'She's interfering': Pam Bondi sparks fury from onlookers with Don Lemon arrest comment
Attorney General Pam Bondi sparked questions about the arrest of former CNN host Don Lemon with her announcement of federal charges related to a protest at a church in Minnesota.
Lemon's attorney Abbe Lowell stated that the journalist was taken into custody Thursday night in Los Angeles, a week after a magistrate judge declined to sign an arrest warrant – which reportedly enraged Bondi, who announced his arrest along with others involved in the demonstration at a St. Paul church whose pastor is believed to head up the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.
"At my direction, early this morning federal agents arrested Don Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota," Bondi stated on X.
The attorney general's lack of specificity about the nature of the charges or how a warrant was obtained was noted by legal experts and others.
"Journalists arrested on bogus charges; citizens executed in the streets by masked secret police; election offices raided at the direction of an intelligence agency; oil executives notified of a military invasion before Congress," said Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY). "Putin’s America is here. I’m confident Don will prevail, but make no mistake: the First Amendment is under its greatest threat since our founding."
"Interested to learn what 'at my direction' means because it sounds like 'without a warrant,'" posted civil rights lawyer Joshua Erlich, who noted that some reports indicate the Department of Justice obtained a true bill against the broadcaster. "If this did come from a grand jury, Bondi is posting to take credit for directing an arrest that would happen in the normal course and likely proving that she’s interfering in something she shouldn’t have any role in."
"The Fourth Amendment is a dead letter," lamented University of Louisville law professor Joe Dunman.
"'We are corruptly harassing him to intimidate journalists rather than to secure a conviction,'" intoned Roosevelt Institute economist Stephen Nuñez.
"What's the point of being Attorney General if you can't point at someone and have them arrested?" joked Bluesky user Steve Uncle.
"It wasn’t an 'attack.' It was a protest," noted filmmaker and author Melissa Jo Peltier.
"She is making a huge federal case out of trespassing," pointed out HuffPost's S.V. Dáte. "Meanwhile, she is refusing to investigate two homicides of American citizens by Stephen Miller’s secret police."
"Bondi says she personally directed the arrest, WH smears and cheers," sighed Protect Democracy's Amanda Carpenter.
"I literally do not understand: who signed off on arresting these 4 black journalists?" wondered economist David Rothschild. "Was there a judge involved or did AG Bondi just have the Trump paramilitary arrest them?"
"Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were arrested by 'federal agents.' Federal agents from where? What federal agency is arresting journalists? Not seeing this in the news stories or announcements," asked former Obama administration official Brandon Friedman. "Along with news stories, neither Pam Bondi's announcement nor Don Lemon's statement specify which federal agency is arresting journalists. This is important!"
"'At my direction' tells the whole story," nodded Columbia law professor Jamal Greene.