A week before federal agents arrested him at a Beverly Hills hotel, Don Lemon sat across from former CNN colleague Alisyn Camerota and laid out exactly what would happen.
“I think they’re probably going to try again and again,” the 59-year-old journalist said during a January 23 interview with Scripps News. A federal magistrate judge in Minnesota had just rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to charge him for his coverage of an anti-ICE protest at a St. Paul church. But Lemon wasn’t buying the victory.
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”If one doesn’t work they try something else and that fails and they try something else and then they just don’t give up because they want to save face,” he told Camerota. “I don’t know what’s next.”
🚨 WATCH: Video of journalist Don Lemon’s “unprecedented” arrest
Just kidding…
This is actually independent journalist Steve Baker — handcuffed by Biden’s weaponized FBI for daring to report on J6.
Where was the media outrage then? pic.twitter.com/8mUB3q92Xq
— Alec Lace (@AlecLace) January 30, 2026
Camerota pressed him on the judge’s statement that the Department of Justice “didn’t have a case.” But Lemon predicted what would come: President Donald Trump’s administration would “go around a judge and just do it themselves.”
”It doesn’t matter if there’s no law to fit. They will try to fit or retrofit something,” Lemon said.
On Friday, more or less 24 FBI and Homeland Security Investigations agents took the former CNN journalist into custody around midnight at his hotel in Los Angeles, where he was covering the 2026 Grammy Awards. Federal prosecutors charged him with conspiracy to deprive rights and violating the FACE Act, which is a federal law protecting religious worship.
Don Lemon, before his arrest:
“I’m just here photographing. I’m a journalist. We’re here just chronicling and reporting.” pic.twitter.com/hdfhW17sL3
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) January 30, 2026
It can be recalled that, on January 18, Don Lemon entered the Cities Church in St. Paul with protesters who disrupted a Sunday worship service. Demonstrators reportedly targeted the church since one of its pastors, David Easterwood, leads the local ICE field office.
During that time, protesters shouted “ICE out” and called for justice for the killing of Renee Good, a 37-year-old American citizen shot by ICE officer Jonathan Ross on January 7. Don Lemon broadcast the incident on his YouTube show and stated repeatedly that he was covering the protest as a journalist. “We’re not part of the activists, but we’re here just reporting on them,” he said on video.
But federal prosecutors saw it differently. In a 12-page indictment, the Justice Department characterized Lemon as part of the group of protesters, accusing him of maintaining “operational secrecy” and physically obstructing congregants trying to leave. The indictment noted that Lemon “peppered” the pastor with questions and told him, “Please don’t push me,” after the pastor’s hand grazed him.
The arrest of Don Lemon, for doing his job as a journalist, ought to terrify Americans.
These police state tactics are turning the Department of Justice into the Department of Retribution. pic.twitter.com/Vfec6LmEL9
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) January 30, 2026
Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, rejected the characterization. “Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” Lowell said in a statement. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”
During his January 23 interview, Lemon predicted that he would be arrested because he was the “biggest name” at the demonstration. “If they get a Don Lemon, woohoo, that’s a victory,” he said.
He also referenced the September 2025 indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, which came just days after President Donald Trump publicly pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute his perceived enemies. Comey was charged with lying to Congress about the 2016 Russia investigation, though the charges were later dismissed.
The story of Don Lemon
– He storms a Minnesota church with ICE rioters telling the preacher the have the right
– He celebrates children fleeing out the back, bragging they’re ‘uncomfortable’
– Assistant AG says she’ll arrest him for this
– AG Pam Bondi announces he’s arrested pic.twitter.com/82znZxPI7t
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) January 30, 2026
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed Lemon’s arrest on Friday, announcing that federal agents had also arrested three others “in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.” Those arrested included independent journalist Georgia Fort and protest participants.
The White House posted a photo of Lemon on its X account with the caption: “When life gives you lemons…” followed by an emoji of chains.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called Lemon “an internationally known and renowned journalist and friend,” saying he was arrested “simply for doing his job.” “President Trump is not de-escalating anything after the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens by federal agents,” Bass said. “In fact, the arrest of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort demonstrates quite the opposite—he is escalating.”
Lemon appeared in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon. His attorney said the journalist would “fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.”
