Loudermilk to Beck: Feds may be going after Blaze News' Steve Baker because 'he's onto something' they want kept secret
Republican U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (Ga.) on Wednesday told Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck the reason the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice may be going after Blaze News investigative journalist Steve Baker over his Jan. 6, 2021, coverage is because "he's onto something" the federal government wants kept under wraps.
What are the details?
During his radio show interview with Loudermilk, Beck brought up Tuesday's news about GOP House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan opening an investigation into the DOJ over Baker's March 1 arrest and "demanding all of the documents and [internal] communication ... to know why this guy was treated differently than the New York Times. Are we gonna find anything on this? Nobody believes that any of this is gonna change a darn thing, which is frightening, quite honestly."
Loudermilk — who chairs the House Oversight Subcommittee — replied that he can anticipate the FBI will say "this is an active investigation, so we can't provide you with anything." But the congressman added that "potentially one of the reasons that they've done this is so certain information that [Baker] was working on can't be subpoenaed or ... provided to Congress. That's one theory of why they've gone after [Baker] and not the [other journalists] — because he was onto something. Look, my dad, a World War II veteran, used to to tell me all the time ... you took the most incoming fire when you were over the target."
Loudermilk added that the federal government's treatment of Baker "is a red flag to me" that "he's onto something."
Beck then shifted to an upcoming analysis Baker has been working on — one Loudermilk is familiar with — that Beck said could turn out to be "one of the worst things." Indeed, if Baker's investigation shows it's true, Beck said, "I think it's regime-changing. And I use the word 'regime' intentionally."
"I agree with you on that," Loudermilk replied. "People don't go to these extreme measures to cover up something that isn't real."
Check out the interview snippet below:
Baker caught wind of Beck's Wednesday interview with Loudermilk and offered Blaze News his perspective on it all.
"Glenn’s reference this morning when speaking with Rep. Loudermilk is about an upcoming story in our series about Capitol Police leadership failures and corruption," Baker explained. "We're also nowhere near finished with our Truth About January 6 features on former USCP officer Harry Dunn and Special Agent David Lazarus. We continue to work with Loudermilk’s committee on those and other developing stories. Interestingly, even today’s bombshell from Judicial Watch — about CIA assets deployed on January 6 — intersects with a story I’ve been bird-dogging and developing for more than three years. As the saying goes, 'The truth is out there,' and a lot of great people are still working to get those truths out to the American people."
Jordan's scathing letter
Jordan's Tuesday letter to Graves — which Beck referenced in his radio interview with Loudermilk — outlines "serious concerns" about the DOJ's "selective prosecution" concerning Baker's March 1 arrest in Dallas "as well as the Department's commitments to the First Amendment rights of journalists."
The letter notes that other journalists who were in the Capitol on Jan. 6 haven't been charged, yet the DOJ still decided to charge Baker, who was critical of federal investigations and prosecutions related to Jan. 6.
Jordan also demanded in his letter that Graves produce the following no later than 5 p.m. March 26:
What's the background?
Baker on March 1 was charged with four non-violent misdemeanors in connection with his Jan. 6 reporting: knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a capitol building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building.
Blaze Media last week released never-before-seen video showing Baker's movements in and around the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, which appears to stand in stark contrast to the narrative the federal government is floating about him.
The 47-minute video includes Baker's cellphone camera documentation of what went on inside the Capitol building alongside newly released footage from the Capitol's CCTV cameras that BlazeTV obtained primarily through Loudermilk's efforts. He and Speaker Johnson have made providing access to Jan. 6 videos a priority.
Here's the unfiltered video showing Baker on Jan. 6 just before he entered the Capitol, his movements inside the building, and after he left. Content warning: Language:
Steve Baker Inside the Capitol on January 6youtu.be
With this new video as a backdrop, Baker and others blasted the FBI's statement of facts behind his charges. Loudermilk himself sounded off with a Monday op-ed asking, "Where is the outrage over Steve Baker’s prosecution?"
Baker discussed his legal saga in a pair of October commentary pieces for Blaze News (here and here), detailing the ins and outs of the federal investigation he's been under following his independent journalistic work on Jan. 6, 2021, which took place prior to him joining Blaze News.
What has been uncovered as a result of Baker's investigations?
Baker's first Jan. 6 analysis for Blaze News came last October following countless hours in a House subcommittee office looking at frame after frame of Jan. 6 closed-circuit video — and it had him wondering: did Capitol Police Special Agent David Lazarus perjure himself in the Oath Keepers trial?
Soon after, the slow pace of getting an unrestricted look at everything recorded on video prompted Blaze Media editor in chief Matthew Peterson's appeal to House Speaker Mike Johnson to release all the videos. On Nov. 17, Johnson did just that.
Baker's investigative efforts also resulted in two additional analyses, both focusing on Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn: "January 6 and the N-word that wasn't" and "Harry Dunn's account of January 6 does not add up. At all."
In December, Baker alleged that he uncovered major irregularities involving Dunn, the Capitol Police, the press, and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland).
In January, Baker asserted that newly released U.S. Capitol closed-circuit TV video clips from Jan. 6 show Lazarus gave false testimony in the Oath Keepers trial.
Proof of Perjury | The Truth About January 6youtu.be
Also in January, Baker and others were asking what the U.S. government has to hide in regard to the pipe bomb found on Jan. 6 at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Baker in February wrote another analysis titled "Capitol Police diverted all CCTV cameras away from DNC pipe bomb investigation — except one."
Baker penned his latest analysis on Feb. 21, asking why Kamala Harris was at the DNC and not the Capitol on Jan. 6.
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