpired late Thursday night leading up to his arrest, how he had attended pre-Grammy events and that it wasn\u2019t until he got back to his hotel in Los Angeles that he was accosted by federal agents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIpress the elevator button and then all of a sudden, I feel myself being jostled and people trying to grab me and put me in handcuffs,\u201d Lemon said. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018What are you doing here?\u2019 They said, \u2018We came to arrest you.\u2019 I said, \u2018Who are you?\u2019 And then they, like, finally identity themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ex-CNN host Don Lemon recalled his arrest in Los Angeles during his appearance on \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. Jimmy Kimmel Live \/ YouTube<\/p>\n

The ex-CNN star then said he then demanded to see a warrant, which the agents who grabbed him didn\u2019t have, so he said they had to \u201cwait\u201d for an FBI agent from outside to bring a copy of the warrant<\/a> on a cellphone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had to be maybe a dozen people, which is a waste, Jimmy, of resources,\u201d Lemon told Kimmel. \u201cBecause I had told them weeks before, maybe once or twice\u2026 that I could just go in and they didn\u2019t have to be \u2014 the folks that were just working there that day and they didn\u2019t have to have all of these people following me around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more than just a waste of resources,\u201d Kimmel reacted.<\/p>\n

Lemon went viral for livestreaming coverage of an anti-ICE protest at St. Paul\u2019s Cities Church. Don Lemon \/ YouTube<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re right about more than just a waste of resources,\u201d Lemon responded. \u201cThey want that. They want to embarrass you. They want to intimidate you. They want to instill fear, and so that\u2019s why they did it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lemon was\u00a0arrested and charged Friday\u00a0with conspiracy to deprive rights and violation of the FACE Act for his involvement in the anti-ICE protest that disrupted services at a Minnesota church.<\/p>\n

Lemon went viral last month for livestreaming left-wing agitators who stormed St. Paul\u2019s Cities Church during Sunday services. Lemon has maintained he was there as a journalist, not as a protester. In the indictment, however, the DOJ accuses him of coordinating with the protest organizers before they arrived at the church.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lemon began by revealing that his attorney, Abbe Lowell, had reached out to the Justice Department before the arrest to discuss his client turning himself in, even as top DOJ officials publicly said they were seeking charges against him. Jimmy Kimmel Live \/ YouTube<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now,\u201d Lemon told reporters outside the courthouse on Friday. \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 accountable. And I will not stop now. I will not stop ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast night, the DOJ sent a team of federal agents to arrest me in the middle of the night for something that I\u2019ve been doing for the last 30 years. And that is covering the news. The First Amendment of the Constitution protects that work for me and for countless other journalists who do what I do. I stand with all of them, and I will not be silenced. I look forward to my day in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

A federal magistrate judge previously rejected the Justice Department\u2019s initial attempt to bring charges against Lemon. The DOJ then sought an indictment from a Minnesota grand jury.<\/p>\n

Prior to the arrest, Lemon\u00a0dared the Trump administration\u00a0to make him \u201cinto the new Jimmy Kimmel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kimmel, a fierce Trump critic,\u00a0was briefly suspended\u00a0by ABC last year following his remarks about the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk that caught the attention of the Federal Communications Commission. Like Kimmel, Lemon has become a liberal folk hero for his fighting with the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Lemon\u2019s next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 9 in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former CNN host Don Lemon shed light on how his arrest over the Minnesota church storming transpired during…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":562961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,167844,5410,409,11171,2961,224,5337,398,3663],"class_list":["post-562960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-don-lemon","tag-ice","tag-immigration","tag-jimmy-kimmel","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-media","tag-minnesota"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116005955579448623","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562960","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=562960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}