Don Lemon details LA arrest with Jimmy Kimmel, says Trump DOJ wanted to ’embarrass’ him

Former CNN host Don Lemon shed light on how his arrest over the Minnesota church storming transpired during an interview Monday with ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel.

Lemon began by revealing that his attorney Abbe Lowell had reached out to the Justice Department prior to the arrest to discuss his client turning himself in as top DOJ officials spoke openly about seeking charges against him, but that Lowell “never heard back.”

He then offered a timeline of what had transpired late Thursday night leading up to his arrest, how he had attended pre-Grammy events and that it wasn’t until he got back to his hotel in Los Angeles that he was accosted by federal agents.

“I press the elevator button and then all of a sudden, I feel myself being jostled and people trying to grab me and put me in handcuffs,” Lemon said. “And I said, ‘What are you doing here?’ They said, ‘We came to arrest you.’ I said, ‘Who are you?’ And then they, like, finally identity themselves.”

DON LEMON RELEASED FROM CUSTODY AFTER LA COURT APPEARANCE

Ex-CNN host Don Lemon recalled his arrest in Los Angeles during his appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (Screenshot/ABC)

The ex-CNN star then said he then demanded to see a warrant, which the agents who grabbed him didn’t have, so he said they had to “wait” for an FBI agent from outside to bring a copy of the warrant on a cellphone.

“It had to be maybe a dozen 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 just go in and they didn’t have to be — the folks that were just working there that day and they didn’t have to have all of these people following me around.”

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

“You’re right about more than just a waste of resources,” Lemon responded. “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.”

DON LEMON’S LENGTHY HISTORY OF ANTI-ICE RHETORIC

Lemon was arrested and charged Friday with conspiracy to deprive rights and violation of the FACE Act for his involvement in the anti-ICE protest that disrupted services at a Minnesota church.

Lemon went viral last month for livestreaming left-wing agitators who stormed St. Paul’s Cities Church during Sunday services. Lemon has maintained he was there as a journalist, not as a protester. In the indictment, however, the DOJ accuses him of coordinating with the protest organizers before they arrived at the church. 

Don Lemon went viral for livestreaming coverage of an anti-ICE protest at St. Paul’s Cities Church. (Don Lemon/YouTube)

“I’ve spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now,” Lemon told reporters outside the courthouse on Friday. “There is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those accountable. And I will not stop now. I will not stop ever.

“Last night, the DOJ sent a team of federal agents to arrest me in the middle of the night for something that I’ve been doing for the last 30 years. And that is covering the news. The First Amendment of the Constitution protects that work for me and for countless other journalists who do what I do. I stand with all of them, and I will not be silenced. 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 initial attempt to bring charges against Lemon. The DOJ then sought an indictment from a Minnesota grand jury.

Prior to the arrest, Lemon dared the Trump administration to make him “into the new Jimmy Kimmel.”

Kimmel, a fierce Trump critic, was briefly suspended by ABC last year following his remarks about the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk that caught the attention of the Federal Communications Commission. Like Kimmel, Lemon has become a liberal folk hero for his fighting with the Trump administration.

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

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