Don Lemon says a couple of dozen federal brokers got here to his Los Angeles resort to arrest him final week though his lawyer had instructed authorities he would flip himself in to face federal civil rights expenses over his protection of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.
Lemon instructed ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that sending the brokers was a waste of assets as a result of legislation enforcement would not have needed to dispatch brokers to comply with him if he’d been allowed to give up to authorities.
“I used to be strolling as much as the room and I pressed the elevator button after which rapidly I really feel myself being jostled and folks (had been) making an attempt to seize me and put me in handcuffs,” the impartial journalist stated Monday on the present on “Jimmy Kimmel Reside!”
He requested the brokers who they had been and stated they recognized themselves. Lemon requested to see a warrant and was instructed they did not have it. The brokers then summoned an FBI agent to come back in from outdoors to indicate Lemon the warrant on a cellular phone.
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The Division of Justice and FBI did not instantly reply to messages in search of remark.
Kimmel launched Lemon, his first visitor of the evening, by saying he was “was arrested for committing journalism.”
Lemon’s lawyer has stated Lemon plans to plead not responsible. He instructed reporters “I cannot be silenced” after he was launched in response to a choose’s orders.
A grand jury in Minnesota indicted Lemon, one other impartial journalist, Georgia Fort, and others on expenses of conspiracy and interfering with the First Modification rights of worshippers through the Jan. 18 protest on the Cities Church in St. Paul, the place a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.
Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 following a bumpy run as a morning host, has stated he had no affiliation to the group that disrupted the Sunday service by coming into the church.
Lemon stated he could not say a lot concerning the case however he stated he was not a protester.
“I went there to be a journalist. I went there to chronicle and doc and report what was taking place. I used to be following that one group round, and so that is what I did. I reported on them,” Lemon stated.
Abbe Lowell, Lemon’s lawyer, stated after his arrest that, “This unprecedented assault on the First Modification and clear try to distract consideration from the various crises going through this administration won’t stand. Don will struggle these expenses vigorously and totally in court docket.”
Lemon stated he requested the arresting officers if they might let him make a telephone name. He stated he was instructed no and that he might discuss to his lawyer the following day. He tried to make use of Siri on his Apple Watch to name his husband and his lawyer however neither picked up.
A diamond bracelet he was sporting saved getting caught on his handcuffs, which harm, and the brokers instructed Lemon they might take it off. Lemon stated he requested if the agent would thoughts taking it as much as Lemon’s husband in his resort room they usually agreed to do this.
“And that is how my husband came upon. In any other case, nobody would have recognized the place I used to be,” Lemon stated.
Lemon stated he was saved in a holding room on the federal courthouse from midnight till 1 p.m. the next day.
Kimmel himself turned a logo of a struggle towards censorship final yr, when ABC suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Reside!” for remarks made following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Federal Communications Fee Chairman Brendan Carr had pressured broadcasters to take Kimmel off the air shortly earlier than that.
ABC lifted the suspension after a public outcry, and Kimmel returned to the air with a lot stronger scores than he had earlier than. In Congress, Democratic senators raised considerations that Carr’s actions had trampled on the First Modification.
