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 in a Minnesota church, a spectacle he said was designed to “embarrass” him, “instill fear” and “intimidate” reporters.
The former CNN anchor appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday night in his first major television appearance since the accident.
Host Jimmy Kimmel they introduced him as someone who “was arrested for doing journalism, which is a very serious crime under our current administration.”
Lemon repeated his insistence that he was not in the church as a protester but to “chronicle and document and record what was happening.”
He recounted being “pushed” by several officers near a hotel elevator in Los Angeles after returning from an event related to the Grammys he was covering, then placed in handcuffs. After requesting a warrant, he said an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation showed him a copy over the phone.
And I said, ‘What are you doing here?’ and they said to him, ‘We have come 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 is the mandate?’ And they didn’t have a warrant so they had to wait for someone from outside, an FBI man, to come in and show me a warrant on a cell phone and by that time I was trying, you know, to understand what was happening to get my bearings and all my things fell.
My glasses had fallen to the floor. I’m like, “I can’t read this.” So, they had to collect my glasses, and I read it and still what does it mean? You know, and then it was a bunch of guys and they took me out. The FBI people were there. I mean, it should have been maybe a dozen people, which is a waste, Jimmy, of resources.
According to Lemon, his lawyer contacted federal authorities and offered to turn himself in. No response was received until he was taken into custody days later.
He went on to describe the arrest which he said was meant to humiliate and scare: “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 that’s why they did it.”
Asked how he was coping, Lemon replied: “I don’t know – that’s an honest answer,” before adding, “I’m fine, 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 that he retained a lawyer after the President Donald Trump publicly called for his arrest, followed by similar remarks from senior officials, including the Attorney General Pam Bondiabout the church incident.
Lemon also said that while he was arrested, he was denied a phone call and could not reach his husband or his lawyer until the next day: “I asked them, ‘Do I get one of my phone calls?’ They said, ‘No, you don’t. You have to talk to your lawyer whenever the court says you can.”
His husband only learned of the arrest after Lemon asked an agent to hand over a bracelet he was wearing.
While Lemon said some agents later treated him professionally, he drew a strong line on those who arrested him, describing the encounter as punitive by design.
Watch above via ABC.
The post Don Lemon Narrates His Arrest – Warning to Jimmy Kimmel Was Meant to ‘Intimidate’ Journalists first appeared on Mediaite.