Blaze News investigative journalist Steve Baker said the FBI wants him to self-surrender to the agency Friday morning in Dallas over his January 6 reporting.
🚨BREAKING🧵- This time, it’s really happening.
Unlike the two previous threats my attorneys received from @FBI / @thejusticedept (Nov. 21 and Dec. 23), my self-surrender for alleged J6 crimes is set for this Friday morning in Dallas, TX. There is now a signed arrest warrant.⬇️
— Steve Baker – TPC (@TPC4USA) February 28, 2024
What are the details?
Baker told Blaze News he’s been instructed to turn himself in at the agency’s field office at 7 a.m. wearing “shorts and sandals” — which he said signals that the plan likely is to go for “humiliation” and place him in an orange jumpsuit, handcuff him, and do the “prisoner transport routine.”
He added that after he’s taken to the Dallas courthouse, he’ll appear at a 10 a.m. hearing before a federal magistrate.
“They didn’t have to go this route,” Baker told Blaze News on Tuesday evening. “We have been told that my charges are only misdemeanors. And my attorneys have been assured that this will be an ‘in and out’ affair with ‘no intention’ to detain me. But rather than issuing a simple order to appear, they went the ‘arrest warrant’ route.”
What’s more, Baker said he still does not know what the charges against him are, noting to Blaze News that the powers that be won’t tell his attorney about the charges because they believe Baker will post them on social media.
Baker’s Dallas attorney, James Lee Bright, added to Blaze News that withholding the nature of the charges against his client is a “really unusual” move. Bright also said he’s hoping to get a copy of the complaint against Baker as early as possible Friday morning.
Baker also said his legal team was told there was no request to the court for detention, no need for bail, and the expectation is that he’ll be released after the proceedings. Bright told Blaze News that he anticipates Friday’s hearing to be simple.
“We do not know if there will be pretrial travel restrictions, although that has been the norm for J6 defendants — even for misdemeanor defendants,” Baker also said. “It has also been universal that no J6ers are allowed to travel to Washington, D.C., which for obvious reasons will have a deleterious impact on my work. We also do not know if there will be any other accompanying restrictions or orders: gag order from talking about my case, no social media, limited social media, order to surrender devices and/or firearms. All unknowns.”