WASHINGTON — A North Carolina man who pleaded guilty Tuesday to unlawfully entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 says he’s “very confident” a presidential pardon will spare from him sentencing in his case.
Steve Baker, of Raleigh, North Carolina, spoke with WUSA9 on the day of the riot about the events he witnessed. Baker was inside the Capitol for approximately 37 minutes, during which time he entered an office suite used by then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and witnessed efforts to resuscitate Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt after she was shot while climbing through a window into the Speaker’s Lobby. Surveillance footage used as evidence in the trial of another defendant, Daniel Egtvedt, of Maryland, showed Baker standing just a short distance away while medics were working on Babbitt in the Hall of Columns.
In an interview with former WUSA9 anchor Adam Longo, Baker said he was acting as a citizen journalist on Jan. 6 intending to document what he saw. He also said he approved “100 percent” of what happened – a comment that was included in the charging documents eventually filed against Baker, although he has said on other occasions that he condemns the violence and property destruction. On Tuesday, Baker clarified that what he agreed with was the passion he saw on the political right.
“I’m a flaming libertarian,” Baker said. “I was excited to see everyone on that side of the political aisle fired up for once.”
Watch Steve Baker's Jan. 2021 interview with WUSA9 below:
Prosecutors used other statements by Baker to argue he was not an amateur journalist on Jan. 6, but rather an active and willing participant in the mob. In a video recorded by Baker at a Virginia hotel after the riot, Baker said he regretted not stealing computers from congressional offices in the Capitol. Prosecutors said Baker also faced off with police and dared them to use their weapons on the crowd, although Baker has challenged that characterization of his remarks.
Baker was arrested in March on the four misdemeanor counts used in nearly all Jan. 6 cases. He pleaded guilty to all four counts Tuesday in federal court in D.C. without accepting a deal from the government. Baker declined to say he’d intended to disrupt the congressional proceedings on Jan. 6 – a necessary element of two of the charges in his case – but acknowledged the evidence the government would have presented at trial would have more than likely resulted in a conviction. Afterward, Baker told reporters he believed he didn’t do anything wrong on Jan. 6.
“I pled guilty to their assertion today to avoid the shaming process of going to trial,” Baker said.
Baker, who was joined in court Tuesday by attorneys William Shipley and Ed Tarpley, argued unsuccessfully that he was the victim of selective prosecution and that other journalists and social media influencers at the Capitol on Jan. 6 have not been charged despite evidence of the same conduct as his. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper denied a motion from Baker’s attorneys seeking additional discovery from the government about any decisions not to prosecute a list of dozens of journalists they said were at the Capitol, ruling that they hadn’t provided enough detail to support the claim. A small number of other defendants associated with the media have been charged in connection with the riot, including Elliot Resnick, a former editor for the Jewish Press, and John Earl Sullivan, an activist who filmed the riot on Jan. 6 with the intention of selling his footage (Sullivan did ultimately sell the footage for more than $90,000, all of which was seized following his arrest). Sullivan was sentenced in April to six years in prison for inciting the mob and carrying a knife in a restricted area.
At the time of the riot, Baker was a musician and blogger under the moniker “The Pragmatic Constitutionalist.” Since mid-2023, Baker has contributed pieces to the conservative news site Blaze News about the Jan. 6 prosecutions and the federal response to Hurricane Helene in his home state of North Carolina.
Cooper scheduled Baker’s sentencing hearing for March 6, but acknowledged Tuesday president-elect Donald Trump’s promise to end the Jan. 6 prosecutions and potentially pardon convicted defendants could make the hearing moot. Cooper also took the opportunity to push back on Baker’s public comments criticizing the Jan. 6 prosecutions, including his own. Cooper said the riot wasn’t just an attack on the Capitol, but on the rule of law.
“The proceedings that have taken place in this court have exemplified the rule of law, in contrast to the mob rule that was displayed by some, but not all, on Jan. 6,” Cooper said.
Trump, who was projected to win reelection to the presidency last week exactly 46 months to the day after the Capitol riot, has made various statements about the possibility of pardons for Jan. 6 defendants. As recently as September, Trump said during a rally in Wisconsin that he planned to “rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner unjustly victimized by the Harris regime.” Prominent Trump surrogates have suggested he may pursue a blanket pardon of all non-violent defendants. Trump himself told Time Magazine during an interview in April that he would “absolutely” consider pardoning every Jan. 6 defendant, although moments later said he would look differently at defendants who were “evil and bad.” More than 160 defendants have been charged with attacking police with a dangerous weapon and/or causing bodily injury.
Baker, whose arrest prompted an op-ed in his support by Republican Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk, appeared confident Tuesday about receiving a pardon.
“If there are pardons, if his campaign promise is kept, then I’m very confident I’m at the top of the list,” Baker said.
Baker added if his case does go to sentencing, he “won’t be expressing any remorse or regret.”
In the 46 months since the attack on the U.S. Capitol, more than 1,500 defendants have now been charged. Nearly 1,200 have now pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial.