“They didn’t have a warrant, so they had to wait for someone from the outside, an FBI guy, to come in to show me a warrant on his cell phone,” Lemon said.

Don Lemon reveals messy details of the moment he was arrested: ‘They want to embarrass you’

"They didn't have a warrant, so they had to wait for someone from the outside, an FBI guy, to come in to show me a warrant on his cell phone," Lemon said.

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February 3, 2026 10:18 a.m. ET

Don Lemon on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'. Credit:

Former CNN journalist and independent reporter Don Lemon has revealed allegedly messy details about his recent arrest on federal charges related to his live coverage of a Minnesota church service led by an ICE-affiliated pastor.

Days after Lemon's apprehension, the journalist appeared Monday night on *Jimmy Kimmel Live*, where he sat for an in-depth interview as he told the talk show host about the moment he was taken into custody.

"I'm okay, but I'm not going to let them steal my joy. But this is very serious. These are federal, criminal charges," Lemon, 59, told Kimmel, who also found himself at the center of a public battle of words with the Donald Trump administration following his temporary suspension from ABC over comments he made about controversial commentator Charlie Kirk's assassination late last year.

Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 before launching his own independent coverage channels, then walked Kimmel through the moment he was arrested last Friday in the early morning hours, with the incident occurring as he made his way back to his hotel after attending a pre-Grammys event in Los Angeles.**

Don Lemon speaks to Jimmy Kimmel about his arrest.

"All of a sudden, I feel myself being jostled and people trying to grab me and put me in handcuffs," Lemon recalled, noting that they told him, "We came to arrest you," allegedly without initially identifying themselves to him. Lemon said that, after he learned who they were, he asked, "'If you are you you are, where's the warrant?' They didn't have a warrant, so they had to wait for someone from the outside, an FBI guy, to come in to show me a warrant on his cell phone."

He then said, "A bunch of guys, they took me outside — FBI guys were out there — it had to be maybe a dozen people, which is a waste, Jimmy, of resources," noting that he'd earlier informed officials that, if he were to be arrested, he'd turn himself in to save the government time and money.

"They want to embarrass you, they want to intimidate you, they want to instill fear, that's why they did it that way," he said.****Lemon said he was taken to a holding place in the federal courthouse for approximately 13 hours, though he wasn't held in a jail cell. He "never had one phone call," despite asking for one, but was denied at first.

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Lemon was eventually able to call his husband and his lawyer, and recounted that his husband only found out where he was because, as he was taken into an FBI vehicle, he asked an agent if they could take his diamond bracelet off and return it to his husband in their hotel room. "Otherwise," Lemon said, "no one would've known where I was."

Earlier in the interview, Lemon maintained that "I'm not a protester. I went there to be a journalist," which he said he did as he recorded and documented the activity in the church on Jan. 18 during a demonstration where protestors pushed back against St. Paul's Cities Church mass pastor.

Lemon rounded out the interview by thanking those who've supported in him the aftermath, as he prepares to wage a legal battle against the Department of Justice. He was taken into custody upon a grand jury indicting him on charges of conspiracy and interference with First Amendment rights of churchgoers who attended the mass.

** has reached out to the White House and the Department of Justice for comment on Lemon's interview with Kimmel.

Last week, Lemon's attorney, Abbe Lowell, provided a statement to EW shortly after the journalist's arrest, confirming that he'd been apprehended by agents before he was released later Friday on a personal recognizance bond.

"Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done," the statement read. “This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand. Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court."

Lemon also spoke to reporters shortly after his release, telling the crowd of journalists gathered to hear him speak that "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."

Attorney General Pam Bondi released a statement of her own, saying in an online video, "Make no mistake. Under President Trump’s leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely,” later stressing, “And if I haven’t been clear already, if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you.”

Watch Lemon's interview with Kimmel in the *Jimmy Kimmel Live* clip above.**

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