TAMPA, Fla. — Nearly one year after FBI agents raided his home, Timothy Burke is accused of hacking into computer systems to illegally get unflattering footage of Kanye West and Tucker Carlson.
A federal grand jury indicted Burke last week. That was unsealed Thursday when he was taken into custody briefly, arraigned, and had his first court appearance at the Sam M. Gibbons Federal Courthouse. He then left his attorney and his wife, Tampa City Councilmember Lynn Hurtak.
"He's not going to be making any comments. We're just grateful that he's being released today,” said Burke's attorney, Michael Maddux. “We're looking forward to defending the case."
Burke faces fourteen charges including conspiracy, accessing computers without authorization, and illegally taking video clips and publishing them.
Two years ago, the nationally known journalist published stories with Vice News and left-leaning outlet Media Matters showing former Fox News host Tucker Carlson making embarrassing remarks and Kanye West making antisemitic comments in unaired portions of interviews.
Last year, the FBI raided his Tampa home where he lives with Hurtak. Agents took more than a dozen computers and phones as they investigated how he obtained the footage.
The grand jury indictment accuses Burke of working with a co-conspirator to hack into video servers with stolen credentials.
“Generally speaking, this is not a good omen for journalism and we intend to show that in our defense,” Maddux said. “So that people can practice active journalism and pursue the right to know what's happening out there in the real world no matter how big the people [that] are reported on."
Burke has said in other court filings that those clips were obtained legally, and he has First Amendment protections on their dissemination.
In a statement, Hurtak provided the following:
"I am confident in my husband’s innocence, and I support him completely. I will not be making additional statements regarding this matter."