FBI agents raided the Tampa home of Tim Burke, a former journalist who runs a media and political consulting firm, at 6 a.m. on May 8 and spent nearly 10 hours seizing computers, a phone, and other electronic equipment. At the time, Burke declined to share the search warrant with media outlets, and the FBI refused to provide any information about the raid.
But on Friday, the Tampa Bay Times reported that the raid was connected to leaked clips of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that went viral over the past year.
The Times reportedly obtained a letter sent by U.S. assistant attorney Jay Trezevant to Fox News that describes an ongoing criminal probe into hacks at the company. Though the letter doesn’t mention Burke or accuse him of any wrongdoing, the Times was able to confirm that the raid was related to the probe. Burke declined to comment after the Times contacted him and read parts of the letter.
The criminal probe, the Times reports, “concerns allegations of unauthorized computer access; interception of wire, oral or electronic communication; conspiracy; and other federal crimes.” According to the letter, the hacked material refers to footage of Carlson published by Vice and Media Matters for America. The Vice clip, published in October, includes parts of an interview Carlson conducted with rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, that were cut from the ultimate broadcast in which the artist made a number of antisemitic statements.
The Media Matters clips were published in quick succession during the week after Carlson’s ouster in April. They capture the former host making a number of vulgar comments, including proposing to discuss “the fine points” of sexual technique with British newscaster Piers Morgan, calling a Dominion Voting Systems lawyer a “slimy little motherfucker,” and asking his makeup artist about pillow fights in the women’s bathroom.
The federal prosecutor’s letter specifies that neither media company is accused of any wrongdoing, according to the Times.
The leaked footage has caused major headaches for Fox leadership. The Daily Beast reported that Fox executives were “full-on freaked out” about the Ye footage, and in early May, a Fox lawyer sent Media Matters a cease-and-desist letter, demanding it remove the leaked videos. The liberal media watchdog refused, and the clips remain on the site.
“Reporting on newsworthy leaked material is a cornerstone of journalism. For Fox to argue otherwise is absurd and further dispels any pretense that they’re a news operation,” Media Matters president Angelo Carusone wrote in a statement at the time. “Perhaps if I tell them that the footage came from a combination of WikiLeaks and Hunter Biden’s laptop, it will alleviate their concerns.”
Around the time of the raid, Burke’s wife, Tampa City Council member Lynn Hurtak, said the warrant was “solely related to my husband’s work as a journalist.” Burke worked from 2018 to 2019 as a video director for The Daily Beast, where much of his work focused on right-wing media. In a 2022 Netflix documentary, Burke revealed that he’d once been part of the online hacking group Anonymous. “I developed a reputation as somebody who finds things,” he said.
Since the raid, Burke’s 100-plus follower Twitter account has been dormant, and his personal and business websites no longer work, the Times reported.
Jack McCordick
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