(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The DOJ arrested former CNN host-turned-YouTuber Don Lemon near midnight in Los Angeles, with his attorney claiming he was taken into custody by a “bevy of agents” as he prepared to attend the Grammys.
Lemon’s defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, made the comments during a Friday appearance on MS Now’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki, where he proclaimed without evidence that the timing and manner of the arrest were designed to intimidate.
“They wanted it to be terrifying. They wanted it to be intimidating. They wanted it to create fear,” Lowell told Psaki. “He’s going to Los Angeles to do his job, which is to cover, in this case, the Grammys this weekend.”
He added: “They wait until he’s in Los Angeles. That’s not enough. They waited until 11:30 at night, when he was coming back from doing what he does in the lobby of a hotel. And not one, not two, not three, but a bevy of agents surround him and take him away.”
The description of Lemon’s arrest makes it seem far less harrowing than what many Jan. 6 protestors experienced, with many of them facing predawn raids by FBI SWAT teams. One J6er infamously lost his unborn baby as a result.
Don Lemon’s attorney Abbe Lowell is outraged by how Lemon was arrested:
“They wanted it to be terrifying. They waited until he went to Los Angeles. They waited until 11:30 at night. There was a bevy of agents."
Did Abbe sleep through the four years of the Biden FBI? pic.twitter.com/kMdFI50AaS
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) January 31, 2026
Lemon was indicted by a federal grand jury on two felony charges related to his alleged role in a Jan. 18 riot inside a church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
He is accused of conspiring to injure, oppress, threaten or intimidate individuals in the free exercise of their religious rights. He is also charged with violating the federal FACE Act.
Lemon has claimed he was acting as a journalist documenting the protest. However, video from his own livestream shows him embedded with agitators before they stormed and broke into the building.
INTENT: The opening to Don Lemon’s insane livestream is an admission of foreknowledge that the group he was in contact with was going to storm a church, based on his prior communications with its leader. pic.twitter.com/g0GVHB4871
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) January 19, 2026
Lowell also said Lemon initially believed he was being mugged “because he has been controversial, and he actually thought some crazy people on the right might be stalking him.”
Lowell alleged that the late-night timing ensured Lemon would be forced to spend the night in jail, although he provided no evidence to support this claim.
“They did it at 11:30 at night so they knew that he’d have to spend a night in jail for no reason whatsoever. But they did that on purpose,” Lowell stated, claiming the move was intentional because Lemon would not be able to appear before a judge until the following day.
Headline USA reached out to Lemon’s husband, Tim Malone, while Lemon remained in federal detention on Friday. Malone referred the outlet to Lemon’s publicist, who did not respond to questions about whether the DOJ could have arrested Lemon earlier or if there is any evidence supporting Lowell’s claims.
