Federal agents arrested former CNN anchor Don Lemon late Thursday in Los Angeles while he was covering the Grammy Awards, after Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the move despite a federal magistrate judge refusing to sign an arrest warrant in the case.
Lemon’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, confirmed the arrest in a statement early Friday and laid out the clash: “Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards,” Lowell said. “Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done.”
That’s a stunning line — the lawyer basically argues that what got Lemon hauled in was the very thing the First Amendment exists to protect.
Lowell didn’t pull punches, framing the feds’ decision as a political dodge: “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,” he said, calling the arrest **“an unprecedented attack on the First Amendment.”
Here’s where it gets extra ugly: just last week, a federal magistrate judge in Minnesota declined to approve prosecutors’ bid to charge Lemon in connection with a Jan. 18 event at Cities Church in St. Paul — an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a service and turned violent. The judge said there was no evidence Lemon committed a crime.
Yet despite that rebuke, federal authorities went back to the well and got what they needed — a grand jury indictment — and executed the arrest in California instead of Minnesota.
Attorney General Pam Bondi even took to social media to brag that the arrests — Lemon and three others — were done “at my direction” in connection with what she called a “coordinated attack” on the church.
What exactly Lemon is charged with is still murky. Prosecutors haven’t publicly detailed specific counts, even though multiple news outlets report the case involves alleged interference with religious worship and civil rights violations tied to the protest.
Lemon has posted video of the church incident , insisting he was on the scene covering the story — “I’m just here photographing, I’m not part of the group… I’m a journalist,” he said in the footage.
Reactions exploded once word of the arrest hit. Journalists and press-freedom advocates blasted it as an alarming precedent; veteran reporter Jim Acosta called the move “outrageous” and warned the First Amendment is under attack. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries took to social media as well, saying there’s “zero basis to arrest him” and urging his immediate release.
Whether this turns into a full-blown constitutional showdown or just another blip in the 2026 political wars remains to be seen — but for now, a judge’s refusal to authorize an arrest warrant means nothing to a Justice Department apparently determined to make a statement.
