Don Lemon said a dozen federal agents came to his Los Angeles hotel last week to arrest him, even though his lawyer told authorities he would turn himself in. federal civil rights charges about his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest a service disrupted at a church in Minnesota.
Lemon told the ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that sending the officers was a waste of resources because the police would not have had to send officers to follow him if he had been allowed to surrender to the authorities.“I walked into the room and pressed the elevator button, and then all of a sudden I felt like I was being pushed and people were trying to grab me and put me in handcuffs,” the independent journalist said Monday on the show of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
He asked the officers who they were and said they identified themselves. Lemon asked for a warrant and was told they didn’t have it. The officers then called for an FBI agent to come in from outside to show Lemon the warrant on a cell phone.
The Justice Department and FBI did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Kimmel introduced Lemon, his first guest of the evening, by saying he was “arrested for journalistic activities.”
Lemon’s attorney has said Lemon plans to plead not guilty. He told reporters: “I will not be silenced” after being released in response to a judge’s order.
A grand jury in Minnesota has indicted Lemon, another independent journalist, Georgia Fort and others on charges of conspiracy and interference with the First Amendment rights of worshipers during the Jan. 18 protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.
Lemon, who was that? fired from CNN in 2023 After a bumpy run as morning host, he has said he had no ties to the group that disrupted the Sunday service by entering the church.
Lemon said he couldn’t say much about the case, but he said he was not a protester.
“I went there to be a journalist. I went there to document and record what was happening. I followed that one group, and that’s what I did. I reported on them,” Lemon said.
Lemon said he asked the arresting officers if they would let him make a call. He said he was told no and was able to talk to his lawyer the next day. He tried to use Siri on his Apple Watch to call his husband and his lawyer, but neither answered.
A diamond bracelet he was wearing got stuck on his handcuffs, which hurt, and the officers told Lemon they would take it off. Lemon said he asked if the officer would mind taking it to Lemon’s husband in his hotel room and they agreed to do so.
“And that’s how my husband found out. Otherwise no one would have known where I was,” Lemon said.
Lemon said he was held in a waiting room at the federal courthouse from midnight until 1 p.m. the next day.
Kimmel himself became ABC last year suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for comments following the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr had recently pressured broadcasters to take Kimmel off the air.
ABC lifted the suspension after public outcry, and Kimmel returned to the sky with much stronger ratings than before. In Congress, Democratic senators expressed their concerns that Carr’s actions trampled on the First Amendment.
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