Federal prosecutors have officially given up trying to revive wiretapping charges against Tampa journalist Timothy Burke, the man accused of obtaining unaired footage of Kanye West making antisemitic remarks during an interview with Tucker Carlson. The withdrawal, filed on Wednesday, leaves Burke still facing six federal hacking counts and one count of conspiracy as his case heads toward trial.
The move closes out a legal fight that began when the Department of Justice charged Burke in 2023 with conspiracy, hacking, and wiretapping, according to Creative Loafing Tampa. Prosecutors allege Burke used a password obtained from a publicly available website to access unaired clips of Kanye West, who goes by Ye, making antisemitic comments — footage he allegedly sold to Vice, per the same outlet. A federal judge dismissed the seven wiretapping counts against Burke in late 2025, and Creative Loafing Tampa reports that charge is gone for good, since the dismissal was issued with prejudice.
That dismissal traced back to a specific ruling from U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who found on September 25, 2025, that applying the Wiretap Act to public video streams raised serious First Amendment concerns, according to The Dissenter. Mizelle also determined that prosecutors had failed to show the communications Burke accessed were not readily accessible, and the outlet notes she found the government never alleged Burke accessed non-public transmissions.
Why the Appeal Died
Federal prosecutors had signaled in 2025 that they intended to appeal Mizelle's dismissal, but the Department of Justice formally filed a motion abandoning that appeal, according to the Freedom of the Press Foundation, whose reporting is cited by The Desk. That leaves the remaining case against Burke centered on six counts under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act plus one conspiracy count, all stemming from the 2022 video outtake leaks.
Mark D. Rasch, Burke's attorney, does not anticipate a successful appeal, telling Creative Loafing Tampa that the constitutional issues are too integral to the charges to fix. Rasch has described the prosecution more broadly as part of a Justice Department attack on journalism and free speech, and he maintains that obtaining newsworthy information and disseminating it publicly is simply journalism. He has also pushed back on the notion that reporters must work exclusively for legacy outlets, calling that view editorial snobbery.
Prosecutors could still bring the dismissed wiretapping charges again, though Creative Loafing Tampa notes that decision would require sign-off from Solicitor General D. John Sauer, according to the Department of Justice. The outlet adds that Sauer's apparent lack of approval for the original appeal could indicate his office was not fully behind pursuing it further.
The Fox News Feed and a CBS Password
The underlying technical dispute involves how Burke obtained the raw Fox News video streams in the first place. Federal court filings revealed that the LiveU Matrix credentials used to record those streams actually belonged to CBS News and were publicly exposed after a CBS Radio affiliate accidentally published them online during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to The Desk's earlier reporting. Defense attorneys have argued that accessing publicly exposed logins does not amount to hacking.
Federal filings also identified LiveU Matrix and Canadian sports broadcaster TSN as primary victim entities in the indictment, per the same outlet, while prosecutors separately alleged Burke had unauthorized access to FedNet congressional feeds dating back to December 2020 — feeds that had previously issued Burke a cease-and-desist order in 2021. The raw video Burke obtained reportedly included off-air commentary by Carlson along with the Ye interview outtakes, material Burke went on to distribute and sell to outlets including Vice News and Media Matters for America, according to The Desk, which notes none of those outlets credited Burke as the original source.
Burke's alleged co-conspirator, Marco Gaudino of Washington state, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and was sentenced to five years of probation in August 2025 after providing substantial assistance to federal prosecutors, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Gaudino reportedly began passing credentials to Burke starting in 2022.
A Tampa Home Raided, a Council Member's Devices Seized
The case has a distinctly local dimension in Tampa. FBI agents raided Burke's Seminole Heights office and home in 2023 during a search that lasted 10 hours, seizing dozens of electronic items — including devices belonging to his wife, Tampa City Council member Lynn Hurtak, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Hurtak has publicly stated the search warrant was directed solely at her husband's journalistic work.
Burke, who currently faces no wiretapping charges, works as a media consultant, per Creative Loafing Tampa. When federal prosecutors first unsealed the 14-count indictment against Burke in February 2024, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida announced he faced a maximum statutory penalty of 62 years in federal prison, along with potential forfeiture of 20 computer devices, $1,500 in cash proceeds, and a website domain, according to the Department of Justice.
Press Freedom Groups Weigh In — And Argue Over Who Counts as a Journalist
A national coalition of civil liberties and press freedom groups — including the Freedom of the Press Foundation, ACLU, EFF, Free Press, and Florida First Amendment Foundation — filed an amicus brief warning that prosecuting journalists under wiretapping laws for accessing online feeds threatens standard investigative reporting practices, according to Free Press. The brief argued that accessing public digital streams is standard digital journalism.
Separately, the ACLU, Florida Press Association, and National Press Club sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney General warning that the First Amendment's press clause should not be limited to established media outlets, per Creative Loafing Tampa. That letter noted technological advances are creating new forms of journalism even as traditional news outlets close at alarming rates. All three organizations have called Burke a journalist.
The Tampa Bay Times has taken a different stance, refusing to call Burke a journalist. Tampa Bay Times editor Mark Katches said it is impractical or impossible to work in public relations and journalism simultaneously, and the paper has said representing political clients or advising businesses on messaging would compromise objective journalism. The Times launched its own marketing agency on June 9, 2026, which instructs businesses on messaging — a detail Creative Loafing Tampa's reporting places alongside the paper's position that people working in public relations cannot also be journalists.
Attorney General Merrick Garland instituted revised Justice Department regulations in October 2022 that prohibited prosecutors from using search warrants or subpoenas against journalists acting within the scope of newsgathering, though the DOJ subsequently modified those rules in April 2025, according to the Department of Justice. Press freedom groups have questioned whether the raid on Burke's home violated the department's own internal policy.
