Don Lemon defends his reporting of anti-ICE protest in Minnesota during interview with Jimmy Kimmel
(CNN) — Independent journalist and former CNN anchor Don Lemon defended his coverage of an anti-ICE protest at a St. Paul, Minnesota, church, which resulted in his arrest last week, telling Jimmy Kimmel on Monday that as a journalist, he “went there to chronicle and document and record what was happening.”
“There is a difference between a protester and a journalist,” Lemon said on Kimmel’s late-night show in his first interview since he was released without bail last Friday.
Lemon and another independent journalist, Georgia Fort, were livestreaming as dozens of demonstrators interrupted a service at Cities Church on January 18, leading to tense confrontations. Protesters said one of the pastors is a top ICE official in the Twin Cities.
Federal prosecutors lumped the two journalists in with protesters and charged them with conspiring to violate someone’s constitutional rights and violating the FACE Act, which prohibits the use of force or threats to intentionally interfere with someone expressing their First Amendment right to practice religion.
Trump administration officials had called for Lemon’s arrest in the days after the protest, prompting him to take precautionary measures and hire an attorney, he said.
“The attorney reached out to (prosecutors) and said basically, ‘I understand that you have an interest because your folks have been talking about it. So, if you are serious about this, then let’s do it the right way,” Lemon told Kimmel, describing his willingness to turn himself in.
But instead of being able to surrender voluntarily, Lemon said, at least a dozen federal agents were sent to arrest him in the lobby of a Los Angeles hotel, where he was staying while covering the Grammys.
Lemon said he was “jostled” near a hotel elevator and placed in handcuffs, adding it took a while for agents to identify themselves and present him with a warrant.
“I think my attorney tried to contact them once, maybe twice –– that I could just go in and it would have to be just the folks who were just working there that day. They wouldn’t have to have all these people following me around,” Lemon said.
“They want to embarrass you, they want to intimidate you, they want to instill fear,” Lemon told Kimmel.
Federal prosecutors have alleged Lemon and Fort participated in a “takeover-style attack” of the church and intimidated congregants. A federal prosecutor in court last week said Lemon told his audience the protest’s purpose was to make the experience traumatic and uncomfortable for the congregants.
Lemon was released from custody on Friday after appearing in federal court. Prosecutors requested a $100,000 bond, and argued Lemon needed conditions to ensure he wouldn’t feel emboldened to do something similar while awaiting trial.
His defense attorneys agreed he would have no contact with known witnesses, victims or co-defendants, and must get approval for any foreign travel – the judge approved a trip to Europe planned in June.
He is expected to be arraigned on Monday in Los Angeles.
First Amendment advocates and civil rights organizations have condemned the charges and argued the administration is trying to chill press freedom.
Hollywood support for Lemon
The choice of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for Lemon’s first post-arrest interview was no accident. The Trump administration’s targeting of Kimmel made news in September when ABC briefly suspended the show amid government pressure. ABC brought the show back within a week.
After his arrest and knowing he wouldn’t be able to conduct interviews normally at the Grammys, Lemon attended the awards gala Sunday as a guest instead of covering the red carpet.
At an annual pre-Grammys gala hosted by music executive Clive Davis, Lemon received a shoutout from Davis and a partial standing ovation from the crowd, a testament to the widespread support for him in entertainment industry circles.
On the day of the arrests, Jane Fonda’s recently reestablished Committee for the First Amendment said, “arresting journalists for doing their jobs is an attack on our freedoms and our democracy.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi and other Trump administration officials have defended the arrests by asserting that the people who entered the church violated the First Amendment rights of the worshippers.
Bondi said on Fox News Monday night, “These people committed a crime under the FACE Act and they will be held accountable.”
When President Donald Trump was asked about Lemon’s case over the weekend, he said “I didn’t know anything about it,” then proceeded to insult Lemon.
Trump also said “probably from his standpoint,” the arrest was “the best thing that could happen to him,” because Lemon has been getting so much attention.
Legal experts told CNN that the charges against the journalists are highly unusual and will be difficult for government prosecutors to prove at trial.
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