'A message must be sent': Jim Acosta tells Don Lemon to 'sue the pants off Trump'

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon speaks to the press as he leaves federal court after an appearance following his arrest for involvement in a protest at a church in Minnesota, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 30, 2026. REUTERS/Jill Connelly

“Jim Acosta Show” host Jim Acosta says it’s good that independent reporter Don Lemon has good lawyers in his corner, because he predicts lemon will be using them against President Donal Trump after his Thursday arrest.

Even conservative media slammed the Trump administration’s “dictator”-style arrest of Lemon for covering a protest at a Minnesota church. On Friday, CNN host Jake Tapper posted Lemon’s 12-page indictment to his official X account, with D.C.-based attorney John Aravosis writing on social media that the indictment "basically accuses [Lemon] of journalism."

"He asked the pastor and congregants questions. Yeah, that’s literally journalism," Aravosis wrote. "There’s no proof, or even substantive allegation, of Lemon partaking in any conspiracy.”

"If this is the case against Don Lemon, it's about as weak as it gets," tweeted criminal defense attorney Scott Greenfield.

Speaking with MS NOW anchor Ali Velshi, Acosta said Lemon owes it to the nation and democracy to chew the administration to pieces for trying to push such nonsense.

“Don Lemon should sue the pants off Donald Trump so they can't get away with this,” Acosta said. “A message has to be sent that this this kind of stuff can't be tolerated.”

“My guess is, is that Don has some great lawyers working on his behalf to get something along those lines going right now,” Acosta added. “… They're trying to send a message, and not just to the mainstream press and brand name press, legacy media. They're trying to send it to independent journalists, that ‘if you mess with us, you're going to get in trouble and there’s going to be consequences. And we just can't let that happen.”

Independent media, said Acosta — who is himself and independent journalist — has been “rising up” in response to failings in legacy media as it “bends the knee” to Trump. Acosta referenced an agreement by CBS to cancel the show of late night comedian and Trump gadfly Stephen Colbert and settle a spurious lawsuit with Trump that could have easily been fought in court. Earlier in 2025, Disney settled an unrelated lawsuit with ABC News with a $15 million donation to the Trump Library.

“Folks at home can sniff this out and they don't want mainstream media behaving in that fashion, paying lawsuit settlements to Trump and pulling comedians off the air, and the stuff that's been going on at ‘60 Minutes’ and so on. And the independent media has been thriving [in that vacuum,” said Acosta. “… But if you target the independent press, the world just gets quieter.”

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