“I’m not going to let them steal my joy,” Don Lemon said on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Feb. 3, just days after being arrested by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Los Angeles. Lemon was also covering the lead-up to the Grammy Awards on Jan. 30 before his arrest.
Lemon and an independent Minnesota journalist, Georgia Fort, were among four people arrested by federal agents in connection with an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 18.
Since the arrests, journalists, press advocates and Democratic lawmakers have begun to call out President Donald Trump’s administration, specifically for “attempting to intimidate journalists looking to conduct accountability reporting.”
Abbe Lowell, Lemon’s attorney, posted on social media saying the arrest was an “unprecedented attack” and a “transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing the administration,” according to CNBC.
The former CNN anchor, Lemon, went into the church to cover the protest as a journalist who is constitutionally free to do so. Yet, those in power who sit within the White House walls can arrest journalists for covering the disasters set by those inside.
In the church where the protest took place, the pastor serves as an official ICE agent, according to NPR.
Under a roof and within a structure dedicated to worship and community-building, churchgoers, protestors and journalists were exercising their First Amendment right of free speech. A grand jury in Minnesota accused the four arrested of charges related to the interruption of a religious service at a church.
On Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kimmel, brought up the recent home invasion of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson by the FBI. The newspaper called this a “highly unusual and aggressive” move by law enforcement, and “press freedom groups condemned as a ‘tremendous intrusion’ by the Trump administration,” The Guardian said.
“The FBI went to her house, and I feel like it didn’t get much attention at that time,” Kimmel said.
“Because people are afraid,” Lemon said.
The journalist spoke about his concerns for corporate media and referred to the mass media outlets as “neutered.”
Since January 2025, Trump’s administration has worked to penalize and deprive corporate media of its rights by limiting the press’s access to information on a large scale. On Feb. 14, 2025, the same administration banned The Associated Press from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other restricted spaces for refusing to use the term, “Gulf of America,” chosen by Trump.
This administration instilled fear among journalists. They have proven successful in banning global newsrooms and shutting down smaller ones. Where the Trump administration can’t go themselves, ICE agents have targeted journalists, arresting them and leading to federal crime charges against them.
“They want to embarrass you,” Lemon said. “They want to intimidate you. They want to instill fear, and so that’s why they did it that way.” He said after the FBI arrested him inside his hotel, he walked outside to see a dozen people.
Lemon said it was “a waste of resources” to see such a large presence of law enforcement when he was arrested. Weeks prior, he said his attorney contacted authorities to indicate he would turn himself in, leading to the surprise of the arrest with a warrant on a cellphone, presented by an FBI agent.
The illegitimacy of Lemon’s arrest shouldn’t stand as a representation of the current administration; however, it does. For a journalist’s arrest to be sought after weeks of silence from authorities, the agenda isn’t to protect religion and “worship freely and safely,” but to deliberately turn off the cameras that are exploiting your crimes against America.
The Post editorials are independent of the publication's news coverage. Have thoughts? The Post can be reached via editor@thepostathens.com.
