Worried about airport collisions? Gamers are coming to the rescue



A U.S. government-backed recruiting ad exploited what officials said was an obvious crossover in interests.

This led to a rapid intake of job applications that will likely fulfill a key role that has been criticized over the past few years for being at the center of disastrous diversity, equity, and inclusion hiring practices.

'We've leaned into that community.'

On April 10, the Department of Transportation put out a call for applicants to consider transitioning to a career in one of the most prioritized roles the federal government has to offer: air traffic controllers.

The one-minute ad targeted adult gamers by focusing on their attention to detail, multitasking, and simply put, their ability to take in a vast amount of data through a screen.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy revealed on Friday there was an obvious crossover in interest between gamers and air traffic controllers.

"We polled 250 random students at our academy, and only three of them were not gamers. Like, there must be a correlation between gaming and people wanting to become air traffic controllers," Duffy said at the Semafor World Economy event in Washington, D.C. "So we've leaned into that community."

The recruitment push turned out to be shockingly successful, and after just seven hours, the recruitment portal was almost ready to be shut down.

"We went live last night at midnight — and as of 7:00 this morning, we had almost 6,000 applicants. We are going to shut down the application process at 8,000."

RELATED: 'Make a lot of money': Trump administration has a job opportunity for adult video gamers

Duffy told the audience, "If we're not there right now, for sure we'll be there by noon," at which point there will not be a need for any more applications.

As Return previously reported, Duffy met his goal to recruit at least 2,000 new air traffic controllers last September by bringing in 2,026. This came from a group of 10,000 applications, with more than 8,300 being referred to aptitude testing.

On Friday, Duffy spoke more about the correlation between the gamer mindset and what it takes to be an air traffic controller.

"If you think just what these gamers are doing on screens, and they're talking, and there's a lot of things going on. They're used to that, and that's actually what you're doing, in a tower, in a facility," Duffy continued. "They've become well-suited, from the games they've played, to actually have a great life [and] job that pays well and can support their families."

RELATED: Trump can secure a big win for air travel

John Moore/Getty Images

The transportation secretary did stress that the applicants have to be qualified and will go through an assessment process. However, "We've had a flood of people, young people coming in that want to be air traffic controllers ... this has been wildly successful."

The department will still endeavor for its ongoing goal of hiring at least 8,900 new air traffic controllers through 2028.

An audit from 2025 by the Office of Inspector General stated that the FAA employs about 13,000 air traffic controllers in over 300 facilities across the U.S. Nearly 10,600 of those are "certified professional controllers."

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'I'm not suicidal': Rep. Burchett says US would fall apart if we heard truth about UFOs



A congressman could neither confirm nor deny shocking claims made about hybrid alien species and a string of mysterious deaths.

During a recent interview, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) urged President Trump to disclose government secrets that he said would rock the nation, saying that what he has seen would keep people up at night.

'This country would have come unglued, I think, if they would have heard all that I heard.'

Burchett spoke with Newsmax host Rob Finnerty about recent stories and claims made about UFOs and alien disclosure. Perhaps most shockingly, Finnerty highlighted claims made by former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who recently said he was once briefed by U.S. Army personnel about the locations of "hybrid breeding programs where captured aliens were breeding with humans to create some hybrid race that could engage in intergalactic communication."

Gaetz told host Benny Johnson about "enforced breeding programs" between aliens and humans who had been abducted from war zones or migrant caravans.

When Finnerty asked Burchett for his response, he replied, "I'm still a member of Congress, so I can't really comment too much on what Matt said."

Burchett insisted he was being serious and added that if the government "would release the things that I've seen, you would stay up. You'd be up at night worrying about or thinking about this stuff."

The congressman gave an example.

"I was briefed ... on an issue two weeks ago, and it would have set the earth on — this country would have come unglued, I think, if they would have heard all that I heard, they would demand answers. And we need to."

Burchett then told the host there was an active cover-up happening in the highest ranks.

RELATED: Aliens or shape-shifting demons? BlazeTV producer shares chilling personal evidence

All the allegedly shocking information that would have Americans up in arms is continuously being hidden from public view, Burchett claimed.

"Unfortunately, it just keeps getting covered up and covered up. And the people that know are dying or disappearing, as the case may be," he went on.

To that end, Finnerty cited a recent story connecting six dead or missing personnel linked to "secret U.S. aerospace work," all of which are stories from the past year.

For example, retired General William Neil McCasland allegedly "disappeared suddenly from his home" but left his phone, glasses, and watch, Finnerty said. He reportedly worked at an Air Force base that allegedly held debris from the Roswell, New Mexico, crash from the 1940s.

Monica Jacinto Reza is an aerospace engineer who vanished while hiking in the Angeles National Forest in June 2025.

In response to the stories, Burchett said, "I just know there are no coincidences in this town."

"These folks have disappeared or died mysteriously, and the only thing that ties them together is the fact that they worked on things that are dealing with outer space, whether it's UFOs or nuclear secrets or missiles or what have you," he added.

Chillingly, Burchett also felt the need to tell the host, "For the record, I'm not suicidal, and I don't take risks."

RELATED: The Conspiracy Instinct

-

The 61-year-old from Knoxville, Tennessee, said he has been pushing for disclosure from the federal government, but he and his colleagues are often stymied by "arrogant" bureaucrats.

"When I'm in a meeting, in a closed-door meeting, and I asked about the president's points on these, and then I'm told by some arrogant, unelected bureaucrat that the president is on a need-to-know basis, I think that says everything that needs to be said about what's going on."

Burchett described the typical bureaucrat as "some little punk with a man bun" who is "sort of running the show," while decorated military officers are silenced.

The officers, Burchett explained, "are basically unallowed to say anything, and you can read their faces."

The congressman remained steadfast in that he did not believe the recent deaths were coincidences and furthermore that he thinks President Trump is indeed the president who wants to provide disclosure on aliens.

Burchett said the president simply needs to be informed of what questions to ask and to be told the locations of certain "items."

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The Real Reason Conservatives Are Rethinking Ronald Reagan | Presidents Series | Michael Knowles
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The Real Reason Conservatives Are Rethinking Ronald Reagan | Presidents Series | Michael Knowles

Creep state: Corgan claims feds helped sideline rock



Smashing Pumpkins lead singer Billy Corgan says he was approached by government entities during the George W. Bush administration.

According to the singer, he is familiar with several instances of musicians being compromised and protected by the industry due to their willingness to play ball.

'I've been approached by elements of the US government.'

The Smashing Pumpkins were among the most popular bands in the 1990s, with three records achieving at least platinum-selling status and 1995's "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" reaching diamond status.

Now, among other ventures, Corgan hosts "The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan" podcast and recently had writer Conrad Flynn as his guest. The pair discussed dark influences in Hollywood culture, which led Corgan to reveal that he himself had been approached by the government in past decades.

Siamese scheme

"At different times, I've been approached by elements of the U.S. government to be involved in things that were just way above my pay grade," he explained. "I've never talked about them in any depth publicly, but I've had experiences where I would find myself in a room with people and think, 'Why are they talking to me?' It was something out of, like, 'Eyes Wide Shut,'" Corgan said, referring to the movie about the occult.

RELATED: 'I wouldn't ask for no f**king charity!' Mickey Rourke blasts 'embarrassing' GoFundMe plea

Corgan explained that his experiences led to interactions with government officials hoping to capitalize on his influence.

"All I can say is I've experienced supernatural things and I've experienced things where I've had elements of the U.S. government reach out to me because they somehow want to hook my influence, which is not that great, into whatever they're after."

Chart of the deal

This led the singer to speak on the music industry, which is "certainly [his] area of expertise," while adding the notion that "there are elements in popular music where people have been compromised, knowingly."

"They were offered kind of a Faustian bargain. Pick door No .1 and we're going to push you to the moon. ... There are people who are protected, and they get every benefit of that protection, and I know it because I know the game, because I've lived it. And there are other people where they just, they decide to press a button and throw them off the ship."

Some of these musicians may have been dumped for bad behavior, Corgan admitted, but in "other cases," he said, it was likely because "they won't do the bidding that people want them to do."

RELATED: Corporation for Public Broadcasting dissolved by board after 58 years of funding PBS and NPR

Photo by Catherine McGann/Getty Images

Disarmed

The culmination of political influence on music — particularly rock music — resulted in the severe lack of edgy rock artists since the turn of the millennium.

"Here we are 25 years into the 21st century, and rock couldn't be less of an influence on the on the social political order," Corgan continued, noting how influential the genre was in the second half of the 1900s.

"Does anybody think that that's kind of strange? That somebody decided to push a button somewhere and make sure that people like myself don't say certain things any more?"

Corgan soon cut the conversation short, telling his guest he was not willing to directly state what he was asked and by whom.

25,000 Americans apply for just 1,000 jobs at new federal Tech Force



Hot on the heels of the U.S. government's announcement of the Tech Force combing for 1,000 new recruits, 25 times that number of Americans have sent in their resumes to the cross-agency technology team.

The Tech Force, announced mid-month, urged the country's best and brightest to head to its website to apply for short-term federal employment. Over the ensuing week, that number has risen to at least 25,000, according to Scott Kupor, the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

'Tech Force will tackle the most complex and large-scale civic and defense challenges of our era.'

With a two-year government contract worth as much as $200,000, recruits will be part of an "elite group" of tech specialists hired to "accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) implementation" and solve critical tech challenges.

The unprecedented new group will primarily recruit those early in their careers, the Tech Force website explained, who specialize in engineering, AI, cybersecurity, data analytics, or project management in tech. Those brought on board can expect to implement AI programs and applications, modernize data, and provide digital service delivery at federal agencies.

"Backed by the White House, Tech Force will tackle the most complex and large-scale civic and defense challenges of our era," the outfit promised. "From administering critical financial infrastructure at the Treasury Department to advancing cutting-edge programs at the Department of Defense, and everything in between."

RELATED: BEWARE: With these new web browsers, everything on your computer can be stolen with one click

— (@)

Hires can look forward to working with agency leadership and "leading technology companies" to train and engage with senior management from partnered companies. The government openly states that once Tech Forcers are finished with their training program, they will seek employment at the partnering private-sector companies in order to demonstrate "the value of combining civil service with technical expertise."

Along with the competitive high salaries, the government program says it provides benefits like health insurance, retirement plans, and "performance-based awards."

The duties and scope of the Tech Force varied to a great degree, with the official website providing a lengthy list of federal agencies that participants can expect to be placed within. These included the Departments of War, Treasury, State, Labor, Commerce, Energy, Health and Human Services, Interior, Housing & Urban Development, Transportation, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs.

Other agencies like the Small Business Administration, IRS, and Office of Personnel Management were also noted.

RELATED: NO HANDS: New Japanese firm trains robots without human input

Photo by Wang Gang/VCG via Getty Images

Readers on X had mixed reactions to open recruitment, with several hoping the program would only be open to Americans and others sarcastically saying that it probably should not be filled "with Indians."

The application form goes through the USA Jobs website.

The official account for the Young Republicans of Texas said the program could be an effective way to prove that there are "plenty of qualified Americans" in the tech field.

At the same time, others worried about a dystopian future that could arise from combining advanced technology and the Treasury Department.

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When a ‘too big to fail’ America meets a government too broke to bail it out



I’ve been titanically bearish on America for years. Sorry. I can do math.

The United States owes more than $38 trillion. That alone makes the balance sheet hopeless. The debt is insurmountable.

America’s GDP in 2024 was $29.2 trillion, meaning the debt exceeds 130% of what we produce in a year. If this were a business, every financial adviser would tell you to file Chapter 11 and salvage what you can.

Washington keeps adding another trillion to the tab roughly every 100 days. As the debt climbs, interest payments climb faster. The country now spins in a debt spiral that ends only one way. Game over.

The more the world moves away from the dollar, the more tens of trillions of unwanted dollars come flooding home. You haven’t seen anything like real devaluation yet.

Then comes the $210 trillion in future unfunded liabilities — mostly Social Security and Medicare. Those numbers don’t pencil out in any universe.

Underneath all of it sits a sinking currency. The dollar lost 87% of its value since we abandoned the gold standard in 1971. For decades, the petrodollar arrangement held the world in our system by forcing oil purchases through the U.S. currency. Saudi Arabia let that mandate expire last year. Global energy deals immediately began shifting to other currencies.

The more the world moves away from the dollar, the more tens of trillions of unwanted dollars come flooding home. You haven’t seen anything like real devaluation yet.

To fund our binge, Washington must keep selling treasuries. But foreign buyers are losing interest. Rates rise. The government buys its own debt just to keep markets from buckling. The Cayman Islands now holds $1.85 trillion — the largest single foreign share and rising fast. Treasury officials tried to obscure the numbers. None of it signals stability.

Meanwhile, our economy rests on an absurdly fragile foundation: 70% consumption. Seven out of 10 dollars depend on Americans buying things they can no longer afford. Household debt hit a record $18.6 trillion — nearly two-thirds of GDP. Families now pay down debt instead of fueling growth.

Shrinking consumption means a shrinking economy. Shrinking economy means shrinking tax revenue. Combine that with a weakening dollar and the picture becomes darker still.

Enter artificial intelligence, the accelerant. AI threatens tens of millions of jobs within years, wiping out income and collapsing the consumption model even faster. A government facing falling revenue and exploding obligations cannot pretend to stay solvent.

Some cling to fantasies like universal basic income. With what money? The same government already $210 trillion short on existing promises? Please.

This all points toward an economic crash far larger than 2008. Washington froze that crisis with $29 trillion in bailouts — money it didn’t have then either. We conjured it and shoved it onto the national debt.

That option is gone.

Today the government sits too deep in debt, with a weaker dollar and fewer global buyers. And the next crisis won’t hit one sector. It hits everything:

• Record mortgage debt: $13.1 trillion
• Record credit-card debt: $1.2 trillion
• Collapsing commercial real estate: $4.9 trillion
• Big Tech borrowing hundreds of billions to inflate an AI bubble

OpenAI’s Sam Altman already expects an eventual government bailout for AI’s collapse.

RELATED: When the AI bubble bursts, guess who pays

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Total U.S. debt — public and private — hit $102.2 trillion in 2024. Washington cannot rescue a single major sector, let alone all of them. The national debt was $10 trillion during bailout 2008. It’s four times that now. The dollar buys less. Foreign creditors show less patience.

So who steps in next time? Who buys the treasuries? Who absorbs the losses?

No one. Not abroad. Not at home. Nowhere on this planet.

That leaves Washington with only one move: Print tens of trillions in new dollars and hand them to itself — more IOIs (as opposed to IOUs) stacked on a pile already ready to topple.

And that printing wave will obliterate whatever value the dollar still holds.

Think the dollar’s fallen far? You haven’t seen anything yet.

US bans government employees from having romantic relations with Chinese people in China



The United States banned its government personnel from having romantic or sexual relationships in China with Chinese citizens.

The news of the ban just surfaced. However, the policy was reportedly put in place back in January by President Biden's ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, just before he left the communist country.

The Associated Press cited four people who allegedly have direct knowledge of the policy, which was more softly enacted in the summer of 2024. The previous rules surrounded American personnel being barred from having "romantic and sexual relations" with Chinese citizens who worked as guards or other support staff at any of the U.S. consulates or the U.S. embassy in China. Burns then expanded the rules in January, reportedly just days before President Trump took office.

Burns allegedly brought up the rule changes after members of Congress had contacted him and said the restrictions on the government employees were not tough enough.

'He will not participate in your story.'

The most famous case of recent Chinese spying through romantic connections is likely the Chinese operative Feng Feng, who went by Christine Fang.

According to a bombshell report by Axios in 2020, the spy had sexual or romantic relationships with at least two mayors of Midwestern cities in the span of three years, one of which involved a sexual encounter with a mayor from Ohio. That encounter was in a car that was under electronic FBI surveillance at the time.

The spy also took part in fundraising activity for Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) in 2014 for his re-election campaign. Swalwell was not charged for any wrongdoing; however, the spy allegedly helped place at least one intern in the congressman's office.

"Rep. Swalwell, long ago, provided information about this person — whom he met more than eight years ago, and whom he hasn't seen in nearly six years — to the FBI," Swalwell's office told the outlet at the time. "To protect information that might be classified, he will not participate in your story."

The new policy covers any U.S. employees at American installations in mainland China, including the embassy in Beijing and consulates in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Wuhan. It also applies to the American consulate in Hong Kong.

Those who are already in relationships with Chinese citizens can apply for exemptions.

According to the report's sources, who agreed to speak only under the condition of anonymity, the directive is also deemed to be confidential and was communicated both verbally and electronically to American personnel in China in January.

The details of what defines a "romantic or sexual relationship" were not provided to reporters.

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Was Trump shooter GROOMED? Suspended FBI agent Kyle Seraphin weighs in



FBI whistleblower Kyle Seraphin joins Sara Gonzales on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered” to shed light on the possibility of Thomas Matthew Crooks, Trump’s would-be assassin, being groomed.

It’s a hypothetical people can’t help but ponder, considering we’re being repeatedly told that Crooks had “no criminal history.”

And when you add in the Heritage Foundation’s research that found that “someone who regularly visits or visited Crooks’ home and work also visited a building in Washington, D.C., located in the Gallery Place, which is in the same vicinity of an FBI office,” suspicion really starts to mount.

Investigative journalist and Blaze Media correspondent Steve Baker isn’t totally convinced that this information points to any motive.

“That's a huge facility,” he says of the Gallery Place. “It's right next to an arena, it’s got a movie theater, shopping, restaurants, all of these other things.”

But Steve also isn’t willing to rule out the possibility of Crooks visiting an FBI office either.

“We are using our resources to do a much more accurate pinpointing of it. With the resources we're using, we can get it down to about three meters and see which floor they're on,” he says.

Seraphin, like Steve, also looks at these kinds of situations through a lens of skepticism.

Suspended FBI Agent Kyle Seraphin Breaks Down Trump Shooter Possibly Being GROOMED?youtu.be

“I am a skeptic,” he says. “Even the things that I want to believe, the things that I think are probably true, I always try to disprove them. That's how you become a good investigator.”

“Who regularly visits your house?” he asks Sara.

“My parents, babysitter, the mailman, Amazon,” she lists.

“UPS, your neighbors’ gardeners … the people that check your water meter,” Seraphin adds, noting that “the problem is that you could have people that are regular visitors to your home on the ad ID of their phone that have nothing to do with you, that you've never even met.”

“They visited home and work [of Crooks],” Sara reminds.

Even still, Seraphin maintains his skepticism, stating that “it's very possible if you live in a small town that the same Amazon driver or UPS or postal service” might visit your home and place of employment.

Further, he looks at what many are calling a phony excuse – “it was too hot on the roof” – as a normal occurrence.

As someone who worked in the FBI and attended many presidential events, he says it’s “very reasonable” for an agent to seek comfort if given the option.

“If you get the choice, though – do you want to stand outside with this crowd and be cold and it's starting to rain on you, or would you like to go sit inside that car that's 50 yards away and you can keep an eye on them? I'm in the car every time,” he says.

As for the “blue-on-blue” situation – the justification that it took so long for someone to shoot Crooks because the snipers were afraid of killing an ally – Seraphim says this is likely true.

“No law enforcement officer, no federal agent, no cop wants to take a shot when there's the possibility that you're shooting another cop.”

“The blue-on-blue reality of somebody who's inside of an area where someone is supposed to have a gun but it's not the guy that you thought –that would be the worst-case scenario,” he tells Sara and Steve.

But there’s one more element of Crooks’ case that has Seraphim the most skeptical. To hear it, watch the clip above.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred take to news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Naval Special Warfare Command, which includes Navy SEALs, celebrates Pride with rainbow-hued post — and gets excoriated



The United States Naval Special Warfare Command — which includes Navy SEALs —celebrated the first day of Pride Month with rainbow-hued message on its Facebook page.

The June 1 post includes the NSWC logo backed with horizontal bars colored red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple — along with the words "NSW, Dignity, Service, Respect, Equality, Pride." As you might expect, there was a just a little bit of backlash against the post.

'So glad I got out before this bulls**t took over.'

Sara Gonzales — host of BlazeTV's "Sara Gonzales Unfiltered" — told Blaze News that it's "truly terrifying that at a time when our own administration is drumming up conflict across the globe, seemingly chomping at the bit for World War III, they’re also stacking our military with diversity hires. The military is one of the most important places to recruit based on merit and strength, both physically and mentally, rather than who you choose to sleep with. If conflict does come our way, we’re screwed."

A number of commenters on the NSW Facebook post appeared equally disturbed:

  • "So glad I got out before this bulls**t took over," one commenter wrote.
  • "Fix yourself," another user said. "This is a disgrace."
  • "This emboldens our enemies almost as much as a Joe Biden gaffe," another commenter declared.
  • "Someone has lost the plot here," another user observed.
  • "Man this woke sh.. is like a cancer and needs to be handled and [dealt] with as a threat to national security," another commenter stated. "Gone way too far."

Anything else?

The Department of Defense on Saturday night posted the following on X:

— (@)

Fox News said the DoD earlier Saturday "appeared to mix up" Pride Month and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Month, as a now-deleted X post included the above "Celebrate Pride Month 2024" image with a Progress Pride Flag graphic along with the following message: "June is PTSD Awareness Month, and the DoD is committed to supporting service members and veterans affected by PTSD."

The U.S. government first recognized PTSD Awareness Month in June 2014, one year before June was declared Pride Month, the cable news network added.

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Blaze News investigative journalist Steve Baker pleads not guilty to 4 misdemeanor charges over his Jan. 6 reporting



Blaze News investigative journalist Steve Baker on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to the four non-violent misdemeanor charges the Justice Department brought against him in connection with his reporting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

What's the background?

Baker has been searching for the truth about what went on behind the scenes in relation to January 6 and believes the U.S. government has been targeting him for it.

Well, after receiving instructions from the FBI, Baker on March 1 arrived at the agency's field office in Dallas and turned himself in — after which, he was arrested, handcuffed, and charged.

The charges against him are:

  • Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority
  • Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds
  • Disorderly conduct in a capitol building
  • Parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building

Baker and others have blasted the charges. U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) himself sounded off with an op-ed last month asking, "Where is the outrage over Steve Baker’s prosecution?"

What's more, shortly after Baker's arrest, Blaze Media released never-before-seen video showing Baker's movements in and around the U.S. Capitol on January 6, which appears to stand in stark contrast to the narrative the federal government has been floating about him.

The 47-minute video includes Baker's cellphone camera documentation of what went on inside the Capitol building alongside newly released footage from the Capitol's CCTV cameras that BlazeTV obtained primarily through Loudermilk's efforts. He and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) have made providing access to January 6 videos a priority.

Here's the unfiltered video showing Baker just before he entered the Capitol that day, his movements inside the building, and after he left. Content warning: Language:

Steve Baker Inside the Capitol on January 6 youtu.be

Baker discussed his legal saga in a pair of October commentary pieces for Blaze News (here and here), detailing the ins and outs of the federal investigation he's been under following his independent journalistic work on January 6, which took place prior to him joining Blaze News.

What happened at Wednesday's hearing?

Baker told Blaze News that Wednesday's virtual hearing was his first time before the Washington, D.C., federal judge presiding over the case — Christopher R. Cooper — who last week ordered Baker to "comply" with the conditions of his release, although Baker has maintained he's been in compliance all along.

Baker told Blaze News there was "quite a bit of discussion" at the hearing about pretrial restrictions on him, which relate to Cooper's order to comply.

Baker previously told Blaze News that among his restrictions are that he's not allowed to possess a firearm, and he has to report every contact he has with law enforcement to his pretrial services officer. But this presents two problems for Baker: He told Blaze News he carries a gun as a means of self-defense due to online threats he's received, and part of his job with Blaze News is speaking to law enforcement personnel — and doing so confidentially.

An upbeat Baker on Thursday told Blaze News that despite apparent previous glitches in communication between pretrial services officers in D.C. and in his home state of North Carolina — which seem to have contributed to Cooper's order to comply, which Baker saw as unnecessary — the hearing showed him things now appear to be headed in the right direction:

"Frankly, I’m quite surprised and pleased by the cooperative nature the government has shown toward my pretrial release conditions and their willingness to modify language due to my unique circumstances as a working journalist. Unlike all other J6 defendants, I have no travel restrictions — even to D.C. or internationally — and the government is working with my attorneys to modify the language of certain restrictions that would interfere with my ongoing investigations … even those about certain governmental agencies’ corruption.

"I can only conjecture that they do not want to engage in these fights, knowing I will go public with every ruling, and more eyeballs will likely see these wranglings than any other J6 case. Both Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Dreher and Judge Cooper seem very amenable to both parties simply 'working it out' without having to litigate each issue. This has to do with not only my pretrial conditions but also matters of discovery that are normally under the Court’s protective order, to which I may have already had access and permission from Congress to release publicly as a result of my ongoing investigations.

"The most interesting moment in yesterday’s hearing came when my attorney addressed the discovery, protective order issues, and my unique access to all this information through congressional committees. Judge Cooper asked, 'What does Mr. Baker do for a living?' My attorney William Shipley replied, 'He’s a journalist with Blaze Media.' Cooper seemed genuinely surprised to learn that, and I was genuinely surprised that the government had not already informed him of my occupation."

Baker said his next hearing is scheduled for June 3.

What has Baker uncovered so far?

Baker began his investigative reporting for Blaze News last fall. His first Jan. 6 analysis for Blaze News came last October following countless hours in a House subcommittee office looking at frame after frame of January 6 closed-circuit video — and it had him wondering: Did Capitol Police Special Agent David Lazarus perjure himself in the Oath Keepers trial?

Baker's investigative efforts also resulted in two additional analyses, both focusing on Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn: "January 6 and the N-word that wasn't" and "Harry Dunn's account of January 6 does not add up. At all."

In December, Baker alleged that he uncovered major irregularities involving Dunn, the Capitol Police, the press, and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland).

In January, Baker asserted that newly released U.S. Capitol closed-circuit TV video clips from Jan. 6 show Lazarus gave false testimony in the Oath Keepers trial.

Proof of Perjury | The Truth About January 6 youtu.be

Also in January, Baker and others were asking what the U.S. government has to hide in regard to the pipe bomb found on Jan. 6 at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Baker in February wrote another analysis titled "Capitol Police diverted all CCTV cameras away from DNC pipe bomb investigation — except one" and later that month asked why Kamala Harris was at the DNC and not the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Rep. Loudermilk — who chairs the Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight — last month told Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck the reason the FBI and the Justice Department may be going after Baker over his January 6 coverage is because "he's onto something" the federal government wants kept under wraps.

In addition, GOP House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan last month opened an investigation into the DOJ over its treatment of Baker. In a scathing March 12 letter to Matthew Graves, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jordan outlined "serious concerns" about the DOJ's "selective prosecution" concerning Baker's arrest "as well as the Department's commitments to the First Amendment rights of journalists."

In his letter, Jordan demanded that Graves produce the following no later than 5 p.m. March 26:

  • All documents and communications regarding Baker's arrest;
  • All documents and communications regarding any investigation, prosecution, and arrest of any other journalist covering Jan. 6;
  • All documents and communications related to the DOJ's determination to request pretrial detention of defendants charged in connection with Jan. 6 — plus those who are now or who have been in pretrial detention related to Jan. 6.

Jordan's letter concludes by reminding Graves that the Judiciary Committee has "jurisdiction to oversee" the DOJ regarding matters "related to civil liberties."

Baker on Thursday told Blaze News that according to his contacts on the Judiciary Committee, Jordan's demands have yet to be met.

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