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Journalist Don Lemon criticized his January arrest during an appearance Thursday on The View, saying he thought he was being “hacked” and believed he was being charged with racism.
In January, a group of activists disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, because of suggestions that the church is cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The leader of the Cities Church, Jonathan Parnell, described the incident as a hiding place and said that the riots were screaming in the children’s faces. Parnell said the cameras shoved him in the face and he ended up not seeing his wife, children and church.
Lemon, who spread the unrest that attacked the church and questioned the pastor, was charged with conspiring to deprive the rights of religious freedom and violating the FACE Act.
DON LEMON HAS BEEN LEGALLY EXCUSED, NOT Pleading guilty to the charges he may have filed in the MINNESOTA CHURCH.
Former CNN anchor and reporter Don Lemon speaks to the media after a hearing at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Courthouse in Los Angeles on January 30, 2026. The Trump administration has charged Lemon with criminal charges related to organizing immigration protests. (AFP via Getty Images)
Lemon described his arrest Thursday on The View, saying he first thought he was being robbed when he encountered the elevator.
“Someone grabbed me and I said, oh my God, I’m being robbed! I thought I was being robbed, and then I started to fumble, I started backing away, it’s like, ‘We’re federal agents, we’re here to arrest you,'” he said.
“Federal prosecutors do that and the Department of Justice does that to send a message and threaten and harass, and I – it’s unfortunate, my friend, that you went through that,” co-producer Sunny Hostin said.
Lemon, admitting that humiliation was the point of such treatment, noted that a lawyer friend had told him, “‘They gave you the N treatment.’
“Yes, of course,” agreed Hostin.
It appears that Lemon was referring to a different person than Hostin, who is also an attorney and longtime friend of Lemon’s.
DON LEMON HAS BEEN LEGALLY EXCUSED, NOT Pleading guilty to the charges he may have filed in the MINNESOTA CHURCH.
Don Lemon noted that a lawyer friend had told him that federal agents had given him “the N-word treatment.” (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Lemon has denied “accusations” of crimes related to his attendance at the church. Lemon has denied wrongdoing and said he was there as a reporter protected by the First Amendment.
In a February interview with liberal journalist and broadcaster Jim Acosta, Lemon mocked churchgoers who criticized his presence there, saying they might see him as a protester and not a journalist, because he is black.
“And I think they were looking at me and, because most of the protesters were Black people, they probably thought I was a black person, and I kept saying, ‘I’m not a protester. I’m here organizing a protest.
Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ and did not immediately receive a response.
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Don Lemon said that when he was arrested, he first thought he was being robbed. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
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