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Weird story that keeps growing: Tim Burke's lawyer says they don't know alleged co-conspirator's name
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida/2024/02/23/tim-burke-charges-indictment-fox-news-conspirator/A lawyer for Tampa media consultant Tim Burke says his client doesn’t know the identity of the person that federal officials say he conspired with to access video from Fox News and other organizations.
The indictment says Burke worked with an unnamed person, and identified them by their partial username on X (formerly known as Twitter) as “@E---es.” The indictment said the alleged co-conspirator lived in Washington, and prosecutor Jay Trezevant said Thursday in court that Burke knew who the person was.
The indictment does not name Fox News, but a letter from a Tampa federal prosecutor to the media company, obtained last May by the Tampa Bay Times, described a criminal probe into alleged computer hacks. The Times confirmed with people close to the investigation that it related to the search of Burke’s home.
The Burke case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who was appointed in 2020 by then-President Donald Trump. In 2022, she made headlines for her decision to strike down the federal mask mandate for airplanes and other mass transit. Mizelle was nominated for her position eight years after passing the bar; during her nomination process, a committee of the American Bar Association raised concerns about her qualification because of a lack of experience.
The indictment says Burke worked with an unnamed person, and identified them by their partial username on X (formerly known as Twitter) as “@E---es.” The indictment said the alleged co-conspirator lived in Washington, and prosecutor Jay Trezevant said Thursday in court that Burke knew who the person was.
The indictment does not name Fox News, but a letter from a Tampa federal prosecutor to the media company, obtained last May by the Tampa Bay Times, described a criminal probe into alleged computer hacks. The Times confirmed with people close to the investigation that it related to the search of Burke’s home.
The Burke case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who was appointed in 2020 by then-President Donald Trump. In 2022, she made headlines for her decision to strike down the federal mask mandate for airplanes and other mass transit. Mizelle was nominated for her position eight years after passing the bar; during her nomination process, a committee of the American Bar Association raised concerns about her qualification because of a lack of experience.
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Who is Tim Burke? How the feds cracked down on the Tampa media figure. How Fox News, Kanye West and Tucker Carlson relate to the case.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/breaking-news/2024/02/22/tim-burke-tucker-carlson-kanye-west-fox-news/
A profile of Burke published in the Tampa Bay Times last year described Burke’s approach to harvesting stories from video. A boss of Burke’s said he “looked at video the way someone who came from a traditional print journalism background would look at obtaining documents, or working a source to find something out. ... He aggressively pursued video in that same way, like it was a story to unearth.”
In 2018, Sinclair Broadcast Group had journalists in dozens of the local television stations it owned read a public service announcement about what it claimed was “the troubling trend of irresponsible, one-sided news stories plaguing our country.” To some, particularly those on the left, the message sounded a lot like the warnings coming from then-president Donald Trump about “fake news.”
Burke stitched together a video of more than two dozen anchors reading the script. The product was effective. In 2021, Burke tweeted that the video had been viewed nearly 65 million times.
In 2018, Sinclair Broadcast Group had journalists in dozens of the local television stations it owned read a public service announcement about what it claimed was “the troubling trend of irresponsible, one-sided news stories plaguing our country.” To some, particularly those on the left, the message sounded a lot like the warnings coming from then-president Donald Trump about “fake news.”
Burke stitched together a video of more than two dozen anchors reading the script. The product was effective. In 2021, Burke tweeted that the video had been viewed nearly 65 million times.
