Don Lemon claims Trump ‘specifically targeted’ him as he details ‘embarrassing’ arrest
WASHINGTON, DC: Don Lemon says he thinks President Donald Trump and his administration specifically 'targeted' him. He talked about an embarrassing arrest related to his reporting on an anti-ICE protest.
Lemon didn't hold back when he talked about the January incident on ‘The View’ on April 2. It happened after he reported on a protest inside a Minnesota church. The 60-year-old reporter was charged with conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshipers.
Don Lemon talks about the time he was arrested
In February, Don Lemon pleaded not guilty to the charges and maintains he was acting as a journalist.
The case is still pending. Don spoke about why he felt he was "specifically targeted" by President Trump and his administration on the ABC talk show.
"The president has been talking about me forever. When you were at CNN, he would call me the 'dumbest man on television' and tweet about me," Don said to 'The View's Sunny Hostin, who also worked at CNN from 2007 to 2016 as a legal analyst. Don worked at the network from 2006 until 2023.
Lemon described a chaotic and unsettling moment when federal agents approached him at a Los Angeles hotel, where he had been staying while covering the 2026 Grammy Awards.
Earlier on in the interview, Don admitted that he thought he was getting "mugged" when federal agents approached him by an elevator button in his Los Angeles hotel, where he says he was grabbed.
He explained how he had asked the agents where their warrants were, and they didn't have one. The agents then went outside to get an FBI agent, who showed a picture of the warrant on a cellphone.
Claims of political targeting
Don Lemon blasted Trump and said that he thinks that the "dumbest man on television" presented himself last night on television and made it evident. The journalist was alluding to Trump's national primetime address on April 1.
He argued that his arrest was part of a broader effort to intimidate critics and members of the media. “It’s about embarrassment,” Lemon said, suggesting authorities wanted to make an example out of him.
Don said that this was very similar to how people in Minneapolis were being arrested, not with a court order but with an administrative order.
When Don heard that US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, US Attorney General Pam Bondi, and others wanted to charge him, he hired a lawyer.
Sunny chimed in that the arrest of federal agents was done to "send a message to intimidate and harass." Don expressed the same sentiment that it was done to "embarrass people" and that they want "humiliation."
