TMZ’s Harvey Levin Blasts Trump Over Don Lemon Arrest: ‘This Is the Playbook That Dictator’s Use’

TMZ founder Harvey Levin trashed the arrest and indictment of former CNN anchor Don Lemon by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department as “a ridiculous assault on democracy” and a move straight out of the dictator’s “playbook.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Lemon’s arrest Friday morning over his presence covering at protests held inside Cities Church in St. Paul. One of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, is reportedly acting director of the St. Paul ICE field office. Earlier this month, Lemon livestreamed the scene as anti-ICE demonstrators interrupted a church service in footage that sparked immediate political backlash.

Lemon has pushed back forcefully, insisting he was acting solely as a journalist and played no role in the protest itself, even as Trump joined MAGA supporters in pushing for calls that he be jailed.

The journalist appeared in court on Friday afternoon, where he was later released on personal recognizance bond and declared from courthouse steps that he would not be “silenced.”

Speaking from TMZ’s studio in a recorded statement published on the outlet’s website Friday, Levin torched the charges and the move as “dictator-like”:

So the Trump administration wonders why people are saying that they are trying to form a dictatorship. Well, look at the landscape – arresting Don Lemon, who covered a protest in Minneapolis, is just insane, ridiculous, dictator-like. This is the playbook that dictators use to destroy democracies and take the will of the people away. It is as simple as that.

Defending Lemon’s actions as well within his First Amendment rights, the producer warned “that a free press was essential to a democracy.”

“Without a free press, you don’t have a democracy, and it’s real clear that Donald Trump and company doesn’t want a free press,” he said.

Levin rejected the argument that Lemon crossed legal lines by entering the church’s private property as “insane”:

A church invites everybody in. Have you ever seen a church with a no trespassing sign saying no journalists allowed? Have you ever seen any house of worship that says that? It is insane, insane, that they’re making this stupid argument transparent.

He then launched into an impassioned defense of Lemon’s coverage, demanding viewers “watch that video” to see that he was “covering the protest.”

“That’s what journalists do,” he added, drawing on his own background, having “covered riot and floods and earthquakes and all sorts of things” in his 15 years reporting from Los Angeles.

“A grand jury indicted Don Lemon after a magistrate said there is insufficient evidence,” he said, noting that neither Lemon nor his lawyer appeared before the grand jury. “The Justice Department says what the Justice Department wants the grand jury to believe, and almost every time they believe it.”

Levin continued that the case was not a technical legal dispute, but a warning sign for the whole country in a direct call out to the Trump administration:

It’s a ridiculous assault on democracy. The Trump administration should be ashamed of itself, but they’re not. And they will continue to do this. And they are going after journalists. They’re getting search warrants for their homes. It is obvious what’s happening in this country, people. Look at what is happening. You’re gonna look back in two years, if somebody doesn’t stand up to them, and I know people are now, but you’re gonna back in to years and say, ‘Wow, we didn’t see that coming!’

Ending with a stark historical analogy, Levin warned that the failure to confront what he sees as escalating authoritarianism would lead to regret, citing former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement and inaction against Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

“[He] should have saw it coming and he didn’t,” Levin snapped, adding: “This is an outrage.”

Watch above via TMZ.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!