Don Lemon Recounts His Arrest – Warning Jimmy Kimmel It Was Designed to ‘Intimidate’ Journalists

Don Lemon Recounts His Arrest – Warning Jimmy Kimmel It Was Designed to ‘Intimidate’ Journalists

David Gilmour

Tue, February 3, 2026 at 11:23 AM UTC

3 min read

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Don Lemon detailed for the first time the moment “a dozen” federal officers arrested him in connection with his reporting at an anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church, a spectacle he said was designed to “embarrass” him, “instill fear” and “intimidate” journalists.

The former CNN anchor appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday night in his first major television appearance since the incident.

Host Jimmy Kimmel introduced him as someone who “was arrested for committing journalism, which is a very serious crime under our current administration.”

Lemon repeated his insistence that he was not at the church as a protester but to “chronicle and document and record what was happening.”

He recounted being “jostled” by multiple officers near a hotel elevator in Los Angeles after returning from a Grammys-related event he was covering, then placed in handcuffs. After asking for a warrant, he said an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation showed him a copy on a phone.

And I said, ‘What are you doing here?’ and they said, ‘We came to arrest you’ and I said, ‘Who are you?’ and then finally they identified themselves. I said, ‘If you are who you are, then where’s the warrant?’ And they didn’t 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 and by that time I was like trying to, you know, figure out what was going on to get my bearings and they dropped all my stuff.

My glasses had fallen on the floor. I’m like, ‘I can’t read that.’ So, they had to pick my glasses up, and I read it and still what does that mean? You know, and then it was a bunch of guys and they took me outside. FBI guys were out there. I mean, it had to be maybe a dozen people, which is a waste, Jimmy, of resources.

According to Lemon, his lawyer contacted federal authorities and offered that he would turn himself in. No response came until he was taken into custody days later.

He continued to describe the arrest he said as designed to humiliate and frighten: “Well, you’re right about more than just a waste of resources. They want that. They want to embarrass you. They want to intimidate you. They want to instill fear. And so that’s why they did it that way.”

Asked how he was coping, Lemon replied: “I don’t know – that’s an honest answer,” before adding, “I’m OK, I’m not going to let them steal my joy, but this is very serious. These are federal criminal charges.”

He said he could not discuss much of the case, but confirmed he retained legal counsel after President Donald Trump publicly called for his arrest, followed by similar remarks from senior officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, concerning the church incident.

Lemon also said that while in custody, he was denied a phone call and could not reach his husband or lawyer until the following day: “I asked them, ‘Do I get my one phone call?’ They said, ‘No, you don’t. You get to talk to your attorney whenever the court says that you can.’”

His husband only learned of the arrest after Lemon asked an agent to pass along a bracelet he had been wearing.

While Lemon said some agents later treated him professionally, he drew a sharp line about those who arrested him, describing the encounter as punitive by design.

Watch above via ABC.

The post Don Lemon Recounts His Arrest – Warning Jimmy Kimmel It Was Designed to ‘Intimidate’ Journalists first appeared on Mediaite.

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