Blaze News investigative writer Steve Baker — who's been reporting on January 6 — handcuffed, charged
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Blaze News investigative journalist Steve Baker — who for years has been
searching for the truth about Jan. 6, 2021, and believes the U.S. government has been targeting him for it — on Friday was charged with four misdemeanors related to his Jan. 6 coverage at the U.S. Capitol after turning himself in to the FBI in Dallas.
The charges are:
- Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority
- Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds
- Disorderly conduct in a capitol building
- Parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building
Baker learned of the charges for the first time Friday and earlier this week told Blaze News that the powers that be wouldn't tell his attorney about the charges because they believed Baker will post them on social media.
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Glenn Beck, co-founder of Blaze Media, wrote in a Friday morning
op-ed that Baker's First Amendment battle is ours, too: "When the United States government can come after individuals, that's when you know our republic is crumbling. I've always said that if they can go after Donald Trump, they will go after people like you and me. And now they are. But Steve Baker is not deterred, and neither are we."
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Attorneys representing Baker in January
told Blaze News that the Justice Department might be orchestrating a "retaliation" against Baker over his Jan. 6 reporting.
"Steve’s actions on January 6 have been known to the Department of Justice for 3 years," Baker's attorneys said in a January
news release. "But it is only now — after Steve has broken two major stories greatly embarrassing to the DOJ — that he is possibly being targeted for arrest and possibly felony prosecution. Any action taken to put him in handcuffs, hold him in custody, and have him transported to court by federal law enforcement will be nothing other than retaliation for his recent reporting."
Baker discussed his legal saga in a pair of October commentary pieces for Blaze News (
here and
here), detailing the ins and outs of the federal investigation he's been under following his independent journalistic work on Jan. 6, which began before he joined Blaze News.
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Baker's
first Jan. 6 analysis for Blaze News came last October following countless hours in a House subcommittee office looking at frame after frame of Jan. 6 closed-circuit video — and it had him wondering: did Capitol Police Special Agent David Lazarus perjure himself in the Oath Keepers trial?
Soon after, the slow pace of getting an unrestricted look at everything recorded on video prompted
Blaze Media editor in chief Matthew Peterson's appeal to House Speaker Mike Johnson to release all the videos. On Nov. 17,
Johnson did just that.
Baker's investigative efforts also resulted in two additional analyses, both focusing on Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn: "
January 6 and the N-word that wasn't" and "
Harry Dunn's account of January 6 does not add up. At all."
In December, Baker alleged that he
uncovered major irregularities involving Dunn, the Capitol Police, the press, and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland).
In January, Baker
asserted that newly released U.S. Capitol closed-circuit TV video clips from Jan. 6 show Lazarus gave false testimony in the Oath Keepers trial.
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UPDATE: 4:45 p.m. ET: Here's a clip of Baker commenting on his ordeal after he was released Friday: UPDATE: 1:56 p.m. ET: Baker has been released: UPDATE: 1:16 p.m. ET: Investigative journalist Lara Logan had the following to say about Baker's treatment Friday: UPDATE: 1:05 p.m. ET: What...
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