On Saturday’s The Weekend, MSNOW White House reporter Laura Barron-Lopez asserted that liberal journalist Don Lemon is being prosecuted by the Donald Trump administration because the President doesn’t like journalists who present facts and criticize him.

The show also tried to tie in race, with co-host Eugene Daniels teasing the story: “Today Trump’s immigration crackdown extends to the free press with federal agents arresting two black journalists, including Don Lemon, after documenting a church protest.”

After beginning the show by discussing the merits of the case, co-host Jackie Alemany turned to Barron-Lopez and posed: “Can you talk about why the White House is so obsessed with Don Lemon in particular?”

She and Daniels then added:

ALEMANY: I mean, they tweeted yesterday after this episode played out, that when life gives you lemons with the chain emoji and pictures of him.

DANIELS: Let’s show that. It is very important that people look at what they’re telling you — the chains and then a black man in a picture. That is very important. That tells you a lot about the way that they think about black people in this country. Sorry, go ahead.

ALEMANY: Yeah, what is the grudge that the White House is so hung up on? Why did they go through with this and what what was the conversation like on the grounds yesterday?

Barron-Lopez asserted:

… there is a pattern with how the White House, how this President treats black people, whether they’re journalists or not journalists. There’s also, you know, beyond Lemon, I think that this President does have a fixation with reporters, with the press, with media personalities in particular, that he thinks are too critical of him.

But it’s not just critical of the President — it’s just reporters who report facts, right, who present the facts, who lay out patterns, who call what the President is doing, you know, call a spade a spade. And if you do that as a journalist now with this President, you are called political by this administration and by this President and by this MAGA movement.

After recalling President Trump’s history of deriding the press as “the enemy of the people,” she added:

BARRON-LOPEZ: Those are really strong words to describe fellow Americans who have the same rights that he has. And also, you know, our work is one of the closest jobs that’s enshrined in the Constitution and —

JONATHAN CAPEHART: The only job.

BARRON-LOPEZ: Right, and so, right — and so because of and yet the President has made very clear that he has wanted to target the press from the beginning. And he has said to other journalists that he likes to discredit the press. Why? So that way the public doesn’t believe us.

Transcript follows:

MS NOW’s The Weekend

January 31, 2026

7:00 a.m. Eastern

EUGENE DANIELS (in opening tease): Good morning. It is Saturday, January 31. Today Trump’s immigration crackdown extends to the free press with federal agents arresting two black journalists, including Don Lemon, after documenting a church protest.

(…)

7:07 a.m.

JACKIE ALEMANY: But, Laura, can you talk about why the White House is so obsessed with Don Lemon in particular? I mean, they tweeted yesterday after this episode played out, that when life gives you lemons with the chain emoji and pictures of him.

DANIELS: Let’s show that. It is very important that people look at what they’re telling you — the chains and then a black man in a picture. That is very important. That tells you a lot about the way that they think about black people in this country. Sorry, go ahead.

ALEMANY: Yeah, what is the grudge that the White House is so hung up on? Why did they go through with this and what what was the conversation like on the grounds yesterday?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: I wasn’t at the White House yesterday, but what I will say is that, to Eugene’s point, yes, there is a pattern with how the White House, how this President treats black people, whether they’re journalists or not journalists. There’s also, you know, beyond Lemon, I think that this President does have a fixation with reporters, with the press, with media personalities in particular, that he thinks are too critical of him.

But it’s not just critical of the President — it’s just reporters who report facts, right, who present the facts, who lay out patterns, who call what the President is doing, you know, call a spade a spade. And if you do that as a journalist now with this President, you are called political by this administration and by this President and by this MAGA movement. And that is the pattern here. It goes all the way back to when he first entered the political scene, which is that the President made very clear that he viewed the press as the enemy of the people. Those are really strong words to describe fellow Americans who have the same rights that he has. And also, you know, our work is one of the closest jobs that’s enshrined in the Constitution and —

JONATHAN CAPEHART: The only job.

BARRON-LOPEZ: Right, and so, right — and so because of and yet the President has made very clear that he has wanted to target the press from the beginning. And he has said to other journalists that he likes to discredit the press. Why? So that way the public doesn’t believe us.

(…)

And so — and other people who have followed the President, be it Marjorie Taylor Greene or other Republicans who have since split from him, say that this movement lies and never apologizes when they get something wrong. So I think when we look at this larger picture around what is happening with the attacks on Don Lemon and Georgia Fort and these prosecutions that are being brought, you have to look at the overall end goal of this administration, which is to discredit the press, the free independent press, and to not — not present facts and to lie about the facts of different incidents that are happening on the ground when it comes to this administration.