Former CNN Anchor Don Lemon suggested Wednesday that he is considering a presidential bid.
In an interview with the podcast Can’t Be Censored, Lemon told Host Travis Dhanraj that he has “stuck his toe into” the idea of running for president, in that he has spoken with those in politics about the specifics of when he would have to declare and what it would take to win.
He also told Can’t be Censored that he thinks he would make a good president, and criticized the current prospective field:
“I look around, you know, and I see the folks who are, you know, possibly in the running, and some of them are impressive. Many of them, most of them are not.”
Lemon also discussed his CNN exit extensively on the program, claiming that he was fired for being a gay black man:
“Um, and I didn’t like my exit from CNN. I didn’t think that they treated me with any dignity and respect. I blame the management and the people who are in control, not only the people who were running the network, meaning the news bosses, but the people above them who obviously had an agenda that they wanted to get rid of me as the gay black guy.”
He addressed the comment he made about Nikki Haley not being in her prime according to common understandings of when women are in their primes, that was widely reported to be the cause of his firing. He claimed it was merely a predicate for his firing, and accused Nikki Haley of taking his statements out of context for political points:
“No one looks in that interview when I say “that’s not me saying it.”…“They skip over that. That’s why I say (it was) a predicate for me to go.”…“I should be angry with her, rather than calling me, she knows me, and trying to figure out what I said, she immediately turned it into a campaign slogan and raised money of campaign funds.”
Don Lemon is among those currently being charged by the U.S. Justice Department for his alleged part in the invasion of Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota last January. The indictment charges the defendants with 29 overt acts of Conspiracy Against Right of Religious Freedom at Place of Worship, including a few specific claims against Lemon:
“Overt Act #24: While talking with the pastor, defendant LEMON stood 50 close to the pastor that LEMON caused the pastor’s right hand to graze LEMON, who then admonished the pastor, ‘Please don’t push me.’”….“Overt Act # 28: At one point, defendant LEMON posted himself at the ‘main door of the Church, where he confronted some congregants and physically obstructed them as they tried to exit the Church building to challenge them with ‘facts’ about U.S. immigration policy.”
CNSNews has covered the Cities Church invasion extensively, including when the St. Paul city attorney refused to prosecute the alleged intruders, when it was found that the St. Paul city attorney was suing one of the church’s pastors in connection to his work as regional ICE field directors, and also when one of the defendants on this case, Chauntyll Allen, suggested that dogs should relive themselves on “White, Christian graves.”
Read Full Article: https://newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/aidan-tetreault/2026/07/21/don-lemon-considers-presidential-bid-bashes-cnn-interview
