Several reporters followed the mob into the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and got footage of "Shaman" Jacob Chansley in the Senate chamber with his feet propped up on Nancy Pelosi's desk.
Ever since, the FBI has gone after anyone they can remotely link to the events of that day, including conservative journalists who were covering the event.
Independent reporter Steve Baker recently told Emerald Robinson on LindellTV, an online network founded by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, that the FBI has been after him since he documented his first-hand experiences of January 6, including at the rally and with Capitol Police before unarmed Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed.
"I'm not confident of anything," he said about being formally charged by the FBI. "They have left me in limbo now since, really, July of 2021. "That was the first phone call that I received from the FBI requesting a volunteer interview with me."
That interview was supposed to take place in early August, but it was canceled when Washington notified the FBI field office that because Baker is a journalist, they could not interview him without written permission from the Department of Justice.
The volunteer interview did not take place until later that fall. Within weeks, Baker was notified that he would soon be charged. His offensive response, however, kept that at bay, and neither Baker nor his attorneys heard back until last week – almost two years later – when he learned he would be subpoenaed for his videos.
He is not the only reporter on the FBI's radar; independent reporter JD Rivera has already spent time in prison for his coverage of January 6. As far as Baker can tell, only conservative reporters are being targeted.
"Rivera basically paralleled The New Yorker reporter who captured the infamous video of the QAnon Shaman inside the Senate," he told Robinson. "They were both basically moving through the Capitol that day, and The New Yorker reporter has never been charged; JD spent months in prison."
In addition to covering January 6, Baker has since gone on to cover the defendant trials in person.
