The Blaze investigative reporter Steve Baker recounted his arrest over his coverage of the Capitol riot Jan. 6, 2021.
The FBI arrested Baker on March 1 after ordering him to surrender to a self-arrest over four misdemeanor charges. The indictment said he entered the U.S. Capitol after the House and Senate had been evacuated and even walked into then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
Baker told Newsmax’s Carl Higbie that the FBI had to get permission from the attorney general’s office to interview him since he is a journalist. He said the authorities demanded he turn himself in at the Dallas field office, alleging that they placed him in a cage with meth dealers.
“They actually demanded that I turn myself in, we actually chose to do it in Dallas because I’m a North Carolina resident actually, but I’m here at the Blaze working. And we decided to do the self-surrender, the voluntary self-surrender on Friday morning and rather than allowing me to wear a suit and tie and cooperatively walk into the courtroom as a non-violently charged misdemeanor accused defendant, they instead had me go to the Dallas field office of the FBI, turn myself in, they put me in shackles and they took me downtown.”
“The FBI drove me to the federal courthouse in downtown Dallas where the United States Marshals then put me in leg chains and belt chains and put me in a cage with actual meth dealers,” Baker continued.
“They actually demanded that I turn myself…they put me in shackles.”
The FBI arrested investigative reporter Steve Baker over his coverage of January 6th. The journalist recounted his story. @TPC4USA @CarlHigbie pic.twitter.com/Lkn0xZMLFe
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) March 5, 2024
Baker worked as an independent journalist at the time he arrived at the Capitol during the riot. He is currently charged with knowingly entering “a restricted building or ground without lawful authority to do so,” disrupting government business and official functions and with uttering “loud, threatening and abusive language.” (RELATED: ‘Absolute Chilling Effect’: Conservative Reporter Says FBI Plans To Arrest Him Over Jan 6 Stories)
Baker said he did not know the specific charges brought against him at the time he was notified about his potential arrest, according to the Blaze. His attorney, James Lee Bright, said the non-disclosure is “really unusual.”
In January, attorneys representing Baker told the Blaze that the Justice Department could be organizing a “retaliation” against him over breaking two “greatly embarrassing” stories about the DOJ.
The FBI notified Baker’s attorneys of his upcoming arrest Nov. 21, 2023, and Dec. 23, respectively, according to the journalist’s Twitter thread on the matter.