2026年2月3日 / 美国东部时间凌晨2:56 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/美联社
唐·莱蒙表示，尽管他的律师已告知当局他会自首以面对因报道一场扰乱明尼苏达州教堂礼拜的反移民执法抗议活动而被提起的联邦民权指控，上周仍有大约十几名联邦探员来到他位于洛杉矶的酒店逮捕了他。
莱蒙在接受美国广播公司深夜主持人吉米·基梅尔采访时表示，派遣探员是资源的浪费，因为如果允许他向当局自首，执法部门就不必派遣探员跟踪他了。
“我正走向房间，按下电梯按钮，突然感觉有人推搡我，有人试图抓住我并给我戴上手铐，”这位独立记者周一在《吉米·基梅尔秀》上说。
他问探员们是谁，对方表明了身份。莱蒙要求查看逮捕令，却被告知他们没有。随后，探员从外面叫来了一名联邦调查局（FBI）探员，用手机向莱蒙出示了逮捕令。
![唐·莱蒙于2026年1月30日在洛杉矶联邦法院出庭。马里奥·塔马 / 盖蒂图片社]
美国司法部和联邦调查局尚未立即回应对其置评请求。
基梅尔将莱蒙作为当晚的第一位嘉宾介绍出场，称他“因从事新闻报道而被捕”。
莱蒙的律师表示，莱蒙计划对指控不认罪。在根据法官命令获释后，他告诉记者“我不会保持沉默”。
明尼苏达州的一个大陪审团起诉了莱蒙、另一位独立记者乔治亚·福特以及其他人，指控他们在1月18日圣保罗市教堂举行的抗议活动中存在共谋行为，并侵犯了礼拜者的第一修正案权利。当时，美国移民和海关执法局（ICE）的一名官员是该教堂的牧师。
2023年，莱蒙在担任早间主持人期间经历了一段坎坷后被美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）解雇。他表示，自己与扰乱周日礼拜、闯入教堂的团体并无关联。
莱蒙称，他对案件细节不便多谈，但强调自己不是抗议者。
“我去那里是为了做一名记者。我去记录和报道发生的事情。我跟着那个团体，做了我该做的事，报道了他们的行为，”莱蒙说。
莱蒙的律师阿贝·洛厄尔在他被捕后表示：“对第一修正案的这种前所未有的攻击，以及试图转移人们对本届政府面临的诸多危机的注意力的透明企图，是站不住脚的。唐将在法庭上有力且彻底地为这些指控进行辩护。”
莱蒙说，他询问逮捕官员是否可以打个电话，对方表示不行，他只能在第二天与律师交谈。他试图用Apple Watch上的Siri给丈夫和律师打电话，但两人都没有接。
他佩戴的钻石手链不断被手铐卡住，让他感到疼痛。探员告诉他可以取下手链，莱蒙询问探员是否介意将手链带到酒店房间交给他的丈夫，对方同意了。
“我丈夫就是这样得知我的情况的，否则没人会知道我在哪里，”莱蒙说。
莱蒙被关押在联邦法院的拘留室，从午夜到次日下午1点。
基梅尔本人去年成为了反对审查制度斗争的象征，当时美国广播公司因他在保守派活动家查理·柯克遇刺后发表的言论暂停了《吉米·基梅尔秀》的播出。联邦通信委员会主席布伦丹·卡尔在此之前不久曾施压要求广播公司停播该节目。
在公众强烈抗议后，美国广播公司解除了停播决定，基梅尔以比以往更高的收视率重返荧屏。国会中，民主党参议员对卡尔的行为践踏第一修正案表示担忧。
Don Lemon says he offered to turn himself in but federal agents were sent for him anyway
February 3, 2026 / 2:56 AM EST / CBS/AP
Don Lemon says about a dozen federal agents came to his Los Angeles hotel to arrest him last week even though his attorney had told authorities he would turn himself in to face federal civil rights charges over his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.
Lemon told ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that sending the agents was a waste of resources because law enforcement wouldn’t have had to dispatch agents to follow him if he’d been allowed to surrender to authorities.
“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 (were) trying to grab me and put me in handcuffs,” the independent journalist said Monday on the show on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
He asked the agents who they were and said they identified themselves. Lemon asked to see a warrant and was told they didn’t have it. The agents then summoned an FBI agent to come in from outside to show Lemon the warrant on a cell phone.
Don Lemon departs federal court on Jan. 30, 2026, in Los Angeles. Mario Tama / Getty Images
The Department of Justice and FBI didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Kimmel introduced Lemon, his first guest of the night, by saying he was “was arrested for committing journalism.”
Lemon’s attorney has said Lemon plans to plead not guilty. He told reporters “I will not be silenced” after he was released in response to a judge’s orders.
A grand jury in Minnesota indicted Lemon, another independent journalist, Georgia Fort, and others on charges of conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.
Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 following a bumpy run as a morning host, has said he had no affiliation to the group that disrupted the Sunday service by entering the church.
Lemon said he couldn’t say much about the case but he said he was not a protester.
“I went there to be a journalist. I went there to chronicle and document and record what was happening. I was following that one group around, and so that’s what I did. I reported on them,” Lemon said.
Abbe Lowell, Lemon’s lawyer, said after his arrest that, “This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand. Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.”
Lemon said he asked the arresting officers if they would let him make a phone call. He said he was told no and that he could talk to his attorney the next day. He tried to use Siri on his Apple Watch to call his husband and his attorney but neither picked up.
A diamond bracelet he was wearing kept getting caught on his handcuffs, which hurt, and the agents told Lemon they would take it off. Lemon said he asked if the agent would mind taking it up to Lemon’s husband in his hotel room and they agreed to do that.
“And that’s how my husband found out. Otherwise, no one would have known where I was,” Lemon said.
Lemon said he was kept in a holding room at the federal courthouse from midnight until 1 p.m. the following day.
Kimmel himself became a symbol of a fight against censorship last year, when ABC suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for remarks made following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr had pressured broadcasters to take Kimmel off the air shortly before that.
ABC lifted the suspension after a public outcry, and Kimmel returned to the air with much stronger ratings than he had before. In Congress, Democratic senators raised concerns that Carr’s actions had trampled on the First Amendment.