Writer pleads guilty to Capitol riot charges

washington – A writer for a conservative media outlet pleaded guilty Tuesday to participating in a mob attack on the U.S. Capitol nearly four years ago after a federal judge refused to pause his case until President-elect Donald Trump took office.

Steve Baker, who has written articles on the subject January 6, 2021, rebellion On behalf of Blaze News, he pleaded guilty the same day his court hearing was scheduled to begin.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper is scheduled to sentence Baker on March 6, but the judge acknowledged the case may never reach the penalty phase. Trump has repeatedly promised to pardon the Jan. 6 riot defendants.

Baker, 64, of Durham, North Carolina, had asked Cooper to postpone all deadlines and hearings in his case until after Trump’s inauguration. But the judge denied Baker’s request. Other judges rejected similar requests from Capitol riot defendants who hoped Trump would pardon them.

After pleading guilty, Baker told reporters that if Trump granted pardons, he was “very confident that I would be at the top of the list.” Baker said he pleaded guilty “to avoid an embarrassing trial” and maintains he did nothing wrong on Jan. 6.

“I have no regrets about my actions that day,” he said outside the courthouse.

Blaze News is part of the online platform founded by conservative political commentator Glenn Beck after leaving Fox News in 2011. Baker began writing for the media following the January 6 siege. He was working as a freelance journalist on January 6 and later sold videos of the riot to The New York Times and HBO.

Baker’s coverage of the Jan. 6 attack also included the trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four of his friends, accused of a seditious plot to keep Trump in the White House after he lost the 2020 election. Baker watched the hearing from the courthouse’s room reserved for news reporters.

Baker He was arrested and charged in March on four misdemeanor charges, including trespassing and disorderly conduct charges. He pleaded guilty to all four charges.

After the riot broke out, Baker entered the Capitol through a broken door and joined the crowd at the barricaded doors of the Capitol. statement of an FBI agent.

The affidavit said that in another part of the Capitol, Baker “became hostile” to police officers who were trying to keep him on the other side of the doorframe and repeatedly asked, “Are you going to use that (weapon) against us?” It is stated that he asked. He remained inside the building for about 37 minutes before police escorted him out of the Capitol, according to the FBI.

The affidavit includes statements Baker made during and after the riot. After leaving the Capitol, he told a local television station that he was “pretty excited to see this continue.”

“Do I approve of what happened today? “According to the statement, I approve 100 percent,” he said.

Baker also told the station that there were about 20 to 30 people in then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office “when I got there.” In the video uploaded to a YouTube channel on January 6, Baker also referred to Pelosi with a sexist expletive.

“The only thing I regret is that I didn’t like stealing their computers because God knows what I would have found on their computers if I had done that. But when I entered Pelosi’s office, unfortunately there was some damage,” Baker said, according to the FBI.

Cooper said he was disturbed by Baker’s rhetoric that day.

“If you haven’t reconsidered those comments, I’m not sure there’s anything I can say today that will change your mind,” the judge added.

More than 1,500 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. More than 1,000 convicted rebels received prison sentences; More than 650 of them were sentenced to prison terms ranging from a few days to several days. 22 years.

Cooper said the cases on Jan. 6 were decided with facts and evidence that exemplify the rule of law.

“They are not governed by unsupported views and conspiracy theories,” the judge said.

Baker and his lawyers accused the Justice Department of selectively prosecuting him because of his political beliefs. But judge denied this claimhe called it “baseless speculation”.