(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The U.S. government is offering military funeral honors for Ashli Babbitt, the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill protestor who was killed at 35 by an officer during the event.
Babbitt, a 14-year Air Force veteran, was shot and killed by then-Lt. Michael Byrd while crawling through a window in the Capitol building during the Jan. 6 protests.
Byrd has claimed that he acted with “the utmost courage” and “saved countless lives.”
However, earlier records obtained by Judicial Watch found that other officers at the scene did not see a weapon in Babbitt’s hands prior to the shooting and that they did not hear Byrd issue any verbal commands prior to the shooting. Lt. Byrd later confessed that he shot Ashli before seeing her hands or assessing her intentions or even identifying her as female.
Babbitt has gained martyr status among Republicans, and the Trump administration agreed to pay just under $5 million to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit that her family filed over her shooting.
Matthew Lohmeier, an under secretary of the Air Force, said on X that the decision was “long overdue,” and shared a post from a conservative legal group that was advocating for Babbitt’s family. Judicial Watch said the family had requested military honors from former President Joe Biden’s administration and had been denied.
In a statement, a U.S. Air Force spokesperson said that “after reviewing the circumstances” of Babbitt’s death, military funeral honors were offered to the family. Babbitt was a senior airman.
The post shared by Lohmeier included a link to a letter the Air Force under secretary wrote to Babbitt’s family, inviting them to meet him at the Pentagon.
“After reviewing the circumstances of Ashli’s death, and considering the information that has come forward since then, I am persuaded that the previous determination was incorrect,” the Aug. 15 letter
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
