Former CNN anchor Don Lemon said he offered to turn himself in prior to his arrest last week but was detained by federal agents to “embarrass” him.
“I had told them weeks before, maybe once or twice, that we would,” Lemon said. “I think my attorney tried to contact them once, maybe twice, that I could just go in and it would have to be the folks who were just working there that day.”
Lemon discussed his arrest for partaking in a protest at a Minnesota church with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Monday night, appearing as the headlining guest.
“It had to be maybe a dozen people, which is a waste, Jimmy, of resources,” Lemon said about his arrest at a Beverly Hills hotel. “It’s more than just a waste of resources. They want that. They want to embarrass you. They want to intimidate you. They want to instill fear.”
Lemon was arrested Jan. 29 at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi. He was charged with committing federal civil rights crimes for his presence at an anti-ICE protest at a church in St. Paul.
Anti-ICE protesters entered Cities Church on Jan. 18, claiming the pastor was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. They interrupted the service and chanted “ICE out” because they believed a pastor was connected to the federal agency.
Lemon is among at least nine people who have been arrested in relation to the protest.
The Justice Department had dropped its original arrest warrant requests for Lemon and others involved in the protest after two federal judges had rejected the charges.
Lemon was released without bail after his initial appearance at a Los Angeles courthouse. He maintains that he was acting within his rights as a journalist and condemned the arrest as a violation of free speech by the Trump administration.
Recounting his arrest, Lemon said his attorney had reached out to federal authorities to arrange for him to turn himself in, but he never heard back.
Lemon also said authorities grabbed him as he was stepping onto an elevator. He said he then asked the agents to identify themselves.
“I said, ‘If you are who you are, then where is the warrant?’ And they didn’t have a warrant,” Lemon said. “They had to wait for someone from outside, an FBI guy, to come in to show me a warrant on a cellphone.”
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Lemon was charged with conspiring with protesters to disrupt a church service and for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
The FACE Act, frequently used in abortion clinic cases, makes it illegal “to injure, intimidate, or interfere” by using “force, threat of force, or physical obstruction” against anyone who is “exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.”