Fired 'investigative reporter' behind 'made up' Jan. 6 bombshell is posting through it despite lawsuit — and it will 'absolutely' be used against him

A erstwhile constabulary serviceman who defended the Capitol connected Jan. 6 and testified successful court is suing an "investigative reporter" and pardon recipient who allegedly "made up" a communicative that she was the long-elusive Washington, D.C., pipe bomb suspect, and her defamation lawsuit whitethorn beryllium getting stronger by the day.

On Dec. 4, the FBI made a elemental but important announcement: The idiosyncratic who placed tube bombs extracurricular Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee office is simply a man.

As soon arsenic that item flashed crossed cablegram quality chyrons and societal media feeds, it meant that Shauni Kerkhoff — a pistillate serving arsenic a Capitol Police serviceman astatine the clip of the onslaught — had seemingly been falsely accused based connected Steve Baker's "gait analysis" conclusions arsenic published connected the blimpish Blaze website successful November.

After Brian Cole was identified arsenic the suspect, allegedly confessed and expressed that helium thought the 2020 predetermination had been "tampered with," the Blaze — erstwhile faced with caller facts amid imaginable ineligible vulnerability — fired Baker, and issued a retraction:

Blaze News considers fairness and accuracy to beryllium the defining goals of immoderate quality organization. Our study posted connected Nov. 8, 2025, astir the Jan. 6 tube bombs was based connected sourcing from individuals successful a presumption to cognize this benignant of delicate instrumentality enforcement accusation who person a demonstrated grounds of reliability and accuracy. Of note, the sources proceed to basal by the accusation they provided to Blaze News. At each times, the reporting adhered to nonrecreational journalistic standards and was published with a good-faith content successful its truth. Even so, successful airy of Thursday's developments and the FBI's apprehension of different individual, Virginia nonmigratory Brian Cole Jr., successful transportation with the Capitol pipe-bomb incident, we see the values of fairness and accuracy to necessitate retraction of this article.

When the Blaze published an article this week astir the suit it faces, it provided a peek down the curtain arsenic to its defence strategy successful pushing backmost connected claims of reckless disregard for the truth.

The communicative included a punctuation from Blaze Media lawyer Michael Grygiel, emphasizing that Kerkhoff was considered a "person of interest" earlier the nonfiction was published and stating she failed a polygraph exam.

Noting the nonfiction was retracted, Grygiel called the suit "meritless" and the communicative "valid quality reporting connected a substance of morganatic nationalist concern, which is protected nether the First Amendment and Virginia's anti-SLAPP law."

But portion the Blaze is taking regular steps to screen itself, its erstwhile newsman and his co-defendant workfellow Joe Hanneman are sticking to their guns successful a highly disposable manner.

Baker told the New York Times, for instance, that helium "had nary bias whatsoever" but "was conscionable looking astatine 2 radical that I had seen connected video with a akin gait."

On Thursday, Baker posted astatine length connected X, suggesting that the "timing" of a antithetic Times story astir Kerkhoff was "coordinated" by the nonexistent instrumentality steadfast of "Clare Locke Patel Ratcliffe & The Gray Lady."

Clare Locke was 1 of the firms that represented Dominion Voting Systems successful a defamation suit against Fox News implicit the network's 2020 predetermination coverage. That lawsuit settled for north of three-quarters of a cardinal dollars successful 2023, soon earlier the proceedings was acceptable to start.

That steadfast is representing Kerkhoff; Patel and Ratcliffe are FBI Director Kash Patel and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, respectively.

The civilian ailment filed successful the Eastern District of Virginia referenced Baker's arrest and eventual pardon by President Donald Trump for his relation connected Jan. 6, explaining wherefore helium refers to himself arsenic a "Former Misdemeanor Terrorist." He claimed that helium was acting arsenic a writer that day, but his words showed otherwise, the ailment went on.

"Once the riot had dispersed, Baker gave an interrogation connected the Washington, D.C., quality presumption WUSA. He expressed pridefulness successful breaching the Capitol. 'The lone happening I regret is that I didn't similar bargain their computers due to the fact that God knows what I could've found,'" the lawsuit recounted. "He continued: 'They got Pelosi's bureau and you know, it couldn't hap to a amended deserving b—.'"

Asserting that Baker's task has been to rewrite the past of Jan. 6, as the medication has, the suit mockingly referred to him arsenic an "investigative reporter" and said the defendants "twisted the facts to acceptable their preconceived communicative alternatively than correcting their communicative to bespeak the truth."

"Ms. Kerkhoff defended the Capitol connected January 6 astatine large idiosyncratic cost, straight contradicting the mentation that she planted the bombs to assistance rioters overwhelm it," the filing said. "But Defendants would not fto that contradiction interfere with their predetermined narrative. They simply made up a caller mendacious claim: that Ms. Kerkhoff had utilized 'lethal force' connected rioters to deliberately provoke a much convulsive response, frankincense recasting her defence of the Capitol itself arsenic grounds of the conspiracy."

Still, the non-Blaze named defendants are currently fundraising disconnected of the notion that Glenn Beck's media institution censored them for exposing Jan. 6 "corruption."

"A national cause lending america assistance is DEAD, conscionable days aft helium told colleagues of his plans to statesman an probe into the Jan. 6 tube bomber connected his ain time. What was helium astir to discover? We've been warned our ain lives are successful danger," said 1 enactment of the campaign's description. "Since September 2025, we've written extensively astir the FBI's nonaccomplishment to find a pipe-bomb fishy crossed astir 5 years. We released a three-part bid showing however the 30-year-old autistic Virginia antheral arrested successful the case, Brian Cole Jr., is NOT the tube bomber. The effort to pin the transgression connected Cole began DAYS aft our November 8 expose. Cause and effect."

While Baker whitethorn spot this connect-the-dots and "DO THE MATH!" attack arsenic a mode of making his doubts astir the existent individuality of the tube weaponry fishy look much reasonable, 1 lawyer experienced successful handling high-profile defamation cases told Law&Crime the determination to station done it volition astir surely backfire.

"I would ne'er let a lawsuit of excavation to publically accidental anything, whether verbal oregon successful writing, astir the circumstances of their lawsuit without my explicit authorization. A lawsuit that desires to go a chaotic paper is not a lawsuit of excavation for long," said Mark Zaid, a nationalist information lawyer known for representing whistleblowers, and the occasional erstwhile Trump medication subordinate sued by current loyalists.

Zaid, who has represented plaintiffs and defendants successful specified lawsuits, described the imaginable harm Baker's determination to station done it could origin his defense.

"These postings by Mr. Baker volition beryllium beforehand and halfway during the people of the litigation, peculiarly erstwhile helium is deposed," Zaid predicted. "Any substantive comments helium makes are astatine his ain peril and volition perfectly beryllium utilized arsenic grounds against him, particularly successful an effort to show malice and/or reckless disregard for the truth."

Law&Crime reached retired to Kerkhoff lawyer Tom Clare for comment, but did not person a effect anterior to publication.

The tribunal docket shows that U.S. District Judge Rossie Alston, a Trump appointee, has been assigned the case.