Don Lemon Arrested By Federal Agents While Covering Grammy Awards

Journalist Don Lemon, formerly of CNN but now working independently, was taken into custody by federal authorities on Sunday while in Los Angeles covering the Grammys.

Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, released a statement on the arrest.

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“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 First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable. There is no more important time for people like Don to be doing this work,” the statement said.

Lowell also sought to contrast the administration’s response to the killing of two Americans — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — by federal immigration agents with their apparent targeting of Lemon, a prominent critic of President Donald Trump.

“Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump Justice Department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case,” the statement added.

“Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court,” it continued.

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CNN’s Brian Stelter reported that a person close to Lemon told him the journalist spent the night in jail, while CNN’s Kara Scannell noted that Lemon is expected to make his first court appearance later Friday.

Last week, Minnesota’s chief federal judge, Patrick Schiltz, declined to reverse a lower court’s ruling rejecting the Justice Department’s effort to issue arrest warrants for Lemon and four others in connection with an anti-ICE protest in St. Paul. The DOJ chose to further escalate the matter, urging the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to compel Schiltz to act. The court refused.

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Lemon’s arrest fits the Trump administration’s pattern of targeting journalists and testing the limits of the First Amendment. It follows the raid of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s home earlier this month, during which authorities seized her phone, two laptops, a recorder, a portable hard drive and her smart watch. A judge recently blocked the government from accessing the devices it seized.

The president has also filed numerous lawsuits against news organizations, most recently against the BBC, over its editing of excerpts from this Jan. 6, 2021, speech included in a Panorama documentary.

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