The FBI arrested a Blaze Media journalist who frequently reports on the January 6 Capitol riot, putting the investigative journalist on full display for a “perp walk” even after he turned himself in to authorities.
The arrest, captured on video and posted by TheBlaze founder Glenn Beck, shows a handcuffed and jacket-less Steve Baker being escorted by FBI agents from a building to a car.
The FBI HANDCUFFED Blaze Media investigative journalist @TPC4USA and made him take a PERP WALK for his reporting on January 6th. This is unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/yA2PILM9yk
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) March 1, 2024
Baker was charged with four misdemeanors related to his reporting at the U.S. Capitol back on January 6, 2021.
The four 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; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building.
Earlier this week, the FBI ordered Baker to surrender himself on Friday morning. Baker said the FBI told him to arrive at the field office in “shorts and sandals,” but he arrived in a suit and tie instead.
Baker announced back in December that he expected the Justice Department to charge him over his reporting on January 6. On Tuesday, he spoke out about his upcoming arrest, stating that he was required to turn himself in at 7 a.m. and that he would be transported to the Dallas courthouse for a 10 a.m. hearing before the magistrate.
🚨BREAKING🧵- This time, it’s really happening.
Unlike the two previous threats my attorneys received from @FBI / @thejusticedept (Nov. 21 and Dec. 23), my self-surrender for alleged J6 crimes is set for this Friday morning in Dallas, TX. There is now a signed arrest warrant.⬇️
— Steve Baker – TPC (@TPC4USA) February 28, 2024
“My attorneys have also been assured by the gov. that this will be an ‘in and out’ affair and that they have ‘no intention’ of detaining me,” Baker said. “But, rather than issuing a simple order to appear, they seem to feel the need to give me a dose of the personal humiliation treatment.”
Beck, who is also the co-founder of Blaze Media, expressed his support for Baker on Friday.
“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,” Beck wrote in an op-ed.
The federal investigation into Baker began before he joined The Blaze when he was an independent journalist.
The charging documents against Baker reference a YouTube video in which he allegedly said he followed rioters into former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office on January 6.
In that video, Baker said the “only thing I regret” is that he did not steal computers because “God knows what I could’ve found,” according to the documents.
“They got Pelosi’s office and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving b****,” Baker said in the video, according to the documents.
In another video that Baker allegedly recorded outside the Capitol, he said, “Look out your windows b****es, look what’s coming,” the documents note.
Later in a local news interview, Baker said he was “quite excited to see this going on,” adding, “Do I approve of what happened today? I approve 100%.”
Baker said in an interview this week that it is “common” for law enforcement to allow the press to cross a police line to document events of public interest.
He accused the government of “selective prosecution,” saying that dozens of other reporters entered the Capitol on January 6.
Since January 6, Baker’s reporting on January 6 questioned whether a Capitol Police officer perjured himself in the trial of the Oath Keepers. He has also written an article questioning another Capitol Police officer’s account of January 6.