Timothy Burke, a former journalist, has been charged with 14 federal offences for allegedly hacking and leaking a film of a “controversial and unaired” conversation between American artist Kanye West and Tucker Carlson. Burke, 45, was charged by a grand jury with one count of conspiracy, six counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer, and seven counts of monitoring or exposing wire, oral, or electronic conversations, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.
The allegations against Burke, who denied breaking the law, arose from a criminal hacking investigation that began in 2023
The 45-year-old was detained Thursday morning and is due to appear in federal court in Tampa, Florida, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The arrest comes nearly a year after FBI agents raided Burke’s house and seized laptops and other equipment used by Burke to run his media firm. The allegations against Burke, who denied breaking the law, arose from a Justice Department criminal hacking investigation that began in 2023 when previously unseen tapes from Carlson’s former Fox News show went viral online.
Kanye West was heard making antisemitic remarks to Carlson in an unaired video released by Vice in 2022, which led to Carlson’s dismissal from Fox News. Next year, Media Matters, a non-profit organization, released an ugly behind-the-scenes video showing Carlson making filthy things while joking with employees and mocking Fox Nation. While many speculated about who was responsible for the leak, Megyn Kelly, a former Fox News anchor, suggested a conspiracy theory saying that the right-wing channel was behind the leaks to discredit Carlson, whom it had recently ejected.
In a letter to Fox News last year, the Justice Department stated that their inquiry was related to the leaked Carlson audio
According to the grand jury indictment, Burke and an unnamed person used “compromised credentials” to “access and save protected commercial broadcast video streams, then disseminate specific clips after taking steps to mask where they came from and how they were obtained.” The indictment did not reference Carlson or Fox News directly, instead referring to Network #1 as “a multinational media company headquartered in New York City that produced and distributed content through multiple brands.” However, in a letter to Fox News last year, the Justice Department stated that their inquiry was related to the leaked Carlson audio. Furthermore, Burke’s attorney, Mark Rasch, said at the time that his client’s Florida home had been inspected in connection with the investigation.
Speaking to CNN, Burke’s attorneys, Rasch and Michael Maddux, said their client “has been devastated by the charges, not only professionally and emotionally, but financially as well.” They reaffirmed that Burke denies any legal violation. “This investigation began after former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson’s interview with Kanye West, in which Mr. Carlson heavily edited out racist and anti-Semitic remarks by West,” the lawyers said in a statement. “These reprehensible remarks were exposed by Mr Burke’s intrepid – and perfectly legal – reporting on the information he found in public sources, on websites accessible without any user IDs or password credentials.” Meanwhile, his wife Lynn Hurtak said: “I am confident in my husband’s innocence, and I support him completely.” “I will not be making additional statements regarding this matter,” she added