Former CNN host Don Lemon shed light on how his arrest over the Minnesota church storming transpired during an interview Monday with ABC's Jimmy Kimmel.

Lemon began by revealing that his attorney Abbe Lowell had reached out to the Justice Department prior to the arrest to discuss his client turning himself in as top DOJ officials spoke openly about seeking charges against him, but that Lowell "never heard back."

He then offered a timeline of what had transpired late Thursday night leading up to his arrest, how he had attended pre-Grammy events and that it wasn't until he got back to his hotel in Los Angeles that he was accosted by federal agents.

"I press the elevator button and then all of a sudden, I feel myself being jostled and people trying to grab me and put me in handcuffs," Lemon said. "And I said, ‘What are you doing here?' They said, ‘We came to arrest you.’ I said, ‘Who are you?’ And then they, like, finally identity themselves."

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The ex-CNN star then said he then demanded to see a warrant, which the agents who grabbed him didn't have, so he said they had to "wait" for an FBI agent from outside to bring a copy of the warrant on a cellphone.

"It had to be maybe a dozen people, which is a waste, Jimmy, of resources," Lemon told Kimmel. "Because I had told them weeks before, maybe once or twice… that I could just go in and they didn't have to be — the folks that were just working there that day and they didn't have to have all of these people following me around."

"It's more than just a waste of resources," Kimmel reacted.

"You're right about more than just a waste of resources," Lemon responded. "They want that. They want to embarrass you. They want to intimidate you. They want to instill fear, and so that's why they did it that way."

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Lemon was arrested and charged Friday with conspiracy to deprive rights and violation of the FACE Act for his involvement in the anti-ICE protest that disrupted services at a Minnesota church.

Lemon went viral last month for livestreaming left-wing agitators who stormed St. Paul's Cities Church during Sunday services. Lemon has maintained he was there as a journalist, not as a protester. In the indictment, however, the DOJ accuses him of coordinating with the protest organizers before they arrived at the church. 

"I've spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now," Lemon told reporters outside the courthouse on Friday. "There is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those accountable. And I will not stop now. I will not stop ever.

"Last night, the DOJ sent a team of federal agents to arrest me in the middle of the night for something that I've been doing for the last 30 years. And that is covering the news. The First Amendment of the Constitution protects that work for me and for countless other journalists who do what I do. I stand with all of them, and I will not be silenced. I look forward to my day in court."

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A federal magistrate judge previously rejected the Justice Department’s initial attempt to bring charges against Lemon. The DOJ then sought an indictment from a Minnesota grand jury.

Prior to the arrest, Lemon dared the Trump administration to make him "into the new Jimmy Kimmel."

Kimmel, a fierce Trump critic, was briefly suspended by ABC last year following his remarks about the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk that caught the attention of the Federal Communications Commission. Like Kimmel, Lemon has become a liberal folk hero for his fighting with the Trump administration.

Lemon's next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 9 in Minneapolis. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi criticized former CNN anchor Don Lemon on "Hannity" Monday for defending his "illegal" actions at a Minnesota church anti-ICE protest as an "act of journalism."

"So, anyone with a camera then would be allowed, under his [Lemon’s] theory, to come in and attack a church like that and riot a church on a Sunday morning," she said.

"You can't do that in this country. It's illegal, we're going to prosecute you, and you will be held accountable. Doesn't matter if you're a failed journalist with a camera in your hand. You can’t do it."

Bondi’s remarks followed the arrest of two more individuals in connection with the invasion of a Minnesota church by anti-ICE protesters on Monday.

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"These people committed a crime under the FACE Act, and they will be held accountable," she explained. "Nine of them have been charged, and you will not do this in our country. We're coming after you if you do."

On Jan. 18, hundreds of anti-ICE demonstrators disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minn., protesting a pastor who they accused of assisting the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota.

Bondi characterized it as an "attack-style" bombardment on a house of worship, detailing how one woman was injured in the incident.

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"There were children crying, there were parents blocked from getting upstairs to take their children out of Sunday school," she said. "A group of women ran out a side door. Multiple people fell on the ice. One woman severely damaged her arm, had to go to the hospital."

"These parishioners thought they were gonna get shot," Bondi added.

The attorney general alleged the incident was led by a "resistance operation," involving Lemon.

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"They met in a parking lot about two miles away while people were filing into this church service," Bondi told host Sean Hannity. "They were caravanning to this church to perform an attack-style infiltration of a church service on a Sunday morning."

She also accused Lemon of physically blocking a parishioner from exiting the church.

According to the indictment, all nine individuals are charged with interfering with others’ freedom to worship under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which protects the right to worship freely at places of worship.

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Lemon has strongly pushed back on the indictment, saying his presence at the protest was an "act of journalism," explaining that he was merely covering the event rather than participating.

"F off, whoever you think is going to stop me from reporting. I’ll say it f--- off if you think you’re going to stop me from reporting," Lemon said on Instagram Monday.

"I am a journalist through and through and through," he continued.

All nine individuals charged in the case have been arrested, and Bondi said the Justice Department will continue prioritizing the protection of houses of worship.

"We live in the United States of America, and you will have the right to worship safely and freely in a house of worship," she asserted. "Whether it's a church, a synagogue, a temple, a mosque, any house of worship in this country, you will be safe."