(Ken Silva, Headline USA) After a judge deemed Blaze Media’s Steve Baker an “active participant” in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill uprising, Baker pled guilty Tuesday to four misdemeanor charges in relation to the event.
Baker was an independent journalist during the Jan. 6 protest, but was hired by Blaze before the Justice Department charged him in February—making him do a perp walk for the world to see.
Baker filed a motion for selective prosecution, arguing that the DOJ targeted conservative journalists while allowing liberal ones to document the Jan. 6 protests scot-free. But last month, Obama-appointed judge Christopher Cooper denied his motion—deeming him an active participant in the Jan. 6 chaos, as opposed to a passive observer.
BREAKING: NC independent journalist Steve Baker (@TPC4USA) has plead guilty this morning to four misdemeanors for covering J6 as a non-mainstream affiliated member of the media
This is NOT a plea deal, sentencing is scheduled for March 6, 2025
These are the same four…
— Stephen Horn (@stephenehorn) November 12, 2024
In his decision, Judge Cooper compared Baker’s actions to those of freelance journalist Luke Mogelson, who also entered the Capitol on Jan. 6 to document the event. Mogelson published an article titled Among the Insurrectionists for the New Yorker on Jan. 15, 2021.
“Unlike Baker, Mogelson did not disregard the instructions of Capitol police or antagonize them by repeatedly asking, ‘Are you going to use that [gun] on us?’ Mogelson did not tell those inside the Capitol to ‘Look out your windows b**ches, look what’s coming’ as he approached,” Judge Cooper said on Oct. 25.
“Nor did Mogelson express regret that he did not ‘steal the[] computers’ in Representative Pelosi’s office. And Mogelson did not subsequently express approval of the events at the Capitol as Baker did. These alleged statements paint Baker as an ‘active participant’ in the events of January 6, not a ‘passive observer,’ which bears on his ‘relative culpability.’”
Baker said he made the decision to plead guilty when his motion for Judge Cooper to reconsider was denied. He said he wasn’t going to be put through a “shaming exercise.”
Baker is set to be sentenced on March 25.
🚨 Blaze Media investigative reporter Steve Baker (@TPC4USA) is set to plead GUILTY tomorrow morning in his J6 case 🚨
The leftist media reporters who entered the Capitol that day were not charged. Steve was. What a coincidence.
He is risking it all with the hope that… pic.twitter.com/xSsOzQjzea
— Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) November 12, 2024
Baker’s guilty plea follows the September 2023 conviction of reporter Stephen Horn for his participation in Jan. 6. In that case, the government argued that Horn participated in the Capitol storming simply because he was allegedly heard chanting “USA!” at one point—ignoring the fact that undercover officers also chanted “USA!,” along with urging other protestors to “Go! Go! Go!” and to “Keep going! Keep going!” as they entered the Capitol building.
Headline USA understands there are more than 20 other reporters who, like Horn and Baker, entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, but aren’t facing charges. Headline USA reviewed some of their names, but is withholding them so they won’t be targeted, too.
Along with Horn and Baker, the DOJ also charged Infowars host Owen Shroyer with disorderly conduct and entering a restricted area of Capitol grounds.
In Shroyer’s case, he violated terms of a deferred prosecution agreement stemming from a December 2019 arrest for shouting during a House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing. Shroyer’s deferred prosecution agreement entailed him agreeing to do community service and follow certain conditions, such as not engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct on Capitol grounds.
While Shroyer may not have been prosecuted solely for his journalism, the DOJ nevertheless successfully pushed for a jail sentence for him—even though he never entered the Capitol. In doing so, DOJ prosecutors cited his First Amendment-protected activity as a reason to put him in jail.
“The First Amendment is no bar to the Court’s consideration of Shroyer’s words and actions at sentencing,” the DOJ argued.
Horn received probation, while Shroyer recently got out of prison after serving most of his 60-day sentence.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
