What you need to know
Don Lemon speaks about his arrest for the first time on television.
The 59-year-old journalist appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! On Monday, February 2, he shared details of how he was arrested after reporting an anti-ICE protest at a church in Minnesota on January 18.
Asked by Kimmel what’s going on right now, Lemon responded, “I don’t know…I’m not going to let them steal my joy, but this is very serious. This is a federal criminal charge.”
ABC
When Kimmel joked about his prison sentence, Lemon responded that he shouldn’t get ahead of himself.
Lemon said there’s a lot that can’t be said, but “what I can say is that I went there as a journalist, not as a protester. I went there to document, record, record what was going on. There’s a difference between a protester and a journalist.”
The interview took place less than a week after the former CNN anchor was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles.
After being held for about 12 hours, Lemon was released without bail and is expected to plead not guilty to charges of conspiracy to violate religious freedom in a place of worship and assault, intimidation, and interference with the exercise of religious freedom in a place of worship, PEOPLE previously reported.
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Atty said General Pam Bondi, who ordered Lemon’s arrest along with three others, said Lemon’s arrest was in connection with what she described in X as a “coordinated attack” on St. Paul’s Church.
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Lemon told Kimmel that he had offered to turn himself in for questioning multiple times before his arrest, but never heard back from authorities. Kimmel also joked that Lemon had never been Donald Trump’s “favorite” since his CNN days.
Lemon later spoke to Kimmel about her arrest at a Beverly Hills hotel, revealing that she was “pushed,” “grabbed,” and “handcuffed.”
He also described being taken outside where “more than a dozen” investigators were present, calling it a “waste” of resources even though he had offered to turn himself in.
“They want to embarrass you, they want to intimidate you, they want to instill fear,” Lemon said.
“There has never been a more important time than this moment for a free, independent media that shines a light on truth and power and holds those in power accountable. I am not stopping now, and I will not stop,” Lemon said in an address to the crowd outside the courthouse upon his release last week, according to the Los Angeles Times.
As PEOPLE previously reported, Don’s attorney said in a statement: “Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis is no different.”
“The First Amendment exists to protect journalists who are tasked with highlighting the truth and holding those in power accountable. There has never been a more important time for people like Don to do this work.”
