Former CNN anchor Don Lemon is breaking his silence after being arrested earlier this week. Authorities indicted him on federal civil rights charges. They accused him of disturbing a Minnesota church service and storming the building with protesters.
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However, Lemon told ABC's Jimmy Kimmel that he was just practicing his own constitutional rights as a journalist, covering an event. Additionally, Lemon said his attorney reached out to authorities for the former anchor to turn himself in. However, the Department of Justice never responded. Instead, they sent federal agents to arrest the journalist at his California hotel.
"I was walking up to the room and I pressed the elevator button, and then all of a sudden, I feel myself being jostled and people trying to grab me and put me in handcuffs," he said. It's a move that Lemon called a waste of resources.
Don Lemon Responds
His lawyer also responded to the arrest.
"Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles. Where he was covering the Grammy awards," Lemon's attorney Abbe 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. Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court."
Lemon's former employer, CNN, also released a statement about the arrest as well.
"The Department of Justice already failed twice to get an arrest warrant for Don and several other journalists in Minnesota. Where a chief judge of the Minnesota Federal District Court found there was 'no evidence' that there was any criminal behavior involved in their work," CNN also said in a
