Link: https://youtu.be/D-JIqINmoSk

Duration: 143 min

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Short Summary

This is a multi-hour Tucker Carlson interview with Steve Baker, a former Blaze journalist who was inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and later prosecuted by the DOJ before his case was dismissed with prejudice. Baker argues that January 6 was a "fedsurrection" orchestrated by elements of the Pentagon, CIA, and Capitol Police, centering on the unsolved pipe bombing at the RNC and DNC headquarters. The second segment details Baker's identification of CIA employee Shaunie Kirkoff as the likely bomber via 94–98% gait-recognition confidence, the subsequent arrest of Brian Cole Jr., and the mysterious death of an HSI agent assigned to the case.

Key Quotes

1. "we now know with some clarity and certainty that January 6 was not in fact an insurrection against the Congress. It was an insurrection by the Congress, by Permanent Washington against the population and that's really really clear." (00:07:14)
2. "One of the FBI whistleblowers famously said they would have been bombs if they had been bombs." (00:59:13)
3. "He said, "Yeah, we had boots on the ground that day." >> Meaning the National Guard waiting down the street? No. Meaning special operators from the US Army >> in plain clothes. >> In plain clothes." (00:27:43)
4. "The the the software came back with a 94% hit, but the expert analysis, human analysis was 98% match. So when I'm asked how sure am I that she's the bomber, I'm 94 to 98%." (01:38:28)
5. ""With it, we can stop your heart. We can make you your pants." But I wouldn't need that weapon to start January 6. I would just need four or five of my best men. That's exact quote." (01:27:04)

Detailed Summary

Episode Summary: Steve Baker on the January 6 "Fedsurrection" and the Pipe Bomber Investigation

Steve Baker's Background and Credentials

This multi-hour Tucker Carlson interview features Steve Baker, a former Blaze reporter who was physically present inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6 as a journalist and later prosecuted by the DOJ before his case was dismissed. Baker presents an alternative theory of January 6 centered on what he calls a "fedsurrection" and the still-unsolved pipe bombing at RNC/DNC headquarters.

• Baker was a reporter at The Blaze who spent roughly 4–5 years investigating the pipe bombing case.
• He was inside the Capitol on January 6, entering as a journalist with a camera and capturing his own footage of the events.
• Baker claims to have had greater access to the approximately 40,000 hours of January 6 video footage than any other journalist in the world, beginning around February 2023.
• After being charged with interstate racketeering (based on video licensing income at $1,000/minute from HBO and the New York Times), he pleaded guilty to four misdemeanors.
• His case was ultimately dismissed with prejudice, not pardoned; his consulting attorneys included two former federal prosecutors who warned the trial would be a "shaming exercise."
• A 127-page defamation lawsuit has since been filed against Baker over his reporting identifying Shaunie "Shnie" Kirkoff as the likely pipe bomber; no damages amount is specified.

The "Fedsurrection" Thesis

Baker rejects the mainstream framing of January 6 as a Trump-inspired insurrection and instead argues the event was engineered by elements of the U.S. national security apparatus. The stated purpose, he claims, was to create a stain so severe that Trump would never be able to run for office again — either via impeachment conviction or political destruction.

• Baker claims the operation was "designed and manipulated by elements of the Department of Defense, Capitol Police, and the CIA."
• He argues the setup implicates both parties — "the majority of Democratic leadership" and "the majority of Republican leadership" — making it a bipartisan operation reflecting roughly 40 years of secret collusion between Washington party leaders.
• Baker does not believe the FBI directly orchestrated January 6 but points to a chain of command running through then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley.
• The framing "the blob protecting the blob" is credited to Mike Benz, who worked with Darren Beutler/Revolver News on the pipeline story.

Task Force Orange and Special Operations Involvement

Baker describes a covert special operations unit allegedly based at Fort Belvoir, outside Washington, D.C., that he says the Pentagon denies exists but is universally known inside the special operations community. He claims current-duty U.S. military personnel were present in the January 6 crowd in civilian clothes.

• The unit is referred to inside special operations as TFO or Task Force Orange (also called "the unit" or "the activity").
• Members are described as "the most elite of the elite of the elite," smaller than Navy SEALs or Delta Force, trained for endurance and isolation.
• They deploy deep into jurisdictions before SEALs and Delta arrive and are trained to operate with minimal support.
• Baker says tactics visible in January 6 footage matched those used overseas to incite color revolutions.
• A retired three-star SOCOM general allegedly confirmed the existence of a directed-energy "agitation weapon" that "can stop your heart" and is used against crowds during color revolutions.
• President Trump publicly referenced the device during the Venezuela operation, calling it the "discombobulator."

Capitol Police Failures and Timeline

Baker presents a detailed timeline of institutional failures at the Capitol on January 6, arguing that the lack of preparation was not an oversight but a feature. The numbers and quotes he cites paint a picture of an agency deliberately stripped of defensive capacity.

• Of approximately 2,000 uniformed Capitol Police officers, fewer than 250 were on duty on January 6 despite it being designated an "all boots on the ground day" per department policy for inaugurals.
• Capitol Police helmets were ordered turned in two weeks before January 6.
• Frontline officers had no body armor, goggles, gas masks, or helmets that day.
• Assistant Chief Yogananda Pittman signed off on six legally permitted protest events but did not inform frontline officers; she was later reportedly rewarded by Nancy Pelosi with a position at UC Berkeley.
• Lt. Tar Johnson called his wife saying, "Tell the kids I love them. I'm not coming home today. We're dying here today."
• Trump was scheduled to begin an hour-long speech at 11:00 AM but did not take the stage until 11:57 AM and did not leave until 1:16 PM.
• By 1:16 PM, the first barricade breaches and first less-lethal munition launches had already occurred; all six protest permits began at 1:00 PM, the same moment Pence gaveled the joint session into order.
• Per Kash Patel, 247 FBI agents were called in for crowd control but did not arrive until after 4:00 PM.
• The FBI acknowledged roughly 20 confidential human sources were embedded in groups like the Proud Boys and Oathkeepers; Baker believes the real number is higher.
• Baker estimates the crowd size at 400,000–600,000 (versus a press figure of 30,000 and claims of 2 million).

The Pipe Bombing Mystery

Baker's investigation centers on two "Uniomber type" pipe bombs placed outside the RNC and DNC the morning of January 6, devices he argues were diversionary and likely inert. He contends the FBI's failure to identify a real bomber — while possessing extraordinary amounts of surveillance footage — is itself the most telling evidence.

• The first device was discovered 25 minutes before Pence gaveled in at 1:00 PM; the second was found 5 minutes after 1:00 PM.
• Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund characterized the devices as diversionary devices meant to pull resources from the already-depleted Capitol.
• FBI bomb experts described the devices as typical training devices, not functional bombs; agents told Baker leadership said the devices were inert.
• The FBI told a congressional committee (the "Loudermil-Mass report") they possessed 30,000 video files of the bomber yet released only about 30 seconds publicly while offering a $500,000 reward.
• Baker claims Capitol Police video does not show the hooded suspect stopping to set a kitchen timer as described in the FBI account drawn from Brian Cole Jr.'s confession.
• Kamala Harris was reportedly at the DNC when the bomb was discovered but never publicly mentioned it.

The Kirkoff Identification

Baker's signature investigative contribution is the identification of Shaunie "Shnie" Kirkoff as the likely pipe bomber using forensic gait recognition and open-source intelligence. The chain of events leading up to her identification, raid, and recharacterization by the CIA forms the backbone of his reporting.

• Using ODNI sources, Baker identified Kirkoff as a CIA employee on a dignitary protection detail where she could accompany and protect CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
• Baker spent dozens of hours analyzing approximately 20 minutes of pipe bomber video and located roughly 2.5 hours of Capitol CCTV footage showing Kirkoff working as a Capitol Police officer on both January 5 and January 6.
• An unnamed IC source with a 30-year career and gait recognition expertise analyzed Kirkoff's footage versus the bomber's; software returned a 94% hit and human analysis returned a 98% match.
• Baker stated he was 94–98% sure Kirkoff was the bomber.
• The FBI has used gait recognition in other cases, including a Virginia gym owner cleared via shoe analysis on rare Nike Air Max Speed Turf 2018 shoes and the Savannah Guthrie mother case.
• A draft ODNI memo on Kirkoff was passed from ODNI's deputy director → CIA Deputy Director Ellis → FBI → White House, then leaked to the press before Baker's story published on November 8.
• On November 7, the FBI raided Kirkoff's Alexandria, Virginia home; her partner received a 12-hour advance warning, which Baker called not standard procedure.
• That evening, a high-ranking FBI official summoned Kirkoff for a 4-hour polygraph; she reportedly failed and was admonished for rehearsed answers.
• On November 9 at 9:00 AM, the CIA's chief public affairs officer called Baker from home to recharacterize her as a "campus security officer at Langley" without denying she was the bomber; a CIA whistleblower later told Baker that characterization was a lie.
• A Capitol Police CDU officer source identified the unidentified pepper ball shooter as Kirkoff; she left the force ~6 months after January 6, wiped her social media, and is rumored to have moved to a three-letter agency.
• During Kirkoff's testimony in the Guy Reffett trial (summer 2022), the first January 6 trial, the judge held a sidebar and warned defense counsel not to wave "Miss Kirkoff's 302s around this courtroom."

The Brian Cole Jr. Arrest

Five days after Baker publicly named Kirkoff, FBI surveillance reactivated around Cole, and he was arrested approximately one month later. Baker argues Cole is a deeply flawed suspect whose physical characteristics and confession circumstances do not match the crime scene or known bomber behavior.

• An FBI surveillance team appeared outside Brian Cole Jr.'s Woodbridge, Virginia home five days after Baker named Kirkoff, ending five years of inactivity.
• Cole, an autistic Black man, was 25 on January 5–6, 2021 and is now 30; he was charged with the pipe bombings on Dan Bongino's birthday.
• Cole was reportedly taken off the street while walking to a 7-Eleven after his dog died and was interrogated for two hours without an attorney before confessing; autistic individuals have the highest rate of false confessions per cited research.
• Baker personally measured bricks behind the RNC and concluded the bomber's Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoe was a size 9–9.5; Cole wears a size 12, confirmed by his mother.
• A superseding indictment filed 3–4 weeks before the interview charged Cole with terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, carrying potential life sentences; his defense demanded a trial date instead of a plea.
• An FBI whistleblower neighbor of Cole who observed him walking his dog (2–3 times daily) for 10 years said "Nobody in my shop is buying this arrest."
• Three FBI sources told CBS they had alibi video of Kirkoff at home with puppies on January 5; Cole's attorneys have requested the video in discovery and never received it.
• After The Blaze found Kirkoff had adopted only one greyhound in Florida, the narrative shifted from "puppies" to a single dog.
• President Trump has never publicly mentioned the Cole arrest despite it being a top-3 administration campaign priority; White House sources said nobody there believes the arrest.
• The law firm that previously represented Cole now represents Baker and has access to Cole's discovery materials.

Alleged Pressure Campaign Against Baker

Baker describes an organized campaign by senior FBI officials and conservative media figures to discredit him and pressure his editors into firing him. The episode highlights tension between Baker and figures like Dan Bongino over the investigation's direction.

• Ben Williamson (FBI Assistant Director) and Marshall Yates (FBI congressional liaison) made calls to Baker's editors at The Blaze; Yates also called the White House, members of Congress, and media outlets.
• Bongino allegedly told Baker's editors he reads Baker's direct messages and told Rep. Thomas Massie he would personally write a check for a Kirkoff defamation suit.
• After initially praising Baker in February 2024, Bongino reversed and went on a ~4-day tirade criticizing Massie for declining an invitation to see FBI evidence at the Hoover Building.
• A Daily Wire reporter called Baker at 9:30 PM saying 3 IC sources claimed Baker received leaks from Joe Kent (director of national counterterrorism); Baker denied it, the Daily Wire did not publish, but Reuters and the New York Times later published similar claims.
• Kirkoff received "Ray Epps treatment" from the New York Times in a sympathetic puff piece; the NYT reporter spent 1.5 hours plus 30 minutes with Baker but omitted the polygraph failure.

The HSI Agent's Death

One of the most striking elements of Baker's account is the death of a senior Homeland Security Investigations agent who had been assigned to the pipe bomber case. The chronology, the cremation timing, and the reaction of his colleagues all raise red flags, according to Baker.

• An HSI senior agent with 19 years on the job was assigned to the pipe bomber case because ODNI did not trust the FBI; he assembled representatives from all 18 federal intelligence agencies.
• Baker's last conversation with the agent was October 29; another individual's last contact was November 10.
• The agent's girlfriend found him dead in his condo on November 26, the day before Thanksgiving.
• Cause of death was a gunshot to the head, but the body was cremated on December 19 — three weeks after death — before the medical examiner's report was issued.
• A longtime IC operative told Baker through tears that none of those who knew the agent believed his death was a suicide.
• The new owner of the agent's former condo told Baker verbatim: "I was told he was murdered."
• Fairfax County Police ignored FOIA requests; Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch obtained January 6 body camera footage only 5.5 years later after 2–3 years of lawsuits.

Other Suspicious Figures and Incidents

Baker flags several additional anomalies that he argues point to coordination rather than organic unrest. From former Marines in the breach to triple cardiac arrests within a small radius, the picture he paints is one of intentional manipulation.

• Baker alleges approximately 50 former Marines were among the early breachers alongside Ray Epps, who did not serve jail time.
• Nick Fuentes was on camera encouraging people to storm the Capitol but was not charged or jailed.
• Three people died of heart attacks within 50 yards of each other on the west side of the Capitol — which Baker notes has never happened at any event in history; one victim died before any less-lethal munitions were fired, and video from every angle shows he was never struck.
• Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed 5'2" Air Force veteran, was the only person shot to death on January 6, killed by Capitol Police officer Michael Byrd; Baker claims Republican senators applauded the shooting.
• Newsweek writer William Arkin published a piece on the first anniversary of January 6 headlined "secret commandos with shoot to kill orders at January 6" but later privately denied to Baker the story ever happened; the article remains online and has not been retracted.

Baker's Overarching Conclusion

Baker closes with a broader claim about bipartisan governance in Washington, arguing that the events of January 6 cannot be understood outside the context of decades-long collusion between party elites. His argument positions January 6 as a symptom, not a cause, of deeper institutional decay.

• Baker argues that leaders of both parties — not their voters — have operated in secret collusion over roughly the past 40 years, citing the Iran war, economic mismanagement, and January 6 as evidence of bipartisan consensus rather than genuine partisan opposition.
• His central thesis is that the public is presented with a sham partisan conflict while actual decision-making happens in secret across party lines.