Ashli Babbitt, Jan. 6 rioter at U.S. Capitol, offered military funeral honours – National

The U.S. government is offering military funeral honours for Ashli Babbitt, the rioter who was killed at age 35 by a police officer in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Babbitt, a U.S. Air Force veteran from California, was shot dead while attempting to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby inside the Capitol.

Lt. Michael Byrd, the officer who shot her, was cleared of wrongdoing by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia, which concluded that he acted in self-defence and the defence of members of Congress.

In a statement, a U.S. Air Force spokesperson said that “after reviewing the circumstances” of Babbitt’s death, military funeral honours were offered to the family. Babbitt was a senior airman.

Matthew Lohmeier, an undersecretary of the Air Force, called the decision “long overdue” in a post on X.

He also shared a press release from a conservative legal group, called Judicial Watch, that was advocating for Babbitt’s family.

“The Biden administration had previously denied Babbitt and her family these honors in retaliation for being at the U.S. Capitol that day,” the group wrote in their announcement.

The group said on July 23, Judicial Watch Senior Counsel Robert Sticht wrote a letter to Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense, to ask him to reverse the “grave national injustice” of denying Babbitt and her family military funeral honours.

The press release also included a letter Lohmeier wrote to Babbitt’s family, inviting them to meet him at the Pentagon.

“On behalf of the Secretary of the Air Force, I write to extend the offer for Military Funeral Honors for SrA Ashli Babbitt. I understand that the family’s initial request was denied by Air Force leadership in a letter dated February 9, 2021. However, 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 read.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton released a statement after Babbitt was offered full military funeral honours.

“Ashli Babbitt’s family is grateful to President Trump, Secretary Hegseth and Under Secretary Lohmeier for reversing the Biden Defense Department’s cruel decision to deny Ashli funeral honors as a distinguished veteran of the Air Force,” Fitton wrote.

He said that Judicial Watch’s team “spent years investigating, litigating, and exposing the truth about Ashli’s homicide.”

“Judicial Watch is proud to have done its part in bringing her family a measure of justice and accountability for Ashli’s outrageous killing. And our battle for justice will continue,” Fitton added.

The decision comes months after the U.S. federal government settled a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Babbitt’s family for just under $5 million.

The settlement would bring an end to a $30-million federal lawsuit filed by Babbitt’s estate in 2024 in Washington, D.C.

Babbitt was unarmed when she was gunned down by police. The lawsuit argued that officer Byrd, who was not dressed in uniform when he killed her, failed to de-escalate the situation and did not provide Babbitt with any warnings or instructions before firing his weapon.

The claim also said Capitol police failed to acknowledge that the accused had displayed patterns of dangerous and incompetent behaviour.

“Ashli posed no threat to the safety of anyone,” the lawsuit said.

Babbitt was one of thousands of protesters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, following a “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House, where President Trump gave a speech.

In January, on the first day of his second term as president, Trump pardoned all riot participants, reduced the prison sentences of those charged and ordered the dismissal of charges for over 1,500 individuals who took part.

—With files from Global News’ Rachel Goodman and The Associated Press

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