‘The View’ Hosts Share Theory for Why Don Lemon Was Arrested

The cohosts of The View had a lot to say on Monday about both the new batch of Jeffrey Epstein file documents and the arrest of journalist Don Lemon by Donald Trump‘s Department of Justice, one week after he covered a Minneapolis church protest. They also put forward a theory that the two events are deeply connected.

Ana Navarro noted that the indictment against Lemon came after “the judges in all three previous cases said to the DOJ, ‘Get the hell out of my courtroom, you clowns. There is no case here.’ So they basically did it themselves.” She then went on to point out, “They released the news at the exact same time that they released the Epstein document files. So make no mistake about it, this was about gaslighting. This was about going against Don Lemon and other journalists — by the way, all who happen to be black, Happy Black History Month— and it’s, I think, to send a chilling message correct to anybody who is covering facts.”

She also issued a warning to Trump’s team, “I think they picked on the wrong guy because Don Lemon is not going to play dead. Don Lemon has the wherewithal, has the structure, has the team, has the courage, and has the money to fight this administration.”

Sunny Hostin, who admitted to having a personal friendship with Lemon, then predicted that the case would be thrown out, saying, “This case doesn’t have any merit, and I think the National Association of Black Journalists said it best. They said, ‘The First Amendment is not optional, and journalism is not a crime.’… I’ve been with Don in Ferguson. I’ve been with Don on the ground in South Carolina. Don is a journalist. He’s an on-the-ground journalist. He has been pepper-sprayed, he has been tear-gassed, and he was getting the story, and nothing should have gotten in the way of that. He had a microphone with him, he had a cameraman with him, and he was practicing journalism.”

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She also agreed with Navarro that the story was meant to distract from the release of the new Epstein files, saying, “This is about scaring other journalists so that other journalists will not cover this, and this is the headline that dominated the news cycle, while dropping the 3 million Epstein files… So it’s not a coincidence he would pick his biggest showdown with the First Amendment while trying to cover up 3 million Epstein files.”

Whoopi Goldberg added that the chilling message also extended to the cohosts of The View and everyone else, saying, “If it’s happening like this, for someone who is out and clearly doing his job, what do you think will happen to us?”

Elsewhere in the episode, Sara Haines challenged anyone who appears in the files to explain their affiliation with Epstein, saying, “I know that the names we’re seeing, the images, it does not mean people necessarily did anything of criminal activity, but I do think people should have to explain their association. Jeffrey Epstein’s lifestyle was not a secret. It was a shared and maybe overlooked inconvenience for some, and this dates back to 2002 when two sisters that were like 14 and 15, I think, were interviewed. A story was squashed. But by 2008, Jeffrey Epstein was registered as a sex offender, and I do think if you’re registered as a sex offender, I’d like to know why. You can explain that to me. And then when they go ahead, reporters and high-profile people trust me, they knew these weren’t secrets. They not only knew it socially, they knew it because people do their research, and yet they continue to pass that aside. So if people are embarrassed or held to task right now because their names are there in their own emails, in their own words, are there. They should have to answer for that association.”

The View, weekdays, 11a/10c, ABC