Former CNN anchor Don Lemon has warned that the United States must continue to defend press freedom, describing it as “the breath in the lungs of democracy” after his arrest alongside another journalist by the Trump administration. Lemon was arrested late last month, days after covering an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a Minnesota church service.
Speaking at a Human Rights Campaign event in New York City on Saturday, Lemon alluded to rights under the First Amendment, saying: “Our society cannot breathe without the freedom of the press, the freedom of speech. I felt the smothering, the suffocation. I saw how quickly a voice can be targeted, how easily truth can be distorted.” He stressed that he is a journalist, not an activist, and that his role is to witness and tell the truth.
Lemon argued that those in power often celebrate a free press only when it does not disturb their comfort. He asked listeners to “imagine the state having control of your freedom, simply because they don’t like that you are doing your job.” Describing his arrest as “very frightening,” he added: “When the first amendment becomes optional, democracy becomes hollow. We [have] got to keep fighting.”
The arrest followed an indictment by a federal grand jury in Minnesota, charging Lemon, fellow journalist Georgia Fort, and others with conspiracy and interfering with worshippers’ constitutional rights during a protest at the Cities church in Saint Paul on 18 January. The church’s pastor is a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official. Lemon has said he was present only as a journalist livestreaming the demonstration and had no affiliation with the group that disrupted the service.
Despite a federal magistrate judge initially refusing to sign a warrant for Lemon’s arrest, a dozen federal agents arrested him at a Los Angeles hotel on 30 January, where he was staying to cover the Grammy awards. Lemon recounted the incident on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, noting that his attorney had offered to surrender voluntarily. He concluded: “The first amendment is not just a legal guarantee – we have to keep fighting for the first amendment and all of our rights.”
