Over the past few years, the White House has arrested hundreds of people in connection to the mob that attacked the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, but few have been the members of the media who covered what happened that day.
Now that’s changed, and unsurprisingly, the journalist being targeted is a conservative critic of President Biden.
“The FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) are charging Conservative journalist Steve Baker for his alleged involvement in the January 6 Capitol riots. The DOJ has increased its efforts and broadened its jurisdiction to prosecute those who may have been involved in the events that transpired in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021. Baker, a conservative writer for The Blaze, is the latest to feel the arm of the law,” writes The Inquisitr.
Blaze Media Investigative Journalist @TPC4USA has now been taken into FBI custody for his J6 reporting
Watch: pic.twitter.com/OF9WVh26ER
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) March 1, 2024
“Barker’s lawyer informed him that the DOJ would be charging him “for my journalistic efforts on #Jan6.”
🚨BREAKING🚨 My attorney has just been notified by @FBI that I am going to be charged by @TheJusticeDept for my journalistic efforts on #Jan6. I have to self-surrender on Tuesday. Charges are yet unknown. Stay tuned for more information to follow this afternoon.
— Steve Baker – TPC (@TPC4USA) December 14, 2023
Along with roughly sixty other journalists, he claimed to have entered the Capitol that day, although he ‘did no damage or parading or violence.’ In an interview with Sara Gonzalez of The Blaze, Baker stated that he felt the DOJ under President Joe Biden wanted him ‘off of this case,’ per The Post Millenial. Before the recent release of the January 6 tapes, Baker was among the few reporters who had access to videos that others were unaware of. “They are not charging the mainstream media journalists that also followed the story,” Baker told Gonzalez. “I’m ready for the fight,” The Inquistr continued.
A wealth of self-incriminating material was produced by the Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in January, meticulously recording their words and deeds in social media postings and recordings. Now, some of the photographers in the crowd are saying they weren’t there to take part in a violent uprising; rather, they were there only to document history for their publications, per Associated Press. In other words, as per this report, many of those facing legal charges for their role in Jan. 6 claimed they were journalists.
The incident was described on X as an ‘outrageous retaliation on the part of the federal government against a journalist’ by Matthew Peterson, editor-in-chief of Blaze Media. “[Baker] was an independent journalist on J6; he’s now investigating the events of that day for The Blaze. We must all rally and end this totalitarian madness,” he said. “We recently published evidence that Capital Police officers committed perjury in the Oath Keepers trial and this is the DOJ’s response,” Peterson wrote. “When [Baker] got word he was being charged, he was in DC working on our investigation of the J6 footage.”
The FBI allegedly demanded that the journalist “wear sandals and shorts,” but Baker refused.
.@TPC4USA was told by federal authorities to wear "shorts and sandals" when he turns himself into the FBI tomorrow morning. Instead of abiding by the humiliation process he tells me: "I'm going to pray, and then I'm going to put on my suit and tie and walk in with my head up." pic.twitter.com/uokMFqVxkc
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) February 29, 2024
NBC News has reported that Baker is being charged because he said mean things about Nancy Pelosi and was sympathetic to the rioters. “A copy of a FBI affidavit, provided to NBC News by defense attorney William Shipley, indicates that federal prosecutors will focus on comments from Baker that show he was sympathetic to the mob, including when he referred to Nancy Pelosi as a “b—-” after talking about the mob raiding the former House speaker’s office, and a comment in which he said he wished he regretted that he didn’t steal government property during the attack.
‘Look out your windows bitches, look what’s coming,’ Baker allegedly said as he recorded himself approaching the Capitol on Jan. 6.
‘They got Pelosi’s office and, you know, it couldn’t happen to a better deserving b—-,’ Baker said in a video after the attack, according to the FBI affidavit.
Video footage previously posted by Baker shows him approaching two officers inside the Capitol and asking them if they were going to use their weapons on protesters. “You gonna use that thing on us?” Baker asked one officer. “Are you really going to use that on us?” Baker asked another. He later asked the same question of two other officers in the aftermath of the shooting of Ashli Babbitt, video showed.”
It is not illegal for journalists to agree with the actions they are covering.
Baker’s arrest has caused outcry from some corners of the public.
This an outrageous violation of the 1st Amendment by the Biden administration. Shameful. https://t.co/aOol5h3QqY
— David Marcus (@BlueBoxDave) March 1, 2024
The fourth branch is arresting another journalist today for embarrassing the regime. https://t.co/brMQRpCmcX
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 1, 2024
The arrest of a conservative journalist comes as another investigative reporter, Catherine Herridge, has come under pressure from Biden’s Department of Justice to turn her sources from a story related to corruption in the FBI.
“A federal judge on Thursday held veteran journalist Catherine Herridge in contempt of court, fining her $800 a day for refusing to divulge her sources for a series of stories published in 2017 while she was a correspondent at Fox News.
Herridge, who has aggressively fought the case, is expected to appeal the judge’s decision. The case could have sweeping First Amendment implications for journalists and news organizations across the country.
Herridge, who left Fox News in 2019 and was recently laid off by CBS News, refused in September to disclose the sources used for her stories, defying a court order issued earlier in the year by the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The order from Judge Christopher Cooper came as a result of a lawsuit filed by Chinese American scientist Yanping Chen against the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” according to CNN.
Last week, her former employer CBS News, sparked outrage when they laid off Herridge and seized her reporter notes allegedly related to an ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden.
Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy made the point that those who are constantly talking about threats to our democracy have been mostly silent towards Biden’s cracking down on journalists.
Blaze Media investigative journalist Steve Baker being taken into FBI custody for his J6 reporting.
Ex-Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge being held in contempt yesterday for refusing to reveal her sources about a Chinese-American scientist investigated by the FBI but never… https://t.co/nlQV589S14
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) March 1, 2024
The attack on the freedom of speech in the name of stopping “misinformation” has become a common tactic under Biden. His supporters, in both the academy and media, have been explicit that they do not believe in the First Amendment. This was perfectly exemplified during Rachel Maddow’s show earlier in the week.
MSNBC analyst says the first amendment makes us vulnerable and calls for “common sense solutions” to fight disinformation pic.twitter.com/hqRHYB5W8o
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 29, 2024
This article originally appeared on New Conservative Post. Used with Permission.
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