Posted on 02/28/2024 8:38:46 AM PST by Twotone
Blaze News investigative journalist Steve Baker said the FBI wants him to self-surrender to the agency Friday morning in Dallas over his January 6 reporting. What are the details?
Baker told Blaze News he's been instructed to turn himself in at the agency's field office at 7 a.m. wearing "shorts and sandals" — which he said signals that the plan likely is to go for "humiliation" and place him in an orange jumpsuit, handcuff him, and do the "prisoner transport routine."
He added that after he's taken to the Dallas courthouse, he'll appear at a 10 a.m. hearing before a federal magistrate.
"They didn’t have to go this route," Baker told Blaze News on Tuesday evening. "We have been told that my charges are only misdemeanors. And my attorneys have been assured that this will be an ‘in and out’ affair with 'no intention' to detain me. But rather than issuing a simple order to appear, they went the 'arrest warrant' route."
What's more, Baker said he still does not know what the charges against him are, noting to Blaze News that the powers that be won't tell his attorney about the charges because they believe Baker will post them on social media.
Baker's Dallas attorney, James Lee Bright, added to Blaze News that withholding the nature of the charges against his client is a "really unusual" move. Bright also said he's hoping to get a copy of the complaint against Baker as early as possible Friday morning.
Baker also said his legal team was told there was no request to the court for detention, no need for bail, and the expectation is that he'll be released after the proceedings. Bright told Blaze News that he anticipates Friday's hearing to be simple.
"We do not know if there will be pretrial travel restrictions, although that has been the norm for J6 defendants — even for misdemeanor defendants," Baker also said. "It has also been universal that no J6ers are allowed to travel to Washington, D.C., which for obvious reasons will have a deleterious impact on my work. We also do not know if there will be any other accompanying restrictions or orders: gag order from talking about my case, no social media, limited social media, order to surrender devices and/or firearms. All unknowns."
Bright told Blaze News that he's "disturbed" about what's transpiring with his client, especially given that Baker has been "in full compliance" all this time. Bright also said the federal government "three-plus years later going after people who were legitimate functioning journalists that day" appears designed to have an "absolute chilling effect."
"I'm not a depressive person, but I'm not happy about this," Baker added to Blaze News. "I have prayed, 'Lord, let this cup pass from me,' but apparently it's not going to." However, he also said it will be a "relief" to get this first step over with.
Baker added that when he asked his other attorney, William Shipley, why the federal government is treating him like this, Shipley replied, "You know why. You've been poking them in the eye for three years"
Blaze Media editor in chief Matthew Peterson couldn't agree more, saying in a Tuesday evening statement that "the federal government's treatment of Steve Baker is outrageous."
"He's had unknown charges hanging over his head for years, but after we started working with him the government sprang back into action. There is no need to put him in a jumpsuit or handcuffs except as a humiliation ritual or a show, which seems to be exactly what they are planning on doing on Friday," Peterson added.
"We will be showing the world footage from January 6 that shows Steve was clearly present that day as an independent journalist. Government retaliation such as this against journalists contradicts the very idea of a free press, the purpose of our form of government, and what once was the American way of life," Peterson also noted, adding that "this should not be happening in America."
Baker announced in December that the FBI said the U.S. Department of Justice would be charging him for his Jan. 6 reporting — but two days later, he noted that the FBI said his self-surrender was postponed until after Christmas.
It's been a waiting game ever since.
Last month, attorneys representing Baker told Blaze News that the U.S. Department of Justice may 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. What has been uncovered as a result of Baker's investigations?
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 he uncovered major irregularities involving Dunn, Capitol Police, the press, and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland).
In January, Baker asserted that just-released U.S. Capitol closed-circuit TV video clips from Jan. 6 show Lazarus gave false testimony in the Oath Keepers trial.
Also in January, Baker and others were asking what the U.S. government has to hide in regard to the pipe bomb found on Jan. 6 at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Baker followed up on that in February with another analysis titled "Capitol Police diverted all CCTV cameras away from DNC pipe bomb investigation — except one."
Just last week, Baker penned his latest analysis, asking why Kamala Harris was at the DNC and not the Capitol on Jan. 6.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_...
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Trump crossed the Rubicon the day he came down that escalator.
And he’s been fighting ever since.
Against a domestic enemy that doesn’t wear a uniform, hides in plain sight, has an army of bureaucrats at its command, and control of our treasury.
Washington had it easier.
And it still took him years.
FBI just jealous..so far..that they can’t do a whole bunch of heart punches like their Russian colleagues. They probably have guys training on body bags for when given the go ahead. But the street guys are all ok...it’s just the brass that’s dirty.
He’s said he’d pardon all these victims of the State.
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
“the plan likely is to go for “humiliation” and place him in an orange jumpsuit, handcuff him, and do the “prisoner transport routine.””
For a misdemeanor.
Trump not pardoning all the J6ers, Snowden and Assange is coming back to bite him. He could have also seized voting machines. He didn’t, and it cost him.
None of the citizens of the West live in a free country.
You don’t live in a free country.
Stop pretending that you do.
Not one thing. He doesn’t care about them.
He has?
Just once I’d like to hear of the 40 man goon squad being met by 100 armed and pissed off patriots.
The J6-ers were not charged until after he left office. As far as not seizing the voting machines or taking other measures to prevent Biden from taking office, that’s easier said than done. I would have like to have seen him be more aggressive in that regard, but then again I wasn’t in the position he was in and was not privy to everything he was aware of, and neither were you.
He was aggressive in trying to prevent Biden from taking office, through legal means, but he wasn’t prepared to use extra-legal measures to do so. I’ll yield to his judgement on that, because he was in a better position to assess the risks of doing so than you or I. He withdrew, regrouped and prepared to fight another day, which is what he’s doing now. That’s sometimes tactically necessary in warfare.
>>”..it still took him [Washington] years.”
That bears repeating. Winning a war never happens as quickly as we would like, but losing one can happen in short order. The Americans of Washington’s time understood that better than most Americans of today. They had greater patience and were willing to persevere under much greater depredation than what we’re currently experiencing.
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