Alec Baldwin denied allegations he is “not complying” with the New Mexico authorities investigating the tragic shooting death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust.
On Thursday, the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office and New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney’s Office issued a statement stating they were still “actively working” to obtain material from Baldwin’s cellphone, three weeks after they issued a Dec. 16 search warrant to examine text messages, emails and other information related to the investigation from the actor’s iPhone.
Santa Fe investigators added that they first requested the cellphone on a voluntary basis and “was instructed to acquire a warrant. A judge also instructed that Baldwin surrender his cellphone.
In an Instagram video Saturday, Baldwin — who held, but “didn’t pull the trigger,” the gun that fired the fatal round on — lashed out at reports that he wasn’t cooperating with the investigation.
“Any suggestion that I am not complying about requests or orders or demands or search warrants about my phone are bullshit. That’s a lie,” Baldwin, sitting in the front seat of his car, said in the video.”
“This is a process where one state makes a request of another state; someone from another state can’t say ‘Give me your phone, give me this, give me that.’ They can’t do that, they’re gonna go through the state you live in. That process takes time, they need to specify what exactly they want. They can’t just go through your phone and take your photos, or your love letters to your wife, or what have you.”
Baldwin added, “But of course we are going to comply 1,000% with all that. We’re perfectly fine with that.”
The actor’s lawyer previously stated, in response to the request for his cellphone, that they “proactively requested that the authorities obtain a warrant so that we could take steps to protect Mr. Baldwin’s family and personal information that is clearly unrelated to the investigation,” the New York Times reports.
If and when obtained, New Mexico authorities said any information from Baldwin’s cellphone related to the Rust shooting would be made public record.