Reporter and January 6 defendant Steve Baker entered a guilty plea on Tuesday, which his attorney explained acknowledged the state has enough evidence to convict him without admitting to the specifics of the prosecutors’ claims, in what he said in a press conference was a move to avoid the “shaming exercise of a trial.”
Then working as an independent journalist, Baker was inside restricted parts of the U.S. Capitol complex on January 6, 2021. Three years after the protest, he was charged by the Biden-Harris Department of Justice for attempting to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory with his presence.
His decision to enter the guilty plea came shortly after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper denied Baker’s request to delay the trial in the aftermath of the decisive victory achieved by President-elect Donald Trump.
“I made the decision specifically to avoid the shaming exercise of a trial. I’ve watched enough of these trials to know that that’s exactly what these are,” said Baker during his press conference after the judge accepted his plea.
