Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles Thursday night while covering the Grammy Awards, his attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement.
Lemon told Scripps News last week he believed the Department of Justice would charge him in connection with a protest at a Minnesota church. Lemon has asserted that he was covering the protest as an independent journalist when a group of demonstrators confronted a pastor whom they accused of being an immigration enforcement agent.
Lemon's interview with Scripps News aired one day before Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old VA nurse, was killed in Minnesota by immigration enforcement agents. Pretti was among those protesting and documenting immigration enforcement activities as tensions have remained high in the Twin Cities area.
"I think it's not over because it doesn't matter if there's no law to fit," Lemon told Scripps News' Alisyn Camerota last week. "They will try to fit or retrofit something or go around a judge and just do it themselves."
Lemon contends he was reporting on the incident in the same manner he has throughout his decades-long career.
"I was not a protester. It's very clear about that," Lemon said. "If you look at all the evidence, I'm not a protester."
Three protesters were arrested. Lemon was not, despite widespread outcry from prominent conservatives.
"Instead of investigating federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump Justice Department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case," Lowell said.
Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney and prominent Minnesota activist, had called for the pastor affiliated with ICE to resign, saying his dual role poses a "fundamental moral conflict."
The Justice Department quickly opened a civil rights investigation after the group interrupted services by chanting "ICE out" and "Justice for Renee Good," referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis earlier this month.
