![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Tim-Burke-Netflix.jpeg\")
A screengrab from \u2018Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn\u2019t Exist,\u2019 featuring Timothy BurkeCredit: Netflix<\/p>\n
A screengrab from \u2018Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn\u2019t Exist,\u2019 featuring Timothy Burke
Credit: Netflix<\/p>\n
Federal prosecutors withdrew an appeal this week that could have charged Tampa journalist Timothy Burke with wiretapping.<\/p>\n
Burke allegedly obtained unaired clips of Kanye West\u2014now known as the artist Ye\u2014making antisemitic remarks in an interview with Tucker Carlson, and then sold them to Vice. He did so, prosecutors say, using a password obtained from a publicly-available website.<\/p>\n
After the FBI raided Burke\u2019s Seminole Heights office<\/a> in 2023, the Department of Justice charged him with several crimes, including conspiracy, hacking, and wiretapping. In late-2025, the wiretapping charges were dismissed. Prosecutors then indicated their intent to appeal.<\/p>\n But on Wednesday, they withdrew their attempt to appeal the dismissal.<\/p>\n Burke\u2019s lawyer, Mark D. Rasch, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that according to the DOJ,\u00a0 Solicitor General D. John Sauer must approve the appeal, or a notice to withdraw it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Prosecutors never filed the appeal, says Rasch, which could indicate that Sauer did not approve it. There are currently no wiretapping charges against Burke.<\/p>\n Burke is still on the hook for one count of conspiracy and six counts of intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization.<\/p>\n Rasch told CL that the charges weren\u2019t dismissed \u201cwith prejudice,\u201d meaning that prosecutors could potentially try to bring those charges again. But he also said that the constitutional issues are too integral to the charges to fix, so he doesn\u2019t anticipate a successful appeal.<\/p>\n \u201cThis represents a much broader attack being waged by the Justice Department on journalism and free speech generally,\u201d Rasch told CL. \u201cThe goal here is to ensure that [journalists] cower and capitulate. This is meant to send a message out to others: \u2018Don\u2019t do journalism.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The feds aren\u2019t the only ones trying to paint Burke\u2019s journalism as something else.<\/p>\n The Tampa Bay Times\u2019 top editor penned a lengthy column<\/a> explaining that the publication refuses to call Burke a journalist, mostly because he also works as a media consultant. The Times\u2014which recently launched a marketing service<\/a>\u2014said people working in public relations cannot also be journalists.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not really practical or possible to straddle both worlds at once,\u201d Tampa Bay Times editor Mark Katches said in his letter. \u201c\u2026 That mission [of objective journalism] would be compromised if we represented clients in politics or instructed businesses on messaging, even if we tried to keep separate the local stage from the national arena. It all blends into a murky soup.\u201d<\/p>\n The Times\u2019 own marketing agency instructs businesses on messaging.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think that has a little bit more to do with sort of a bit of editorial snobbery by legacy media,\u201d Rasch told CL. \u201cThe truth is that people who are journalists are more than just people who have ink on their hands.\u201d<\/p>\n Rasch maintains that obtaining newsworthy information and disseminating it publicly is categorically journalism. The ACLU, the Florida Press Association and the National Press Club agreed and also called Burke a journalist in a letter<\/a> to the U.S. Attorney General.<\/p>\n \u201cCourts have rightly warned against limiting the First Amendment\u2019s press clause to established media outlets,\u201d reads the letter,\u00a0 \u201ca warning that is especially important as technological advances give rise to new forms of journalism while traditional news outlets close their doors at alarming rates.\u201d<\/p>\n Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in September 10 \u2013 16, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t