WASHINGTON (AP) — A writer for a conservative media outlet pleaded guilty on Tuesday to joining a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol nearly four years ago, after a federal judge refused to pause his case until after President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Steve Baker, who has written articles about the Jan. 6, 2021, riot for Blaze News, entered his guilty plea on the day that his bench trial had been scheduled to begin.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper is scheduled to sentence Baker on March 6, but the judge acknowledged that the case may never reach the punishment stage. Trump has repeatedly vowed to issue pardons to Jan. 6 riot defendants.
Baker, 64, of Durham, North Carolina, had asked Cooper to postpone all of the deadlines and hearings for his case until after Trump’s inauguration. But the judge denied Baker’s request. Other judges have rejected similar requests by Capitol riot defendants who hope Trump will pardon them.
After his guilty plea, Baker told reporters that he is “very confident that I’m at the top of the list” if Trump hands out pardons. Baker said he pleaded guilty “to avoid the shaming exercise of a trial” and maintained that he didn’t do anything wrong