Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
All right. Welcome to the Jim Acosta show.
Chapter 2: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
And it's another day that ends in why and Donald Trump's assault on the free press and freedom of speech. And a perfect guest to that note is Don Lemon, the great Don Lemon with us. Don, great to see you. You and I've been going back trying to figure out a time to talk about all of this. How are you doing? How are you holding up?
I'm doing okay, and it's good to see you. It's good to see that you're still in the fight. You're still doing great, and I love the breaking news. I love the Jim Acosta show, the report. So I'm doing okay. It's a lot, as you know. Well, maybe I don't know. They took your press pass, but they didn't take your freedom. So it's a little bit different, right?
Is that like Braveheart or something? Is that like what? They can take away our press pass. Remember that? They can take away our lives, but they can't. I don't know. Whatever that was. Bad reference. Very badly dated reference. That's okay. No, but I mean, no, my press pass thing is, I mean, no, I didn't get locked up.
um i thought my career was going to come to an end uh but you know this is far more serious than what you're going through right now and i you know i've been describing this as the jailing journalist uh phase of donald trump's authoritarian project and he's playing for keeps and i think this is not just a message directed at you it's directed at everybody in this country
Yeah, I'm glad you I'm glad you realize that because this is look, I happen to be, you know, the central character in my part of the story. But the bigger story, this goes way beyond Don Lemon. And I think you would feel the same way if you you know, if you if this happened to you, because what they're trying to do is decide. And this is a very dangerous place to be in.
uh what protests you can cover and what you can't what you know and that would go to what wars you can cover and what you can and and i think it just has or you know what stories you can cover and what you can't just like what's happening at the pentagon as you know you got to sign the thing if you want to report on the pentagon that they have to approve it so it's that and then
The other thing is that they're trying to decide who gets to be a journalist and who's not a journalist. And I've seen some random stories of people going, well, is Don Lemon a journalist and who's a journalist? It's like, what the fuck are you talking about? I've been doing this for 30 years.
Of course, is that all gone now that I'm independent and that I'm not with a news organization and I'm all of a sudden not a journalist? It's just ridiculous. I actually had to confront one of our old colleagues the other day on that.
yeah well and i hate that i honestly hate that crap because you know there's a lot of professional envy and jealousy in our business and it brings out the worst in people but as i've been saying and i've done a couple of hits on ms about this like you know we we just have to support you in all this and i you know i consider you a friend um and a colleague and of course a fellow fellow journalist
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Chapter 3: How has the Trump administration impacted press freedom?
And so, yeah, it's a bit overwhelming. The attention is something that, as a journalist, that you don't want. I don't mind people stopping me, as they have since I've been doing, since I've been in this business, for a selfie or for a picture or to say hello or an autograph, whatever that means. But this is quite different. People engage on a different level.
And then, you know, the MAGA folks can be a bit unhinged and violent, as we know, from January 6th. And so that's concerning for me as well.
Yeah, but Don, I mean, to the point that you made earlier, and I don't understand why people don't get this. You say in the video, I've been pointing this out repeatedly. You say in the video, I'm here as a journalist. I'm here covering this. That's what I'm doing. We play the video. You say it, you know. I'm not part of the group. I'm just here photographing. I'm a journalist. I'm a journalist.
I'm here photographing. Numerous times. People not understand.
don't know it's weird because they kept saying it even when i told them that i'm not and i think they were looking at me and because the bulk of the protesters were black maybe they thought because i'm black then and i kept saying i'm not a protester i'm here covering the protest i'm not with them and they were you know they just for some reason could not understand and i just had to keep telling them that i'm not part of the group i'm just here photographing i would say chronicling or whatever it is and that's
That's it, Jim.
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Chapter 4: What are the consequences of revoking press credentials?
So why they couldn't figure it out, I don't know. And you don't, you never, the only time you see me in that going to anywhere up to anyone was when I went into the crowd to interview the other person, the protester, the woman who was leading the protest, or when I was going for the password.
I'm not part of the group. I'm just here.
I'm a journalist.
Anyway, yeah, no, I mean, and even when you're talking to the pastor, you know, that did not seem like a like a heated confrontation or anything. You just you're talking to him. It wasn't heated. He stood there and talked to me for a long time.
And then so look, I will just say in this. The video speaks for itself. I mean, they can try to do as they did with Rene Good, as they did with Alex Preddy. They can try to get people to believe something other than what they're seeing with their eyes and hearing with their ears, and that's what they will try to do.
But I think the video tells you everything, that I was there doing journalism, which is what I was supposed to be doing, which is what I went there to do, and that's it.
yeah and i mean one of the things we should point out i mean trump did respond uh to this and he claimed he didn't know anything about it which i don't believe and then he said about you he said he's a sleazebag everyone's known that he's a wash up but he said probably from his standpoint the best thing that could have happened to him i love when trump does that he sort of did that with my press pass thing he was like well it wasn't so bad what jim did but it's probably been good for him it's like
First of all, we know, you and I both know that Donald Trump was, I mean, or maybe you don't feel this way, but it seems to me he had some involvement in this. There's, you know, whether it's just griping about you, making it clear he doesn't like you, and then the way they sycophantically react to everything that he does. I mean, to say, oh, I didn't know about it or I wasn't aware of it.
Come on. Of course he's aware of it. If he wanted to, he can tell them, look, don't do this. And they would do it. Right. And even if he wasn't aware of it at that point, he could say, end this. And he didn't. So, look, that's very telling. Look, Donald Trump is a compulsive liar, as we know. And if his lips are moving, he's probably lying. And so we know that.
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Chapter 5: How do journalists define their role in the current political climate?
He goes after all these people. And and his administration responds. The Justice Department is basically an instrument of how those worked out for him. Well, and they didn't work out so well. And I think your case is going to fall apart in the exact same way. They don't have a case.
But, I mean, is there something to the fact that he's able to get away with this that should be chilling to every American? I mean, he can't put you in prison permanently, but he can harass you and make your life difficult. And he can continue to do this to other people.
Well, as I said in my statement after the hearing that I had last week, is that the process is the punishment. And so just by doing it, they think that that's enough because they want to embarrass you. They want to send a message to the MAGA faithful. And most people see through it. The MAGA folks are like, oh, my gosh, you don't get him. And other people are like, what are you doing?
This is stupid. Most people, most sane, rational-thinking people understand there is a difference between a protester and a journalist. And they also understand when they've crossed the line from a democratic administration to an authoritarian regime, which is the territory that we're in right now.
Absolutely. And you said that you might have some important information to share, some new information.
I didn't talk to you last week, but just things that I shared afterwards. And as you know, from my attorney, that we serve the prosecutors with two pages of demands.
for what they claim is evidence uh last week we announced um our intention for this case to have the grand jury transcripts released to show the charges are baseless and we made it clear that we will move to dismiss the charges as violating the first amendment and so um And that's directly from my attorney. That's what I can share with you. And that's what has been shared publicly.
And so, you know, that's where we are right now.
So I am going to fight this. Good. Well, and with my press pass case, we had to go to federal court and we fought this on due process grounds and First Amendment grounds. But the lawyer that we had at the time, Ted Olson, the famous Ted Olson, who was in the Bush v. Gore case and lots of other cases over the years, said that we had a better chance on due process grounds.
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Chapter 6: What challenges do journalists face when covering protests?
And I believe Donald Trump does not understand that. I think that he is clueless as to what's going on. And he has people in his ear who are telling him the exact opposite of what they should be telling him.
Yeah, I mean, they're the ones that have the problem in Minnesota, not you, Don. And the other thing is that Pam Bondi has bigger problems, it seems to me. But, Jim, the Dow, the Dow, the Dow is at $50,000.
Why are you laughing, Jim? I mean, you're a good stock trader. Like, I hear that. I mean, the Dow and then the NASDAQ is at $7,000. I mean, come on.
Yeah.
They got to get Pam on CNBC or something. But here's the other thing. They've arrested you, Don, but have they arrested anybody in the Jeffrey Epstein case? All these files, all these clowns that have been revealed and exposed as being pedophiles and freaks. Why aren't we rounding those assholes up?
No, and as far as I know, no one has been detained as it relates to the death of Alex Preddy, who was a law-abiding, gun-carrying person, right, who had the right to carry, or Rene Good, and just detained and questioned. and investigate it.
So I'm not saying that they're guilty, but no one has been charged or investigated or brought in for questioning that we know about because they are withholding the information from local authorities and even trying to get local people, not allowing local people to file charges against the ICE officers or to even investigate the ICE officers. And look at all the people who are mentioned
in the Epstein files, including and especially the President of the United States, who's mentioned more times than anyone except for, I believe, Jeffrey Epstein and maybe Glenn Maxwell in the Epstein files. They're not asking him. They're not hauling him down into Washington in front of a congressional or a Senate subcommittee or even in front of someone to do a deposition of some sort.
No one is asking him to do it, but they're asking Bill Clinton to do it. And Bill Clinton hasn't been president since what, the late 1990s? So, you know, hey.
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