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The Chris Cuomo Project

Don Lemon’s Arrest Is Bigger Than Don Lemon

The Chris Cuomo Project

Chris Cuomo

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.53.5K Ratings

🗓️ 5 February 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Chris Cuomo reacts to and analyzes the arrest of Don Lemon following a protest inside a Minnesota church, arguing that the case raises far bigger questions than Lemon himself. Cuomo explains why personal feelings about Lemon — his style, his choices, or his politics — are clouding a more serious issue: whether the government should be deciding who counts as a journalist and when reporting becomes a crime. Cuomo walks through what the law actually requires, why the FACE Act is being stretched in a way that should concern journalists and non-journalists alike, and why the arrest of Lemon — and fellow journalist Georgia Fort — represents a dangerous precedent even if you strongly dislike how Lemon operates. He also addresses the tension between free speech and freedom of worship, the difference between bad judgment and criminal conduct, and why this case is not a close call in his view. Join The Chris Cuomo Project on YouTube for ad-free episodes, early releases, exclusive access to Chris, and more: https://www.youtube.com/@chriscuomo/join Follow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday: https://linktr.ee/cuomoproject Get the right life insurance for you, for less, and save more than fifty percent at https://selectquote.com/chrisc Refresh your wardrobe with Quince—go to https://quince.com/cuomo for free shipping and 365-day returns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:29.1

Walking up to the room and I pressed the elevator button and all of a sudden I feel myself

0:34.7

being jostled and they're people trying to grab me and put me in handcuffs. And I said, what are you doing here? And they said, we came to arrest you and I said, who are you? And then finally they like identified themselves and I said, if you are who you are, then where's the warrant? And they didn't have a warrant. So they had to wait for the someone from outside, an FBI guy to come in to show me a warrant on a cell phone and

0:55.8

then they there was a bunch of guys and they took me outside FBI guys were out there I

1:00.0

mean it was a host it had to be maybe a dozen people which is a waste Jimmy of

1:05.7

resources because I told them weeks before and maybe once or twice that we would you

1:10.3

know I think my attorney tried to contact them once or twice, that we would, you know, I think my attorney

1:11.1

tried to contact them once, maybe twice, that I could just go in and they would have to be

1:15.7

the folks who are just working there that day and they wouldn't have to have all these people.

1:22.5

The shit just gets deeper and deeper.

1:25.3

I got to tell you, here's the problem. I call it the Don Lemma,

1:31.4

the Don Lemon dilemma, which is that Don is masking what this is really about, and there are too

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