The former CNN host Don Lemon was reportedly arrested by federal authorities in Los Angeles on Thursday night.
Lemon Arrested
“Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards,” read a statement posted to Lemon’s official Facebook page. “Don has been a journalist for 30 years. And his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different that what he has always done.”
“The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth. And hold those in power accountable,” the statement continued. “There is no more important time for people like Don to be doing this work.”
It seems that this statement was posted by Lemon’s attorneys.
“Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump Justice Department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case,” the lawyers added. “This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand. Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.”
Lemon Travels To Minnesota
Lemon was fired by CNN back in 2023 after 17 years with the network. He has since become an independent journalist. Lemon recently traveled to Minnesota to cover the civil unrest that has been happening there this month. Before his arrest, Lemon stood by the reporting that he has done as of late.
“If this much time and energy is going to be spent manufacturing outrage, it would be far better used investigating the tragic death of Renee Nicole Good. The very issue that brought people into the streets in the first place,” Lemon told NBC News last week.
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed on Friday morning that Lemon has been arrested.
“At my direction, early this morning federal agents arrested Don Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota,” Bondi wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “More details soon.”
‘When Life Gives You Lemons…’
Donald Trump’s White House also got in on the action.
“When life gives you lemons…,” the official White House X account mockingly posted. This came alongside a photo confirming Lemon’s arrest.
This comes one week after Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, revealed that Lemon has been put “on notice” by the DOJ. She said this after Lemon entered the Cities Church along with anti-ICE agitators and began filming. At the time, Lemon told viewers that “the freedom to protest” is what the First Amendment is all about.
“A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service. You are on notice,” Dhillon wrote on X.
Dhillon Doubles Down
Dhillon later doubled down on this. Indeed, she said that Lemon’s role as a journalist is not a “shield” for him being a potential party to a crime.
“Don Lemon himself has come out and said he knew exactly what was going to happen inside that facility,” Dhillon said on Monday. “He went into the facility. And then he began ‘committing journalism,’ as if that’s sort of a shield from being a part, an embedded part of a criminal conspiracy.”
“It isn’t and so we’re getting our ducks in a row, putting the facts together, and this is a very serious matter,” she continued. “Come next Sunday, nobody should think in the United States that they’re going to be able to get away with this. Everyone in the protest community needs to know that the fullest force of the federal government is going to come down and prevent this from happening and put people away for a long, long time.”
Watch Dhillon’s full comments on this in the video below.
At the time of this writing, Lemon has yet to speak out on his arrest. It will certainly be interesting to see how this turns out for him.