February 3, 2026 / 2:56 AM EST / CBS/AP
Don Lemon says about a dozen federal agents came to his Los Angeles hotel to arrest him last week even though his attorney had told authorities he would turn himself in to face federal civil rights charges over his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.
Lemon told Jimmy Kimmel on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” that sending agents to arrest him was unnecessary and a waste of resources because he was prepared to surrender. He described being jostled by officers as he approached the elevator, then being handcuffed after they identified themselves. When he asked to see a warrant, he was told they did not have one; an FBI agent was summoned from outside and showed him the warrant on a cellphone.
The Department of Justice and the FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Kimmel introduced Lemon as someone “arrested for committing journalism.” Lemon’s attorney has said Lemon plans to plead not guilty. After he was released following a judge’s orders, Lemon told reporters, “I will not be silenced.”
A grand jury in Minnesota indicted Lemon, another independent journalist, Georgia Fort, and others on charges of conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.
Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023, said he had no affiliation with the group that entered the church and disrupted the service. He said he went to the church to report, document and record what was happening, following and reporting on one group there.
Abbe Lowell, Lemon’s lawyer, called the prosecution “an unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration” and said Lemon will fight the charges vigorously in court.
Lemon said he asked the arresting officers to let him make a phone call but was told he could only speak to his attorney the next day. He tried to use Siri on his Apple Watch to call his husband and his attorney, but neither answered. A diamond bracelet on his wrist got caught on his handcuffs; agents removed it and agreed to take it to his husband in the hotel room, which is how his husband learned where he was.
Lemon said he was held in a federal courthouse holding room from midnight until about 1 p.m. the next day.
Kimmel has recently been a focal point in debates over censorship after ABC briefly suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last year over remarks made following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, an action that drew pushback from Democratic senators and helped prompt the show’s return with higher ratings.