What to know about Don Lemon, the gay journalist arrested by the Trump administration

Who is Don Lemon, former CNN anchor? 

Lemon, 59, previously worked at CNN for 17 years, hosting shows such as Don Lemon Tonight and CNN This Morning.

From Louisiana, Lemon began his career in journalism by working for several local news outlets. He won an Edward R. Murrow award for his reporting on the Washington, D.C., snipers in 2002. In 2006, Lemon joined CNN, where he started as a correspondent and then anchor. The journalist was also one of the first out Black news hosts on national cable television.

He came out in his memoir Transparent in 2011. He married his husband, real estate agent Tim Malone, in 2024 after dating for about eight years.

Lemon hosted Don Lemon Tonight on for a year before moving to co-host CNN This Morning in 2022.

He was fired from CNN in April 2023 after being accused of misogyny by several colleagues, though CNN never gave an official reason for his departure.

"I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned," Lemon wrote in a post on X at the time. "After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network."

Lemon's firing came after comments he made in February that year sparked backlash, in which he said, "Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry. When a woman is considered to be in her prime — in her 20s, 30s, and maybe her 40s." An exposé published by Variety just weeks before Lemon was let go featured interviews with more than a dozen former and current coworkers, who discussed his alleged interest in power and denigration of women coworkers.

CNN booking agents later told The New York Times that Lemon was fired because they were experiencing difficulty finding guests willing to speak with him, and that his popularity among audiences had taken a dive.

What has Don Lemon done after CNN?

Lemon announced his return to television in January 2024 with the debut of The Don Lemon Show. Lemon partnered with Elon Musk to launch the show on X, promising that the Tesla CEO would be his first guest. He wrote in a post, "First guest. Elon Musk like you’ve never seen him before. You won’t want to miss this."

Musk abruptly ended the partnership before the episode was published, with Lemon saying he "informed me of his decision hours after an interview I conducted with him."

"There were no restrictions on the interview that he willingly agreed to, and my questions were respectful and wide ranging, covering everything from SpaceX to the presidential election," Lemon wrote in a post. "We had a good conversation. Clearly he felt differently. His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me."

Why was Don Lemon taken into custody?

Federal agents arrested Lemon on Thursday, along with local journalist Georgia Fort, after weeks of public threats from the Department of Justice over their coverage of the protests in Minneapolis.

“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” Abbe Lowell, Lemon's attorney, told The Advocate. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed in a post on X that the arrest occurred "at my direction." She claimed the charges were "in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota," and promised "more details soon," though no charging documents have been made public.

How was Don Lemon involved with the church protest?

Lemon's arrest comes after he covered protesters interrupting a church service at St. Paul's Cities Church, where one of the pastors is an ICE agent. Bondi arrested two participants, Chauntyll Louisa Allen and Nekima Levy Armstrong, but a federal magistrate judge refused to sign a charging complaint against Lemon.

Lemon posted recordings on Bluesky Sunday evening in which he interviewed Armstrong, as well as a pastor of the church and one of the people attending the service. The recording shows that Lemon did not directly participate in the protest, but that he asked protestors questions moments before they entered the church.

Who is Georgia Fort, the Minnesota journalist arrested?

Georgia Fort is an independent journalist based in Minnesota who also covered the protest at St. Paul's Cities Church. She is a 2025 Bush Fellow, and a three-time Midwest Emmy Award winner.

Fort recorded the moment she was arrested in a Facebook Live video, in which officers arrived at her home with an arrest warrant. She said that her children were with her and were distressed by her arrest.

"As a member of the press, I filmed the church protest a few weeks ago, and now I'm being arrested for that," Fort said in the video. "It's hard to understand how we have a Constitution, Constitutional rights, when we can just be arrested for being a member of the press."