Steve Baker 16:24

Among the many thousands of Americans who came to the Capitol building on January 6th, 2021, were an awful lot of journalists, working journalists. And they were there because, among other things, it was a news story in progress. So they went to what we call cover the story.

And the overwhelming majority of them worked for various organs of state media, the Associated Press, Reuters, The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News. And their job was to bolster whatever the people in charge claim is true. But there were also some independent journalists there that day. One of them was called Steve Baker. He now works for The Blaze.

And he was there for the same reason everyone else is there, to watch the protest play out and to cover it. And like so many reporters that day, he eventually moved with the crowd inside the Capitol building, and he did so peacefully to cover the story. We're not guessing about this. He did not show up to break windows or poke anyone with a flagpole. He was there to cover it as a journalist. And we have footage of it.

of Baker in the Capitol. We're going to put it up now. You can see he's not writing or attacking police. He's standing there watching what's happening around him, covering the story. But because Steve Baker wasn't wise enough to get a job with the Washington Post or the New York Times or any other news outlet that works for the Biden administration, the FBI singled him out, not as a reporter, which he is, but as an insurrectionist. And then they charged him with crimes for being there,

The charges include disruptive conduct in a restricted building, parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol building. And they meant it. They weren't joking. And by the way, no one defended Steve Baker. None of the free press organizations that exist to defend working journalists stood up for him or said a word when Baker was arrested at the FBI office in Dallas. Here's video of Baker turning himself in. And as you can see, he was humiliated.

They cuffed him behind his back, not because he posed a threat to anyone, but because they wanted to make the message crystal clear to everyone else. Only regime media will be treated as legitimate. Others will be crushed. Steve Baker joins us now to recount his experiences with the so-called justice system. Steve Baker, thank you so much for coming on. Hey, thanks, Tucker, for having me. Of course. When last we spoke about a year ago,

There were hints this was coming. I'll just speak for myself as a middle-aged American man. I didn't really believe that they could arrest a journalist for covering a story. They did ultimately, as we just showed, arrest you. Were you as shocked as I was?

Probably not as shocked because I had been dealing with this for about two and a half years. I initially had a threat of prosecution going all the way back to November of 21 when my attorney received an email from an assistant U.S. attorney out of Philadelphia in which she said, your client, meaning me, is going to be arrested or is going to be charged within the week.

And so after we did a bit of a media pushback, kind of an offensive against that threat, then we didn't hear from them again for 20 months. Now, after 20 months, I was starting to feel pretty good about it. During that interim time, I actually spoke with you. And then in August of last year,

We received a grand jury subpoena. My attorney calls me back, says, all right, we've got a grand jury subpoena for your work, your actual videos that you took on January 6th. We complied yet again, and then we didn't hear from them for another four months. Well, during this time, I'm now working for the Blaze.

And so I was actually in D.C. As a matter of fact, I was sitting in Representative Thomas Massey's office on December 14th, just this past December. And I get a text from my attorney, which is never a welcome thing, an unsolicited text from your attorney, which he said, I think this is the one, the big one. So I stepped out into the hallway there at the Rayburn building and called my attorney. And he said, they want you to self-surrender next week in my hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina.

So the blaze went into high gear. We did another media offensive, had millions of views of this story that we were telling about me having to self-surrender, and they backed off yet again. We got another call the next day from the FBI saying that they were going to put that off until sometime after Christmas. Once again, we didn't hear from them for two months.

until two weeks ago, we got the notice that I was going to have to self-surrender this time. And this time it was for real. They actually said that it was only going to be for misdemeanor charges, the four basic misdemeanors that all the low-level January 6th offenders get.

And because I happen to be working here in Dallas right now where Blaze is headquartered, we decided to go ahead and do my self-surrender here at the FBI field office. So they didn't raid me. They didn't come out to my hotel or to the Blaze studios. We went down to the FBI field office and submitted myself.

The interesting thing, Tucker, is that in the notice from the assistant U.S. attorney to my my lead attorney is that they wanted me to show up at the field office. And I quote, wearing shorts, T-shirt and flip flops.

And I knew what that meant. That meant that they were probably going to change me into the orange jumpsuit and that I would then be leg shackled because the plan was for the FBI to process me there and

at the field office, put me in a car, take me downtown to the courthouse where they would hand me over to the U.S. Marshals. And then I would wait in a cell until I was marched before the magistrate in front of the magistrate.

in front of the whole court. And so what ended up taking place is that my attorney negotiated with the two FBI agents in advance of me surrendering. I did not have to get into an orange jumpsuit. I showed up with a jacket, tie, slacks, dress shoes. They made me take off my shoelaces, my belt, my tie, and then hand my jacket over to my attorney.

Then they took me, they allowed me to wear my own shirt, my own trousers. They handcuffed me, fingerprinted me, marched me out to the car, which has been seen on camera, took me to the courthouse, handed me over to the U.S. Marshals. And that's where they put the leg chains, the belt chain, belted my wrist, chained my wrist to my stomach, and then sat me in a jail cell with a meth dealer.

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Visit momsforamerica.us today for more information and to secure your exclusive VIP meet and greet tickets. See you on the tour. Hey guys, Josh Hammer here, the host of America on Trial with Josh Hammer, a podcast for the First Podcast Network. Look, there are a lot of shows out there that are explaining the political news cycle, what's happening on the Hill, the this, the that.

There are no other shows that are cutting straight to the point when it comes to the unprecedented lawfare debilitating and affecting the 2024 presidential election. We do all of that every single day right here on America on Trial with Josh Hammer. Subscribe and download your episodes wherever you get your podcasts. It's America on Trial with Josh Hammer. It's hard to believe any of that's real. A couple of questions. One, what's the name of the assistant U.S. attorney who did this? Adam Dreher.

Out of D.C. Yeah. Adam Dreher, I hope, becomes famous. It's not a threat. But I think we deserve to know who is doing this. I mean, the state of Texas has more than a million people.

illegal invaders in it right now. There are also an awful lot of murders in the state of Texas. And so this is what they're spending their time doing. I have to ask, did any of the FBI agents, we always hear that, you know, the line agents are good guys. Did any of the U.S. Marshals say to you, you know, I'm embarrassed that I'm chaining you to, you know, chaining you to your own stomach on a misdemeanor charge for something that isn't actually a crime? Did anyone betray any acknowledgement that this is like all a farce?

The two agents that processed me did not do that. I have received messages from retired whistleblowing agents all over the country apologizing to me for the behavior of the once

the agency they were once proud of, I will tell you that while they were patting me down and going through the process, I did chat with them and I asked them point blank. I said, so how often do you do this to misdemeanor defendants? The first time there was a little bit of mumbling. And then I kind of reiterated, I said, is this, is it, is it normal? Or do you get, do you do in process misdemeanor defendants on a regular basis as they're patting me down? They went, they were dead silent. And of course,

That's because we know the answer, Tucker. Yeah. How about, how about speak up son, I pay your salary. Like how dare you treat me this way as an American citizen? Seriously. They didn't answer your question. Yeah. In the hundred year, in the hundred year history of that agency, a hundred plus year history of that, they never processed misdemeanor defendants of any kind, particularly non-violent misdemeanor defendants.

That's not what they do. I mean, every single FBI agent will tell you that when they joined the agency, they were told that they were on this planet and in this country to go after the whales, not the tiny little minnows. But why don't they quit? That's what I don't understand. I mean, I...

I've always respected law enforcement on principle and FBI agents, I guess, on principle. But if you're participating in a system that's just political tyranny, which is what it is, it's not a it's not there's nothing justice related about any of this. It's Joe Biden putting his critics behind bars. How can you live with yourself? Like, isn't at a certain point at their responsibility to.

I've been analyzing the answer to that question for quite some time now. And the only answer I have is that we're now into a generation of special agents and even special agents in charge that came in after the Patriot Act, that came in during the Obama administration, that came in after the politicization was over.

overwhelming at the top in the leadership. And in fact, now in most of the field offices, those in charge are political operatives by and large, Tucker. And so that's the answer. Now, we'll tell you this. When I got to the courthouse, one of the U.S. marshals processing me down there, he actually looked at my paperwork and he said, point blank, this is bullshit.

Yeah. And he's right. He's right. And good for him. Yeah. And I said, yeah. And then he said and he said, I will tell you what else is bullshit. He said, we process a lot of these. He said, you guys, you know, you J6ers. And he said, I think that former President Trump should be paying for every one of your legal fees. I agree with that, too. I do agree with that. Yeah. And I think it's.

Yeah, I strongly agree with that. So, yeah, I mean, I think you should be afraid to behave like this if you're an FBI agent. I think you should be afraid of it. You can't act like that toward your fellow citizens and you can't be the instrument of political tyranny and get away with it. So did anyone...

Is there anyone to appeal to? So you work with Glenn Beck, who is really taken up and good for him. He's a good man. Your your cause. But did anyone with official power step in to try and help you?

No one with official power. I mean, we've had quite a few people speak out on my behalf. We've had some congressmen speak out on my behalf. We've had current presidential nominee or nominee apparent, as well as those couple of others that were running, Ramaswamy, DeSantis, and

And then in addition to that, we've had a host of other friendly media. But as you can probably surmise, and as you obviously stated earlier, nobody from the mainstream media has come forward yet and said, hey, you know, we probably better...

stick up for this guy, even though he's not necessarily one of us because pendulum swing. And more importantly, Tucker, whether the pendulum swings or not, if it continues to swing far into the tyrannical left, they purge themselves eventually if you've read a history book. They will take out the factions of the factions first. Yes. Well, but such a thing as principle exists. I mean, some things are just wrong because they're wrong. Racial discrimination. Right.

putting people in prison because you don't like their political views. These are just wrong. It doesn't matter who they're happening to. They're just they're just wrong on their own terms. Did it ever did part of you think, well, maybe I just won't participate? You know, I've spent my whole life in this country, paid taxes, believed in the system. This is not justice. This is not the justice system. This is a tool of political repression. And maybe you just say, come and get me. I'm not I'm not. Well, that's playing along.

Well, for two and a half years, I didn't have to set my alarm clock because every morning at six o'clock I would wake up because I've been following these cases. I've been following these trials. I've followed hundreds of these cases. There's over 1,350 of these arrests so far, all manner of defendants for January 6th. Most of them, of course, are nonviolent.

And I've been following these cases and believe it or not, many, I mean, far, far too many to even recount of the simple misdemeanor defendants, including other independent journalists, have been SWAT rated at their home.

Some of them have been imprisoned and did nothing more than walk around in the Capitol with a big camera rig, no parading, no picketing, no chanting USA, USA or anything else of that nature. And they did their job professionally. And when they got back home, they were SWAT rated by 20 agents with the red dots on their chest and on their wife and on their children and then hauled off a

convicted, sent to prison for months. Independent journalist. It's beyond. So what happens next in your case? I have in two days, I have a D.C. hearing. It's one that I can do by Zoom. It's simply not much more than a repeat of what we did in Dallas because this was an out of district hearing. So now I've got to do it before a D.C. magistrate. So it's a magistrate. So it's just basically the same thing without the leg change this time.

And then we start the process of our strategy with my legal team to determine how we're going to proceed. And part of that process was learning who our judge was. And that's pretty interesting. I'm revealing that to you for the first time. Judge Christopher Cooper is also the exact same judge who held Catherine Herridge in contempt two weeks ago. Yeah, I'm very aware of that. It's unbelievable.

Steve Baker, I appreciate your taking the time to update us on what has happened to you. Again, it's tyranny. I know you know that, but it's shocking to see it. Good luck. Thank you, Tucker. Thank you.