DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus January 6th Fallout part 7

So, if the FBI and DOJ don't like what you're reporting about, they'll just toss you in the Gulag... three years later?

"Show up in shorts and sandals"... so we can get you into your jumpsuit and ankle irons easier.

Heil!



Press Freedom Challenged: DOJ Orders Journalist Steve Baker to Face FBI Over Jan 6 Coverage

Quadri Adejumo
28 Feb 2024 12:53 EST
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In an unprecedented move, Steve Baker, a journalist for Blaze Media, has been compelled by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to surrender to the FBI, sparking a widespread debate over press freedoms. Baker, known for his investigative reporting on the January 6th Capitol riot, faces misdemeanor charges under a sealed arrest warrant, a decision that has ignited concerns regarding journalists' rights and government overreach. Blaze Media's Editor-in-Chief, Matthew Peterson, condemned the government's actions, framing them as a direct assault on the First Amendment.

Unveiling the Charges
The specifics of the charges against Baker remain under wraps until the warrant is served; however, his legal team has been informed of their misdemeanor nature. Despite this, the requirement for Baker to physically surrender, potentially in an orange jumpsuit, rather than simply appearing in court, has raised eyebrows and fueled speculation about the DOJ's intentions. Critics argue this approach is designed to intimidate and silence journalists who challenge prevailing narratives, particularly regarding contentious events like the Capitol riot.

Broader Implications for Journalism
This case does not exist in isolation. Across the media landscape, journalists like Catherine Herridge, who was recently dismissed from CBS News amid her investigative work, face increasing scrutiny and pressure from government entities. The actions against Baker and others have been interpreted as part of a larger pattern of attempting to control the media narrative and penalize those who diverge from government-endorsed viewpoints. The potential for a chilling effect on investigative journalism is significant, with concerns that this could deter reporters from pursuing stories that may draw government ire.

The Fight for Press Freedom
The backlash against the DOJ's decision has been swift and fierce, with commentators from across the political spectrum defending Baker's right to report freely. The case has rekindled debates about the balance between national security and press freedom, and the extent to which the government can go in policing journalism. As Baker prepares to face the charges, the spotlight on this case serves as a critical moment for press freedom advocates to rally in defense of the First Amendment and the essential role of a free press in a democratic society.

The ramifications of Baker's case extend beyond the individual to the very principles upon which the United States was founded. As the situation unfolds, it serves as a pivotal juncture for reflecting on the values of free speech, the press's role in holding power to account, and the lengths to which government should be allowed to challenge these foundations. The outcome of this case may well set a precedent for how journalists are treated in the future, making it a watershed moment for press freedom in America.

https://bnnbreaking.com/politics/pr...ve-baker-to-face-fbi-over-jan-6-coverage

I didn't know about Baker, but I did know about Herridge and definitely disagree with the pressure to reveal her sources. I do think it's important to err on the side of the press being able to reveal information without repercussions.

Without knowing too much substantively when it comes to Baker, my first thought is to wait and see what the charges actually are and/or what he did. If it was something along the lines of The Morning Show where he came into footage involving suspects and either deleted or altered it, which would impact an ongoing investigation, then that's a problem and I get it. However, given the fact that these are only misdemeanor charges, I remain skeptical and concerned that he would have to surrender prior to appearing in court.

I guess bottom line is wait and see what charges are revealed, but there is enough smoke there that it deserves a whole lot of scrutiny up until that happens, and obviously there should be ramifications in the event it does end up in overreach.

From your own source.....


And this is what passes as news to you? You don't know what the charges are. Nothing but potentially in a jump suit? And all of this is nothing but speculation about the GOP's intentions.

You may wish to wait until there's some "There, there."

Tend to agree... let's see how this plays out, but it's still crazy.

I knew nothing and stumbled across this by accident last night. To be completely honest, I follow this stuff probably less than anyone. Only so much room in my brain and I left "J6" by the wayside a while ago. Had the "Baker" sidebar on Twitter, and thought "I'll see what Mayfield is up to"... instead there's tweet after tweet about this b.s.

This will probably be homogenized by light charges and swept under the rug. Regardless, it's pretty troublesome that a journalist is told to turn himself in and wear shorts and sandals -- without even being told the charges -- just the magic words "January 6th".

That IS NOT America.

Sorry for posting this so quickly then, Pit.

I really need to start running this stuff past you before I post.

What time would you like me to turn myself in?

I understand how it would bother you when someone points out your article is based on pure speculation before an indictment is even issued. It is what it is. Something you should have seen from the beginning.

It seems you're confused on how a message board works.

It's not speculation that he was told to surrender himself, and to wear shorts and sandals, and he was given no charges.

I'm sorry you think that is normal and acceptable.

But everything about what the charges are, what it pertains to and why is purely speculation. You have times when you seem so smart. Then there comes BS like this.

* Refs, please delete my comment, Pit doesn't like that we don't know the charges yet.

Aw. You think that making assertions without any context means something. It's terrible that I set off your insecurities. Take speculating as well as potentially out and see what you have left. A nothing burger. But some people are more easily influenced by those things than others. It's why the Biden impeachment hearings continue.

Says the guy that starts a brand new thread every time Trump sneezes. 🤣

He is the GOP shoe in to be the nominee. And if you took Sleepy Joe out of your vocabulary you wouldn't have much to post. But I do understand why you would consider the things he does to be like sneezing. Silly little things like telling congress what bills to pass, trying to overturn an election, refusing to comply with a subpoena. Yeah, just like sneezing.

Hmmmm, he works for The Blaze. Imagine that............

Musician and libertarian writer who works for 'The Blaze' arrested on Jan. 6 charges

Steve Baker, who led a David Bowie tribute band and started working for Glenn Beck's website in 2023, said he "100%" approved of the Capitol attack, the FBI said.

WASHINGTON — The former lead singer of a David Bowie tribute band who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, licensed his footage to media outlets, and now works as a writer for Glenn Beck's "The Blaze" website has been arrested on misdemeanor Capitol attack charges after turning himself into federal authorities in Texas.

Steve Baker, a musician and libertarian writer who was a frequent presence at the federal courthouse in Washington during the Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy trial and other Jan. 6 cases, faces the same four standard misdemeanors as many lower-level Capitol riot defendants.

A copy of a FBI affidavit, provided to NBC News by defense attorney William Shipley, indicates that federal prosecutors will focus on comments from Baker that show he was sympathetic to the mob, including when he referred to Nancy Pelosi as a "b----" after talking about the mob raiding the former House speaker's office, and a comment in which he said he regretted that he didn't steal government property during the attack.

“Look out your windows bitches, look what’s coming," Baker allegedly said as he recorded himself approaching the Capitol on Jan. 6.

"They got Pelosi's office and, you know, it couldn't happen to a better deserving b----," Baker said in a video after the attack, according to the FBI affidavit.

"The only thing I regret is that I didn’t, like, steal their computers because God knows what I could’ve found on their computers if I’d done that," Baker said, according to the affidavit.

“Do I approve of what happened today?" Baker said in another interview on Jan. 6, according to the FBI filing. "I approve 100%."

Video footage previously posted by Baker shows him approaching two officers inside the Capitol and asking them if they were going to use their weapons on protesters. “You gonna use that thing on us?” Baker asked one officer. “Are you really going to use that on us?” Baker asked another. He later asked the same question of two other officers in the aftermath of the shooting of Ashli Babbitt, video showed.

After witnessing first responders trying to save the life of Babbitt, a Jan. 6 rioter shot as she jumped through a broken window leading into the Speaker's Lobby, Baker said he "may have just seen the true first shot in this war," the FBI affidavit said.

Baker has friendly relationships with reporters who have covered Jan. 6 cases and was in the media room during trials at the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse, where his own case will now unfold. A reporter for NBC News met Baker at the courthouse back in August, when Baker dropped off materials in response to a grand jury subpoena he received for the videos he recorded on Jan. 6. Recently, Baker had been working closely with House Republicans, and gained access to thousands of hours of Jan. 6 surveillance footage.

Baker was accompanied by a camera crew from The Blaze when he surrendered on Friday morning, and he broadcasted live from outside the courthouse after he was released. Baker quickly received support from former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

In a phone interview after his arrest, Baker called the process "humiliating," but said that law enforcement officers he dealt with were friendly and cordial. Baker said he had no regrets about the language he used on Jan. 6, and that some of his comments, like those during his discussions with his friend over drinks on the night of the riot, were taken out of context.

"With the 'couldn't happen to a nicer b----' comment... when the FBI asks me why I said that I said, 'Because it wasn't McConnell's office.' I said, 'If it had been McConnell's office, I would've said it couldn't have happened to a more deserving bastard.' And then I followed that up by saying, 'What part of me being a libertarian do you not understand? I don't like either side,'" Baker said.

Baker has a court date set in Washington, but said that he wasn’t sure how he will proceed from here.

“My gut instinct is to take it all the way to trial, but obviously we have to wait and see who the judge is,” Baker said. "One of the primary axioms of classic liberalism, libertarianism, is that if there's no victim, there's no crime. And what's happening to a lot of people, is that their words are being criminalized."

Baker explained in a podcast after Jan. 6 that, as a full-time musician he “found himself suddenly unemployed” in 2020 after the Covid lockdowns, and so decided to “ramp up” a project he’d started a decade earlier: An online community known as “The Pragmatic Libertarian,” which he later rebranded as “The Pragmatic Constitutionalist.”

Two days before Jan. 6, Baker wrote he was headed to Washington not because he thought "a crowd of any size is going to force government into a real investigation of the election results, but because the 'powers that be' on all sides of the political equation need to see WE THE PEOPLE in force, letting them know that WE ARE WATCHING."

"WE are not going to lay down to any level of tyranny — whether it come from the right or the left, the Democrats or the GOP," Baker wrote, adding that he was "hoping to document on video anything 'special' that might happen, and perhaps get a few interviews from a variety of voices."

In a post after Jan. 6, he wrote that he'd "confess to being truly inspired at the sight of so many patriots about to make what would surely be a powerful visual statement to the oath-breaking criminals who — at that very moment — were debating the certification of the Electoral votes."

In that post-Jan. 6 podcast, Baker said it was "no secret" that he was not a Trump fan back in 2016, thinking that neither Trump nor Hillary Clinton were good candidates. He said he did vote for Trump in 2020, and endorsed him, first because "the Bolshevik Democratic Party machine is now a fully-realized, openly neo-Marxist organization" and because of his "wishful thinking that Trump — for all his faults, (and maybe because of them), would finally be exposing and bringing down the Deep State."

More than 1,300 people have been arrested in the more than three years since the Capitol attack, and prosecutors have secured more than 900 convictions. Sentences have ranged from short terms of probation for the type of misdemeanor charges Baker is facing, to 22 years in federal prison for Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys on his seditious conspiracy conviction.

Other Jan. 6 defendants have tried to avoid convictions by pointing to their media ties, but Baker is the first who was working for an established media company at the time of his arrest. He was not associated with a news publication three years ago on Jan. 6, when the alleged misdemeanor took place.

A former commentator for The Blaze, Elijah Schaffer, had posted on social media during the riot that he was inside Pelosi’s office and "with the thousands of revolutionaries who have stormed” the Capitol. Video released in another Jan. 6 case shows Schaffer saying that he was part of a group "occupying" Pelosi's office. Unlike Baker, Schaffer was wearing an official Capitol press credential, and has not been charged.

Another Jan. 6 defendant, Stephen Horn, was convicted on four misdemeanor counts at trial after presenting himself as an independent journalist.

“His journalism started when he needed an excuse for his criminal liability,” a federal prosecutor told jurors in that case, according to The Washington Post. Prosecutors sought 10 months in federal prison in Horn's case, but a judge sentenced Horn to one year of probation and a $2,000 fine.

John Sullivan, an "anti-establishment" activist who prosecutors say went to the Capitol with the "goal of inciting the crowd," was convicted at trial after being found guilty of a variety of charges, including felonies. Sullivan too tried to present himself as a journalist, and news outlets (including NBC News) had licensed his footage after the attack. But jurors found him guilty after prosecutors presented evidence that he encouraged the mob and claimed to be armed with a knife.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ju...kNvxyhuVGjSwbgjMufui5rarGY2fu-ms5Tw5-IsI

These idiots are still trying to label the crimes they committed as some Patriotic act.

If not the press, freedom of speech is in jeopardy.

Did you not bother the read what he was charged with? Very much the same charges many, many of the Jan. 6th rioters were charged with. And none of it had anything to do with "what he said".

But yes, not only is free speech under attack, but censorship now seems to be quite fashionable as well. Only it's not who you're suggesting it is.

Seems strange that they shackle and chain him for misdemeanor charges.

Also seems strange that they wouldn't even tell his attorneys the charges until after he "turns himself in or else".

Most of all, it seems really strange that they wait three years to charge him.


Seems we have hundreds if not thousands working on this... not including the internet sleuths employed in scouring the thousands of hours of footage. We've appropriated $1.9 billion to "addressing the insurrection". Three years later??

I bet there a bunch of conspiracy theorists that think this may be retaliation for Steve's two major stories greatly embarrassing to the DOJ. Nah, no way.

Obviously you haven't been keeping up On this very thread you can see that arrests on Jan. 6th keep happening all the time. That isn't at all unusual. And nothing about his one sided rhetoric has embarrassed the DOJ other than those who are dumb enough to believe the crap that the Glenn Beck propaganda machine called The Blaze produces. If they actually gave a damn what people like that wrote they wouldn't have arrested him to begin with.

My work is done here.

It's about time. The crimes he committed are listed in the indictment. You think they didn't know that dumb asses on the internet would try to turn arresting him into something nefarious before they arrested him? But people believe that BS anyway.



Da gobment is out to get people like me!

Jan. 6 rioter accused of being first to enter Capitol convicted for obstruction

Michael Sparks, the man accused of being the first rioter to enter the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has been convicted on charges that he interfered with police and obstructed Congress from certifying the election results.

A federal jury in Washington, D.C. convicted Sparks, 46, a Kentucky resident, on all six charges he faced, including two felonies. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly is set to sentence him on July 9, The Associated Press reported.

On the day of the Capitol riot, Sparks jumped through a broken window just after another rioter smashed it open. Inside the Capitol, he joined other people in chasing a police officer up a flight of stairs.

A prosecutor for the Department of Justice said during his trial that Sparks was the “tip of the spear,” and he entered the building less than a minute before senators evacuated the chamber to escape.

Sparks’ defense attorney, Scott Wendelsdorf, conceded that Sparks is guilty of four misdemeanor counts, including trespassing and disorderly conduct, but pushed back on the felony charges — civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding.

After attending the “Stop the Steal” rally, Sparks, wearing a tactical vest, made his way to the front of the mob. He jumped in the Capitol window after other rioters told him not to, and a U.S. Capitol Police officer pepper sprayed him in the face.

Wendelsdorf said Sparks left the Capitol when he realized former Vice President Mike Pence would not overturn the results of the election on behalf of former President Trump.

Sparks was arrested after a tipster recognized him the day after the riots. Sparks reportedly had said he was attending a pro-Trump rally in Washington and said, “this time we are going to shut it down.”

A day after the riot, Sparks texted his mother that he would “go again given the opportunity.” The DOJ argued that he showed no remorse. By the time he went back to Kentucky, photos circulated online identifying him. Sparks called the local police department and offered to turn himself in, prosecutors said.

He was arrested on Jan. 19, 2021, and he was indicted on Feb. 5, 2021, followed by a superseding indictment in November of the same year.

https://thehill.com/regulation/cour...bmTlViXoqL6Rb7QXRHn3nNG3DizQRZDJ4Br8EJk4

Thanks for making things so easy...

You do realize the criminal charges against him have nothing to do with an anything he said, correct? You also realize the things he said do show motivation and intent, correct. Thanks for showing you will try and make anything, even defending criminal activity somehow seem legitimate. Soon you will be calling them all hostages just like trump.

Jan. 6 rioter nicknamed 'shield grampy' admits assaulting officers at the Capitol

Anthony Mastanduno was ordered held without bond after he pleaded guilty to nine counts, admitting he repeatedly assaulted officers at the lower west tunnel on Jan. 6.

WASHINGTON — A Jan. 6 rioter online sleuths nicknamed "Shield Grampy" has admitted that he used a stolen police shield during the brutal battle at the lower west tunnel of the U.S. Capitol and assaulted officers with a flagpole-like object and a baton.

Anthony Mastanduno pleaded guilty to nine counts Wednesday and was ordered taken into custody by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who set his sentencing for June 27. Mastanduno, 61, was arrested in August, with an FBI affidavit noting that online "sedition hunters" had given him his nickname "due to his age and his use of a stolen police shield to assault MPD [Washington police] officers at the entrance to the tunnel."

Mastanduno previously lived in Farmingdale, New York, and now lives in North Carolina.

According to an agreed-upon court filing, he "was wearing a red baseball cap with a patch on the bill and 'Trump 2020 Keep America Great!' embroidered in white thread, a camouflage jacket, and a backpack" on Jan. 6, 2021, and also, at times, "donned large, clear goggles with a blast elastic strap." He entered the Capitol about four minutes after it was first breached by a massive pack of rioters led by Michael Sparks, who jumped through a window smashed in by Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola.

Mastanduno admitted he "was at the front of a line of rioters who overwhelmed police officers in the Crypt" and then joined the mob outside the Capitol by the lower west terrace, where some of the most brutal violence of the day took place. Mastanduno admitted that he "picked up and threw a blue, flagpole-like object into the mouth of the tunnel, as if throwing a javelin or spear toward the line of outnumbered police officers who were defending the Capitol against the mass of rioters."

Minutes later, Mastanduno admitted, he "obtained a police shield that had been stolen from the officers, which he used to push against the same line of officers at the mouth of the tunnel. While he pushed, he also utilized a telescoping baton, which can be worn on one’s hip and which expands in length, to strike at officers multiple times."

"Shield Grampy" pleaded guilty one day after another rioter, given the nickname "Conan O'Riot" because of his resemblance to former late night host Conan O'Brien, pleaded guilty to one charge.

More than 1,300 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, and more than 950 defendants have been convicted. Nearly 500 defendants have been sentenced to periods of incarceration, including a record-setting 22-year sentence for Proud Boy Enrique Tarrio.

Mastanduno's plea also came the day Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2024, just over three years after he said there was "no question" that Trump was "practically and morally responsible" for provoking the Jan. 6 attack.

"The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president," McConnell said after the Jan. 6 attack, calling Trump's conduct "disgraceful," though he voted to acquit him in his insurrection impeachment trial.

Social media posts the FBI cited in Mastanduno's case indicate that he deeply believed Trump's lies about the 2020 presidential election.

“I hated Obama and hated his politics but still considered him my president because he won honestly," Mastanduno wrote. “My Trump flag [will] fly high and proud in my front yard till 1/20/2025.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ju...rmdXERkev_PvVJvgds8sRxKZC_GdV8BgbEwdqBEQ

Murica! Freedumb! And trump is still telling that lie.

Trump supporter charged with firing a gun during the Jan. 6 Capitol attack

John Emanuel Banuelos, identified in a NBC News story two years ago, was arrested in Illinois three years after he was first identified by online "sedition hunters."

WASHINGTON — A Donald Trump enthusiast who appeared to fire two gunshots at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was arrested by federal authorities on Friday.

NBC News identified John Emanuel Banuelos two years ago as the man in photos and video footage who appeared to be flashing a gun in his waistband as he fought officers on Jan. 6, 2021.

Last month, Jan. 6 rioter Derrick Evans, who is now running in a Republican House primary in West Virginia, published previously unseen video that appeared to show that Banuelos actually fired his weapon twice outside the Capitol that day. Online "sedition hunters" who have aided the FBI in hundreds of arrests of Capitol rioters — and who first sent Banuelos' name to the FBI in February 2021 — quickly surfaced additional footage that confirmed that Banuelos was the man who appeared to have fired the weapon.

Banuelos, 39, now lives in Summit, Illinois, and he made his first appearance in federal court in Illinois on Friday after his arrest.

Banuelos, as NBC News reported in conjunction with NBC affiliate KSL, was arrested about six months after the Capitol attack, when he fatally stabbed a 19-year-old in a park in Utah on July 4, 2021. Banuelos was not charged in that attack because he claimed self-defense, but he told investigators that he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and had displayed his weapon.

“Man, should I just tell the FBI to come get me or what?" he said in the interview with Salt Lake City police, police records show.

While numerous rioters were armed with guns on Jan. 6, none were known to have actually fired their weapons; Banuelos is the first to be charged with doing so. The shots he allegedly fired outside the Capitol came at 2:34 p.m., which is about 10 minutes before Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot as she breached a window leading into the Speaker's Lobby. That means it was a member of the pro-Trump mob — not law enforcement — that fired the first gunshot of the day.

Charging documents say that Banuelos "can be seen waving the crowd towards him before pulling what appears to be a firearm from his waistband."

The FBI affidavit said that the footage published by Evans, as well as CCTV footage highlighted by NBC News last month, showed Banuelos "raising the gun over his head, and, at approximately 2:34 p.m., firing two shots into the air."

The FBI special agent who signed the affidavit said that based on their training and experience with firearms, Banuelos' "actions and the object he is holding is consistent with an operable firearm." The FBI affidavit also notes the bureau received a tip from someone who personally knew Banuelos in February 2021. The person, who had known Banuelos for numerous years, told the bureau that Banuelos said he was in a Vice video about the Capitol attack.

Last year, according to the FBI, Banuelos posted a video on X that appeared to show him racking a semi-automatic weapon, in response to a post that included an FBI poster featuring his image. Banuelos, in an interview with the FBI, "denied intending to threaten anyone and claimed that many of his posts were done by artificial intelligence" and "stated that any weapons seen in his posts on X were fake and/or done by artificial intelligence."

This week, an Instagram account under Banuelos' name responded to a request for comment from NBC News that was sent last month after the footage of the gunshots emerged. "The only thing I would like to say is that there's a war going on between the truths of God and the lies of this world the flesh and the devil," the account under Banuelos' name wrote. "And my personal mantra that goes like this God first, think twice moved once, to be aware is to be alive!"

More than 1,300 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and more than a dozen people were arrested this week alone. Prosecutors have secured more than 950 convictions, and about 500 people have been sentenced to periods of incarceration ranging from a few days behind bars to 22 years in federal prison.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ju...Sb1LOan7LoaM7GtCFZQYnp1JUZ3GTqvRD3pUmaHA

Gunshots are often fired at the Capitol on normal tour days. Duh.