Steve Baker, who has written articles about the January 2021 protest 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 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 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 on Jan. 6.
“I don't have a regret about my behavior that day,” he said outside the courthouse.
More than 1,500 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 1,000 convicted rioters have been sentenced, with over 650 receiving prison time ranging from a few days to 22 years.
