Don Lemon explains the LA arrest with Jimmy Kimmel

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon explained to us how his arrest happened because of the Minnesota church storm during an interview on Monday with ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel.

Lemon began by revealing that his attorney, Abe Lowell, had reached out to the Justice Department before the arrest to discuss his client’s defense as senior DOJ officials spoke openly about seeking charges against him, but Lowell “wouldn’t listen.”

He then gave a timeline of what happened Thursday night leading up to his arrest, how he attended pre-Grammy events and how he even returned to his hotel in Los Angeles where he was accosted by federal agents.

“I press the elevator button and all of a sudden, I felt myself being shaken and people were trying to grab me and put me in handcuffs,” Lemon said. “And I said, ‘What are you doing here?’ They said: ‘We have come to arrest you.’ I said, ‘Who are you?’ And then they will finally make themselves known.”

DON LEMON FINALLY FREED AFTER LA COURT APPEARANCE

The former CNN star then said that he wanted to see the warrant that the arresting agents didn’t have, so he said they had to “wait” for an FBI agent outside to bring a copy of the warrant to get a cell phone.

“It was supposed to be twelve people, which is a waste, Jimmy, of resources,” Lemon told Kimmel. “Because I had told them weeks before, maybe once or twice … that I could come in and they didn’t have to be – the people who were working there that day and they didn’t have to have all these people follow me.”

“It’s more than just a waste of resources,” Kimmel responded.

“You’re right about more than just wasting resources,” Lemon replied. “They want that. They want to embarrass you. They want to scare you. They want to instill fear, that’s why they did it.”

MAKE A LONG HISTORY OF LEMON INTERMEDIATE AND LEAVE STRATEGY

Lemon was arrested and charged Friday with conspiracy to defraud and violating the FACE Act for his involvement in an anti-ICE protest that disrupted church services in Minnesota.

Lemon spread last month because of the left-wing riots that attacked the Church of St. Paul’s Cities for Sunday services. Lemon maintains that he was there as a journalist, not as a protester. In the charges against him, the DOJ accuses him of cooperating with the organizers of the protest before they arrived at the church.

Don Lemon went viral with live coverage of the anti-ICE protest in St. Louis. Paul’s Cities Church. (Don Lemon/YouTube)

“I’ve spent my entire career reporting the news. I’m not going to stop now,” Lemon told reporters outside court on Friday. “There is no time more important than right now, in this moment, for a free and independent media to shine a light on the truth and hold those accountable. And I will not stop now. I will not stop.

“Last night, the DOJ sent a team of federal agents to arrest me in the middle of the night for something I’ve been doing for the past 30 years. And that makes news. The First Amendment to the Constitution protects that job for me and countless other journalists who do what I do. I stand with all of them, and I will not be silent. I look forward to my day in court.”

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Don Lemon speaks to the media after a hearing at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Courthouse in Los Angeles on January 30, 2026. (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)

A federal magistrate judge previously rejected the Justice Department’s first attempt to indict Lemon. The DOJ then sought an indictment from a Minnesota grand jury.

Before being arrested, Lemon dared Trump to make him “the new Jimmy Kimmel.”

Kimmel, a fierce critic of Trump, was suspended by ABC last year after his comments about the alleged murder of Charlie Kirk drew the attention of the Federal Communications Commission. Like Kimmel, Lemon has become a liberal folk hero for his fight against the Trump administration.

Lemon’s next court appearance is scheduled for February 9 in Minneapolis.

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