Why is the president thanking agents and talking to agents, even if they try to downplay it as

he's showing support for law enforcement or whatever else? It's that thumb on the scale point

that we just cannot underscore enough, Sarah. When we start getting into the world of political

leaders nudging and shoving law enforcement, that starts getting into the world of political leaders nudging and shoving law enforcement. That starts

getting into authoritarian land. That's just not the way the United States has worked,

certainly for the last, certainly since Watergate and long before that.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the illegal news. I'm Sarah Longwell, publisher of the bulwark,

and because I'm not a lawyer, Elliot Williams, lawyer, CNN legal analyst, and author of the book

Five Bullets is back today to help break down the news and explain the law. Elliot, you were a big hit

last week. Thanks for doing it again, man. Thank you. Always great to be back. Okay. So a bunch of different

topics I want to ask you about today. And I have a bunch that I am like, I'm sort of like desperate to ask a smart lawyer.

Well, you got to find a smart lawyer. I mean, you have a lawyer here. But, uh, you know, I'm counting on you.

All right. I'll do my best. And you and I know other people do too. All right. So I'm going to start with. And actually, I'll just tell you, I just so you are prepared. I want to talk about the Don Lemon arrest. I want to talk about Trump's attacks on our federal elections or on federalism itself. I want to talk about his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS because, and then finally, I want to ask you about his plan to close the Kennedy Center for two years. The Trump, the Trump Kennedy Center. The Trump Kennedy Center. Excuse me. Yeah. Just just just so we're clear on what the terms are. No, no, no. You got to keep me honest to it, that that is, we have a Department of War and a Trump Kennedy Center. Yes, we do. But, of course, you know, the Trump Kennedy Center now, they are closing it. And I want to talk about that just a little bit. But I want to start with Don Lemon, who, you must know Don. I know Don from doing a show on CNN.

You do CNN.

So last week we talked about the church protest in Minnesota.

You and I agreed not a smart thing to do.

We specifically talked about how a federal magistrate judge denied the government's application for certain arrest warrants related to that protest, including the one for Don Lemon.

And then just a day or two

after we recorded Lemon and another journalist, Georgia Fort, were arrested for their purported

involvement in the church protest. And before we get into what this means for the freedom of press,

can you just explain how the government was able to arrest Don Lemon without an arrest warrant.

And then what did the court ultimately grant, like, or did the court like ultimately grant

...