Feds settle multimillion-dollar lawsuit in the death of Ashli Babbitt



Nearly four and a half years after Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd shot and killed Ashli Babbitt at the U.S. Capitol, her husband on June 6 signed an agreement to settle his $30 million wrongful-death suit against the federal government.

The agreement includes a $4.975 million payout. Other terms were not immediately announced.

'She was alive and breathing after being shot.'

“This fair settlement is a historic and necessary step for justice for Ashli Babbitt’s family. Ashli should never have been killed, and this settlement destroys the evil, partisan narrative that justified her outrageous killing and protected her killer,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

Twenty-five percent of the lawsuit settlement will be held in a trust account against any possible award to Babbitt’s former attorney, Terrell N. Roberts III. Roberts asked to intervene in the lawsuit earlier this year, claiming he is owed 40% of any settlement amount.

Roberts terminated his relationship with Aaron Babbitt in early 2022. Babbitt’s D.C. attorney, Richard Driscoll, demanded that the issue be arbitrated by the Attorney/Client Arbitration Board of the District of Columbia Bar.

Despite repeated corporate media claims to the contrary, Judicial Watch handled the wrongful-death lawsuit pro bono.

Although the federal government admitted no liability in the settlement agreement, it is a tacit admission by the U.S. Department of Justice that Byrd was reckless and used excessive force when he slid from a hidden position in the House Speaker’s Lobby and fired one shot at Babbitt, who had climbed into a sidelight window just outside the entry doors.

The lawsuit complaint, filed on Jan. 5, 2024, alleged that Byrd was negligent in the handling and use of his Glock 22 sidearm and reckless in his decision to fire into the crowded hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby.

The suit also claimed the Capitol Police department was negligent in its supervision of Byrd, who has a long disciplinary history that includes firing his pistol into a fleeing vehicle near his home in 2004 and leaving his gun on a toilet tank in the Capitol Visitor Center.

Aaron Babbitt filed claims against the Capitol Police in June and September 2021 and augmented the claims in February 2022 and January 2023, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

RELATED: Capitol Police name permanent chief hours after union slams controversial interim pick

Ashli Babbitt was a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and the Air National Guard.Photos courtesy of Micki Witthoeft and Aaron Babbitt

The suit was brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act against the entire federal government, of which the Capitol Police department is a part.

According to the lawsuit, Byrd’s bullet struck Ashli Babbitt in the left anterior shoulder at 2:44 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021. The round “perforated her left brachial plexus, trachea, upper lobe of the right lung and second anterior rib, and came to rest in her right anterior shoulder.

“Video recordings show her alive and conscious, writhing uncontrollably immediately after the shooting,” the suit stated. “Ashli remained conscious for minutes or longer after being shot by Lt. Byrd. Ashli experienced extreme pain, suffering, mental anguish and intense fear before slipping into pre-terminal unconsciousness."

“Furthermore, nothing about the wound track described in the autopsy report would be expected to result in immediate death or instantaneous loss of consciousness,” the suit said, “and Ashli’s lungs contained blood, further confirming that she was alive and breathing after being shot.”

Babbitt was unarmed, hands raised

Although Byrd claimed that he feared for his life at the time he shot Babbitt, he “later confessed that he shot Ashli before seeing her hands or assessing her intentions or even identifying her as female,” the lawsuit said. “Ashli was unarmed. Her hands were up in the air, empty and in plain view of Lt. Byrd and officers in the lobby.

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

The killing became a polarizing event for Jan. 6 and drew vile responses from the left, with many claiming that Babbitt deserved to be shot because they believed her to be a rioter who was part of a mob. Death threats and harassment were directed at Aaron Babbitt. Immediately after the shooting, people would call the Babbitts' pool-cleaning business and ask, “Can Ashli come over and clean my pool?”

A self-described “anarchy princess” stomped on a birthday floral tribute to Babbitt on the steps of the Capitol in October 2022. The woman, Brianne Marie Chapman, often heckled Babbitt’s mother, Micki Witthoeft, at public events.

'Then-Lieutenant Byrd’s weapon was left unattended in a public restroom for approximately 55 minutes.'

Long investigations carried out by news media and Judicial Watch Inc. revealed that Ashli Babbitt tried to stop rioting that erupted in the Speaker’s Lobby hallway between 2:36 and 2:44 p.m. She shouted at rioters to stop and eventually threw a left hook to the face of rioter Zachary Alam to end his spree of vandalism and mayhem.

The suit was filed in San Diego, but the Biden DOJ immediately moved to have it transferred to the friendly confines of federal court in the District of Columbia. Judicial Watch was still fighting to move the case back to California when the “settlement in principle” was first announced May 2.

The DOJ declined to prosecute Byrd in 2021, stating there was not enough evidence that the officer willfully used excessive force in killing the 14-year U.S. Air Force veteran. The shooting-justification report was loaded with errors and did not use the proper U.S. Supreme Court litmus test for fatal use of force.

Byrd promoted, rewarded

A U.S. House subcommittee outlined how the Capitol Police covered up Byrd’s identity for eight months in 2021, paid more than $35,000 to house him in an admiral’s suite at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, provided $37,000 in unrestricted retention bonuses, and helped Byrd open a GoFundMe account that brought in more than $164,000.

Former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) made a $200 donation to Byrd's GoFundMe on Nov. 18, 2021. At the time, Kinzinger was a member of the now-defunct Jan. 6 Select Committee appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Kinzinger wrote on social media, “A worthy cause, as this man has faced quite an onslaught of misinformation and extreme threats.”

Capitol Police planned to use money from the Officers’ Memorial Fund for fallen officers to pay Byrd’s expenses, including overtime pay he lost by being off work following Jan. 6, the House report said. The plan was to submit Byrd’s proposal ahead of any other Memorial Fund payments, including those for 90 officers injured on Jan. 6.

The Capitol Police general counsel worked directly with Pelosi's staff to find ways to assist Byrd after the shooting. A police source who was in attendance at a Capitol meeting with Pelosi told Blaze News the speaker emerita declared that Byrd was not to be touched.

RELATED: Lawmaker who visited El Salvador to spring MS-13 gang member attacks Ashli Babbitt as a ‘domestic terrorist’

U.S. Capitol Police Officer Steven Robbs peers into the House Speaker’s Lobby after Lt. Michael Byrd shot Ashli Babbitt. A wrongful-death lawsuit filed against Byrd said tactical officers were in the hallway when Byrd aimed and fired at Babbitt at 2:44 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021.Photo by Tayler Hansen

Capitol Police assigned Byrd a dignitary protection detail and planned to provide him with a department-issued shotgun for personal protection. However, Byrd failed the FBI background check and the shotgun proficiency test, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) said.

Byrd was promoted to captain in 2023. Loudermilk said he was troubled by the promotion, asking then-Chief J. Thomas Manger to provide more information on the standards used for the promotion. Manger never responded, a Capitol Hill source told Blaze News.

Blaze News reached out to the USCP for comment.

Blaze News investigations exposed how Capitol Police have covered for Byrd for nearly 25 years. Byrd was recommended for termination in 2001 when an internal affairs investigation found he abandoned his post in the Speaker’s Office for a card game in a nearby cloakroom. When Byrd was confronted by a supervisor, he lied, defying video evidence to the contrary, the investigation found.

Byrd was suspended for a week after a 2015 incident in which he shouted at a Montgomery County police officer working security at a Maryland high school football game.

Byrd “became argumentative with the officer and began yelling profanities at the officer, calling him a ‘piece of sh**, a**hole, and racist,’” according to a report issued in 2024 by Rep. Loudermilk. Byrd accused the officer of “targeting the ‘black side’ of the field and then jumped the fence” to confront him.

In 2019, Byrd was again referred to the Office of Professional Responsibility for leaving his Glock pistol in a Capitol Visitor Center restroom.

“Then-Lieutenant Byrd’s weapon was left unattended in a public restroom for approximately 55 minutes before it was discovered by another officer,” Loudermilk wrote. Byrd was suspended without pay for 33 days.

Loudermilk disclosed that the records of three other OPR discipline cases against Byrd were somehow missing.

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Fee-hungry ex-lawyer puts settlement of $30 million Ashli Babbitt lawsuit at risk, court filing says



The Maryland attorney who three years ago dropped Aaron Babbitt as a client in the shooting death of his wife on Jan. 6 is endangering a final settlement of the $30 million wrongful-death lawsuit between Judicial Watch Inc. and the U.S. Department of Justice, an attorney told a District of Columbia federal court on May 19.

Terrell N. Roberts III, who walked away from the case in February 2022, rejected an offer to set aside 25% of any financial settlement in a dedicated trust account while the issue of what fees, if any, Roberts is owed is determined in arbitration by the Attorney Client Arbitration Board of the District of Columbia Bar.

'We are representing Ashli’s family pro bono!'

“Plaintiffs are concerned by Mr. Roberts’ role in this case, which is frustrating completion of the settlement,” said Judicial Watch attorney Robert Sticht, who represents Aaron Babbitt of San Diego and the estate of his late wife, Ashli Babbitt.

Roberts wants U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes to decide the issue of attorney fees, arguing that arbitration could take six months. He also wants the judge to revisit her rejection of a charging lien against the settlement.

The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, claimed May 19 that the settlement agreement is for less than $5 million. Parties in the suit would not comment on the news story or the alleged amount. The Post reported incorrectly that Judicial Watch and Washington, D.C., attorney Richard Driscoll would take one-third of any settlement.

“I can say, contrary to initial WPOST report, @JudicialWatch is not getting a third (or any portion) of any settlement,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton posted on X. “We are representing Ashli’s family pro bono!”

Sticht now looks prophetic, as he tried to caution the news media against reporting that Judicial Watch would reap a windfall in the case.

Sticht was chastised and silenced by Judge Reyes at a May 12 hearing when he tried to announce to the press listening on the court’s audio feed that Judicial Watch will take no fees from the Babbitt lawsuit.

“This is crazy, and it is costing a lot of money,” Sticht said of the delays caused by the fee dispute. “And just so the court knows, for the record and all the press who may be on the telephone, Judicial Watch does not a get fee out of this settlement.”

RELATED: Federal judge explodes in Ashli Babbitt court hearing as wrongful-death case slows

Photo (left): John Sullivan; Photo (right): Aaron Babbitt

Judge Reyes talked over Sticht and chastised him for speaking directly to the media.

“Mr. Sticht, did I not just tell you that when I start talking, you stop?” Reyes snapped.

Roberts represented Babbitt from shortly after Babbitt’s wife was shot to death Jan. 6 by U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd. Roberts abandoned the case in late February 2022 but has still been seeking up to 40% of the financial settlement being negotiated by Judicial Watch. Babbitt was left to find new legal counsel after Roberts fired him as a client “for cause.”

Judicial Watch agreed to be bound by the decision of the arbitration board. Driscoll, who represents Aaron Babbitt for the narrow issue of the fee dispute with Roberts, filed for D.C. Bar arbitration May 9. He said now that Babbitt has asked for arbitration, both parties are required to take part under bar association rules.

Under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 25% is the maximum fee allowed for all plaintiff attorneys combined.

Sticht said because “the likelihood of Mr. Roberts recovering such a fee is minimal, at best, given his admittedly brief and limited involvement in the legal matter,” the 25% set-aside “protects Mr. Roberts for an inability to recover an award.”

“Mr. Roberts rejected plaintiffs’ offer,” Sticht wrote in the court filing.

Roberts sought a charging lien from the court against the gross amount of any settlement. Judge Reyes rejected the idea, but allowed Roberts to be an intervenor in the case for the limited purpose of keeping tabs on settlement developments.

Roberts said if he is compelled to participate in arbitration, he will ask Judge Reyes to issue a stay in the lawsuit until the issue of attorney’s fees is settled.

RELATED: Ashli Babbitt stood up to him — now J6er 'Helmet Boy' faces new charges

Aaron Babbitt with his late wife Ashli, who turned 35 three months before she was killed on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol.Photo courtesy of Aaron Babbitt

“As a fundamental matter, arbitration is not an efficient option at this juncture,” Roberts wrote to the court. “The process could take up to six months (if not more). That is too long given that we are a hair’s breadth from a settlement. The court could more practically handle the matter of attorney’s fees in a fraction of the time it would take to arbitrate the case.”

Sticht said that idea “goes well beyond the limited intervention the court permitted.”

“Mr. Roberts presents no justification for why the court should reconsider these issues,” Sticht wrote.

Roberts’ attempts to cash in on the lawsuit have added drama and frustration to an already tense courtroom atmosphere. Since the first hearing on the lawsuit on Aug. 6, 2024, Judge Reyes has repeatedly lost her temper with Sticht, shouting at him to “stop talking” and accusing him of giving “snide” answers to her questions.

Brian Boyd, a DOJ trial attorney, said in the filing that the government supports the proposed 25% set-aside because it “is sufficient to protect Mr. Roberts’ interests.”

Boyd said Judicial Watch’s agreement to abide by the arbitration panel’s decision “and disperse [sic] to Mr. Roberts that portion of the set-aside funds that ACAB determines Mr. Roberts is owed, if any, should eliminate Mr. Roberts’ concern regarding his ability to collect fees to which he is entitled.”

Trial in the $30 million lawsuit is set for July 2026. The election of President Donald J. Trump last November vastly changed the DOJ’s demeanor toward the case and pushed the government toward a settlement.

In the years since Babbitt was killed, President Trump has expressed support and sympathy for the Babbitt family while ripping Lt. Byrd as a “thug” and a “coward.” The president expressed his belief that Ashli Babbitt “was murdered.”

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Ashli Babbitt stood up to him — now J6er 'Helmet Boy' faces new charges



Zachary Jordan Alam, the Jan. 6 rioter who vandalized windows, taunted police, and incited chaos in the U.S. Capitol hallway where Ashli Babbitt was shot, was arrested in Virginia on a state felony burglary count and a misdemeanor destruction of property charge.

Just months removed from a pardon issued by President Donald J. Trump, Alam, 33, of Centreville, Virginia, was arrested and charged for burglary in Henrico County, southeast of Richmond, court records show.

Alam, who was serving an eight-year Jan. 6 prison sentence when he was pardoned, was charged with one count of entering a dwelling at night for the purpose of burglary, a Class 3 felony that carries a potential prison term between five and 20 years.

'He was then taken by force to a psychiatric facility.'

He was also charged with one Commonwealth of Virginia count of destruction of property valued at less than $1,000, a Class 1 misdemeanor with potential jail time of one year.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for June 24 in Henrico General District Court.

Blaze News filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the police reports surrounding Alam’s arrest, but the County of Henrico Police Division denied the request because “the incident is still being investigated and/or the case has not been fully adjudicated.”

Alam was the central figure in the rioting that broke out in the hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby on Jan. 6, 2021. He punched the glass panels in the entry door, narrowly missing the left side of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Christopher Lanciano’s face, video showed. He also punched at the glass panel behind Officer Kyle Yetter and Sgt. Timothy Lively.

He ended his spree using a black riot helmet to bash out panes of glass in the doors and side panels, according to video. That earned him the online nickname “Helmet Boy.”

RELATED: Federal judge explodes in Ashli Babbitt court hearing as wrongful-death case slows

Rioter Zachary Alam changes clothes in the Crypt at the U.S. Capitol shortly after entering the building on Jan. 6, 2021.U.S. Capitol Police CCTV

“Alam intentionally put himself at the front of the mob, where he threatened the USCP officers, yelling, ‘I’m going to f*** you up!’ in their faces,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s sentencing memo and supplement.

“All said, in the course of just 25 seconds, Alam violently kicked the doors three times, then smashed the doors and glass panes with the helmet an additional nine times, breaking two glass panes completely out,” the DOJ memo said. “All the while, Alam’s actions exacerbated the chaos, inflaming the mob overall.”

A jury found Alam guilty of 10 charges on Sept. 12, 2023, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers; obstructing officers during a civil disorder; destruction of government property; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and seven other counts.

'We need guns, bro!'

He was sentenced on Nov. 7, 2024, to eight years in prison by U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee. Alam’s obstruction of an official proceeding verdict was tossed out based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark June 2024 decision in Fischer v. United States.

Alam’s sentencing was repeatedly delayed after the trial. His defense team filed some information about him under court seal. His mother, Karyn L. Alam, disclosed to defense attorney Steven Metcalf II and the court that Alam had a history of substance abuse and psychiatric troubles that were unknown to the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services office.

Rioter Zachary Jordan Alam (wearing helmet) is confronted by protesters minutes after the fatal shooting of Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6, 2021.U.S. Capitol Police CCTV

Karyn Alam said her son attempted suicide while he was a student at the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine in Dothan, Alabama.

“I was notified by the school that Zachary was found in a bathroom stall with a belt around his neck,” she wrote. “This is around the same time that we made the decision for him to withdraw from medical school. Based on my best recollection, he was then taken by force to a psychiatric facility.”

Alam’s attorney appealed his case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Dec. 2, 2024. The appeals court, citing Trump’s pardon declaration issued shortly after he was sworn in on Jan. 20, vacated Alam’s convictions on April 14, 2025. The federal district court in D.C. then dismissed Alam’s Jan. 6 case as moot.

Babbitt, who was the first protester to reach the Speaker’s Lobby entrance at 2:36 p.m., grew visibly worried as a large crowd filled in around her. She shouted at the three officers to “call f***ing help” when they made no moves to de-escalate the crowd or subdue Alam during his violent spree.

After the three officers abandoned their post, other rioters joined in the attack on the doorway, using a flagpole, karate kicks, and the kinetic force of their bodies in failed attempts to breach the doors.

After Alam smashed out the window in the side panel, Babbitt grabbed him by the backpack, spun him toward her, and punched him in the face with a left hook, according to video discovered by the Epoch Times. The blow knocked off his glasses. An instant later, Babbitt jumped up in the now-empty sidelight window and was immediately shot by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd.

“You want to be next?”

Seeing Babbitt bleeding after she fell back to the floor, Alam jumped back and bolted down a nearby staircase, brushing past a four-man Capitol Police SWAT team coming up the stairs. He was seen on the landing with his hand on his head, looking distressed.

After the shooting, protesters vented anger at the police, who told the crowd to get back so medical help could reach Babbitt.

“She’s going to f***ing die!” Officer Yetter roared at the crowd. “You want to be next?”

As Alam left the building, he was heard on a protester’s video stating, “We need guns, bro … we need guns,” the DOJ said.

RELATED: Officer who killed Ashli Babbitt abandoned US Capitol post for card game, lied to investigators about it, source says

Zachary Jordan Alam (in black Pirelli T-shirt), takes an elevator from the Crypt in the U.S. Capitol to the fourth floor before walking down an interior staircase to the second floor, where he joined a large contingent of protesters near the main House door.U.S. Capitol Police CCTV

Alam was one of the most active provocateurs on Jan. 6. Wearing a floppy-ear Canada Goose cap, he became one of the most recognizable Jan. 6 figures. Video showed he helped protesters climb makeshift ladders leaned against the Northwest Steps so they could access the Upper Terrace and the Senate Wing Door entrance to the Capitol.

Once inside the Crypt level of the Capitol, Alam changed his clothes, then took an elevator to the fourth floor. He accessed a back stairway and descended two levels. While on the third floor, video shot by Paul Kovacik showed, Alam took a velvet theater rope with weighted brass ends and threw it down an open area at police standing below.

'We’d love to f***ing revolutionize the whole world!'

Once Alam reached the second floor, he walked toward the main House entrance and was trailed by Jason Gandolph, an officer with the House Sergeant at Arms office. Widely shared video showed that Alam walked from behind the police line to join the swelling crowd in the Will Rogers Corridor near Statuary Hall.

Alam immediately started trouble, shouting so loudly that an elderly man slapped him on the side of the head and told him, “Shut up!”

Alam photo-bombed journalist Tayler Hansen’s livestream inside the Capitol.

“This is insane, bro. We’d love to f***ing revolutionize the whole world!” Alam said. “It’s the repetition of what happened decades and centuries ago, and it’s repeating itself. It’s going down right now!”

Alam was arrested by the FBI on Jan. 30, 2021, in Denver, Pennsylvania, after he spent weeks on the the lam. When agents raided his room at the Penn Amish Motel, they reportedly found more than $5,600 in antiques stolen from Stoudt’s Antique Mall in nearby Adamstown. In August 2021, he was charged by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with one count of burglary and one count of theft by unlawful taking of movable property.

The Pennsylvania case was held in abeyance for more than three years while the U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted Alam for Jan. 6 crimes. It’s not clear if he will ever face the Pennsylvania charges. According to the criminal docket, Alam’s burglary case is listed as “closed.” There is no indication in court records of a dismissal or other case disposition.

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Retiring Capitol Police chief takes shots at Jan. 6 protester Ashli Babbitt, settlement of civil lawsuit



Retiring U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger took some parting shots at the late Ashli Babbitt on his way out the door, claiming in a May 2 internal memo that she “attacked the U.S. Capitol” and ignored police orders to stay out of the Speaker’s Lobby hallway where she was shot to death by Lt. Michael Byrd.

The two-page letter was read at all roll calls, posted on bulletin boards, and distributed by email. It expresses Manger’s disdain for the U.S. Department of Justice agreeing to settle the Babbitt family’s $30 million wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the federal government on Jan. 5, 2024.

Attorneys for Judicial Watch Inc. and the DOJ told a federal judge on May 2 they had reached a “settlement in principle” that should be finalized within weeks. No financial terms were disclosed.

Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said the settlement is “going to be historic!” Judicial Watch represents Aaron Babbitt and his late wife’s estate in the lawsuit against the federal government.

A status report that Judicial Watch and the DOJ filed with U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes on May 6 did not include an update on the expected timing to finalize the settlement.

It did, however, propose that Babbitt’s former attorney, Terrell N. Roberts III, enter into fee arbitration with the Attorney Client Arbitration Board of the District of Columbia Bar. Roberts opposes that solution, the court filing said. Roberts’ attempts to secure a restraining order and a 25% lien on the final settlement were rebuffed by Judge Reyes. Roberts withdrew from the Babbitt case in late February 2022.

Manger’s letter makes several questionable contentions, including that Babbitt ignored orders by police to stay out of the Speaker’s Lobby.

Ashli Babbitt punches rioter Zachary Jordan Alam in the nose after he smashed out several windows in the entrance to the Speaker's Lobby in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Babbitt was fatally shot seconds later.Blaze News graphic from Sam Montoya photograph. Used with permission.

According to video shot by journalist Tayler Hansen, he and Babbitt freely walked into the hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby at 2:36 p.m. On the way, they passed Jason Gandolph, a plainclothes House Sergeant at Arms officer. Hansen greeted him and said, “Stay safe.” Gandolph was walking and looking at his phone at the time.

Three U.S. Capitol Police officers were standing at the end of the hall outside the Speaker’s Lobby: Officer Kyle Yetter, Sgt. Timothy Lively, and Officer Christopher Lanciano. Hansen offered the officers a water bottle while Babbitt talked to the trio. They were the only ones in the hall with Babbitt and Hansen until other protesters began filling the space a short time later.

'We’ve got to start thinking about getting the people out.'

Gandolph told investigators that Babbitt helped to smash the glass in the doors and windows of the Speaker’s Lobby entrance. Video from the hallway shows, however, that Babbitt did not touch the doors or the glass, but she did shout at the officers to “call f**king help!”

“In 2021 the DOJ said there was no evidence to show law enforcement broke the law, yet now the DOJ is agreeing to pay a settlement,” Manger wrote.

A 14-page DOJ memo on the killing of Babbitt by then-Lt. Byrd, now a captain, was released in June 2022 by Judicial Watch as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

The memo said there was “insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Lt. Byrd violated Ms. [Babbitt’s] civil rights by willfully using more force than was reasonably necessary, or was not acting in self-defense or the defense of others.”

Lt. Michael L. Byrd, who killed Ashli Babbitt at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has 'significant' discipline history including gun incidents, U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) disclosed in November 2024.Photos by Judicial Watch, John Sullivan

The DOJ memo has been criticized because it cited the wrong legal standard for determining whether police use of lethal force is justified. The “gold standard” is the 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Graham v. Connor.The High Court said police use of force should be judged on the Fourth Amendment’s “objective reasonableness” standard without regard for the officer’s subjective state of mind.

“An officer’s evil intentions will not make a Fourth Amendment violation out of an objectively reasonable use of force; nor will an officer’s good intentions make an objectively unreasonable use of force constitutional,” the court said.

Even if the force Byrd used in killing Babbitt was unreasonable, “the government must show that an officer acted willfully, that is, with the specific intent to deprive the victim of a constitutional right,” the DOJ report said. In this context, “willfully” means that an act “was done voluntarily and intentionally, and with the specific intent to do something the law forbids; that is with a bad purpose either to disobey or disregard the law.”

'I asked for permission to evacuate. I heard no response.'

Stanley Kephart, a police use-of-force expert who has testified in court cases more than 350 times, said use of the term “willfully” is from a 1985 U.S. Court of Appeals case from the Fifth Circuit, United States v. Garza. He said it should not be applied to Byrd’s killing of Babbitt.

“The highest culpable mental state in committing a crime is ‘knowingly’ and Captain Byrd did just that,” Kephart said. “Willingly does not apply.”

Byrd did not write any reports on the shooting and refused to make a statement to internal affairs investigators. His only public statement on the shooting was made in a televised August 2021 interview with NBC anchor Lester Holt. Byrd said he feared for his life at the time he fired his service weapon. He said, however, he could not tell if the person climbing into the broken window was armed or even what sex the person was.

Kephart said he believes the Biden DOJ had a pre-ordained conclusion to the shooting probe. He called the DOJ report a “total miscarriage of justice.”

“The glaring thing about it, they picked the Garza decision, which was an aged decision. Graham v. Connor is the newest Supreme Court finding and that’s why it is the gold standard,” Kephart said. “For them to go back in time and pick an aged decision that was friendly to them is a clear indication of what they were attempting to do.”

Video from the hallway where violence broke out shows Babbitt tried to stop the rioting and shouted at officers to call for backup. Just before she climbed into the broken side window and was shot, she punched rioter Zachary J. Alam in the nose and knocked off his glasses. Alam had just used a black riot helmet to smash the glass out of the side window. Had Alam climbed into the broken window before Babbitt punched him, he most likely would have been shot.

“While illegally inside the building, she disregarded the orders of police to stay out of the Speaker’s Lobby and instead climbed through a broken window, which had just been smashed by a fellow rioter, in her attempt to access members of Congress who were being evacuated from the Capitol,” Manger wrote.

New Judicial Watch video covers 19 minutes in the Jan. 6 life and death of Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt.Photos by Aaron Babbitt, Jayden X, Judicial Watch, and Sam Montoya

Byrd told Holt that he repeatedly screamed at the rioters to “get back.” Byrd was wearing a black COVID mask at the time. Other officers in the Speaker’s Lobby gave conflicting reports on whether commands were shouted to those outside the entrance.

Witnesses along the outside of the lobby entrance said they did not hear warnings or other statements from inside the Speaker’s Lobby. The crowd, which had grown to at least 55-60 people, made considerable noise. The three USCP officers posted at the door said they did not hear any commands from inside the Speaker’s Lobby. Nor were any commands heard on videos filmed in the hallway.

Aaron Babbitt said his wife, 35, who was a military policewoman in the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard, would not have continued through the window if she had seen or heard Lt. Byrd.

Video showed the members of Congress were going downstairs toward the subway when Hansen and Babbitt first walked into the hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby. A few members remained in the House Chamber to help guard the main House entrance, but the evacuation was otherwise complete by the time Babbitt jumped up into the window.

Manger said the lawsuit settlement “is insulting to every officer who protected the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and those who feared for their life on that dark day.”

Former lieutenant raps Manger

One former Capitol Police officer went public with his opposition to Manger’s memo. Former Lt. Tarik K. Johnson, who first posted Manger’s letter May 5 on X, called the document “partisan.”

“How should he (Manger) be allowed to take a partisan position from the chair of a police chief when some could easily articulate his behavior as an abuse of power as his rant was put on USCP letterhead and distributed,” Johnson said.

— (@)

In March, Manger announced he was retiring after nearly four years on the job. His announced last day was May 2, but a Capitol Police source told Blaze News that Manger was still on duty on May 6.

“How do we tolerate Manger criticizing the current administration in a civil matter without questioning his judgement and ability to lead a police agency that has a requirement to remain neutral and protect all members of the congressional community and visitors to the Capitol complex,” Johnson wrote, “not just those who share his political views.”

Johnson was suspended by Capitol Police for nearly 18 months after Jan. 6, ostensibly because he wore a red MAGA cap while he and and two Oath Keepers evacuated 16 police officers from inside the Capitol’s Columbus Doors. Johnson has said the cap made the crowds more receptive and helped him move up and down the east steps unmolested. He said the cap was like having a helmet for protection.

Capitol Police Lt. Tarik K. Johnson asks for assistance from retired police Sgt. Michael Nichols (right) and Steve Clayton (center). Both Oath Keepers, Nichols and Clayton helped Johnson evacuate 16 police officers from inside the Columbus Doors on Jan. 6, 2021.Rico La Starza

The suspension that Johnson said made him a virtual prisoner in his own home was really meted out because he ordered the evacuation of the U.S. Senate on Jan. 6 after the USCP Command Center failed to answer repeated radio transmissions seeking authorization, he said. Video shows just as the last senators hustled down the stairs, a raucous crowd was moving toward the Senate entrance from an adjacent hallway.

Johnson then headed toward the House and ordered members to evacuate the building. He gave Sgt. Nelson Vargas instructions over the radio on which door and stairway to use to reach the Capitol Subway System. It isn’t known why Byrd did not evacuate the House after rioters smashed the Senate Wing Door windows at 2:12 p.m. and crowds poured into the building. Byrd was the Capitol Police commander for the House and Senate on Jan. 6.

“There was no response from anybody at the Command Center,” Johnson said in a January 2023 interview. “I say even before I initiated evacuation, I say specifically, ‘We’ve got to start thinking about getting the people out before we don’t have a chance to.’ I heard no response. Then I asked for permission to evacuate. I heard no response.”

In addition to Johnson’s pleas for help, the Capitol Police dispatcher repeatedly asked for authorization for the evacuation. He was met with radio silence.

Johnson said if the evacuation of Congress had started when he first asked Assistant Chief Yogananda Pittman and the Command Center for help, Byrd wouldn’t have been near the Speaker’s Lobby entrance, and the House chamber would have been empty if the crowd had breached the barricaded doors.

“I made the evacuation order at approximately 2:28 for the Senate, and then I did it maybe six to eight minutes later for the House,” Johnson said.

Manger said his department and the Metropolitan Police Department did a “comprehensive review of all the available evidence” in the shooting.

Shortly after shooting Babbitt at 2:44 p.m. on Jan. 6, Byrd made a false broadcast on Capitol Police radio claiming that he was taking gunfire and was preparing to return fire. The false assertion was never corrected on the air, leaving SWAT officers streaming into the Capitol to wonder if the scene was secure or if a shooter was on the loose in the Capitol. Neither the DOJ report nor the MPD shooting investigation report made reference to Byrd’s radio transmission.

Frick and Frack (left) are escorted to a meeting with Capitol Police. An unmarked squad car (upper right) arrives at the south barricade with Capitol Police officers. Officer Rick Larity (lower right) and Sgt. Sarah Smithers approach Frick and Frack for a meeting inside the squad car.U.S. Capitol Police/CCTV security video

Police did not attempt to detain any of the more than 50 people in the Speaker’s Lobby hallway to take witness statements. As far as is publicly known, none of them was detained for questioning about the shooting, and none of their witness accounts appeared in the MPD or DOJ shooting investigation reports.

Two men, nicknamed “Frick and Frack” by a YouTube personality in 2021, stood behind the police line down the stairs from the lobby entrance as four Capitol Police SWAT officers came up from the first floor.

After protesters and rioters were forced to exit, Frick and Frack approached USCP Deputy Chief Eric Waldow in the hallway and volunteered to be witnesses. As a 2024 Blaze News investigation showed, the men were escorted from the building by Capitol Police K-9 technician Bruce Acheson and taken to meet with Capitol Police detectives in an unmarked squad car at the edge of Capitol grounds.

Frack gave police a short video clip taken in the Speaker’s Lobby hallway at the time of the shooting, but was apparently allowed to leave without providing all of the extensive video he shot on the Capitol west front, inside the building, and from the front rows of the Speaker’s Lobby hallway during the melee. The man’s name was redacted in the MPD shooting report. Some brief information on him was included in an MPD investigation memo.

Video showed Frick and Frack set up makeshift ladders out of police barricades to allow protesters to more easily climb onto the balustrade of the Northwest Steps and proceed into the Capitol. They have not been publicly identified and were never arrested or charged.

Kephart said the 2021 DOJ report should have delved more into Byrd’s service and discipline record. He urged that Byrd’s shooting investigation be reopened by the Trump DOJ.

The DOJ report includes nearly a dozen factual errors, some of which were repeated in the Manger letter.

‘Significant’ discipline history

In November 2024, U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), chairman of the Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, sent Manger a letter outlining Byrd’s “significant” history of discipline cases.

In one 2004 incident, Byrd was found by the Office of Professional Responsibility to have fired his Capitol Police service weapon into the rear of a van that was fleeing his Maryland neighborhood. His neighbor was in the line of fire, Loudermilk said. Byrd told investigators he shot into the windshield as the van drove directly at him.

U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd appears to have his finger on the trigger of his service weapon while walking on the U.S. House floor as rioters broke windows at the House entrance at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Graphic overlay by Blaze News

The OPR investigation found Byrd violated the USCP weapons and use-of-force policies by firing his gun in a “careless and imprudent manner.” Byrd appealed the finding to the Disciplinary Review Board, which overturned the OPR findings, according to Loudermilk.

In another discipline case revealed in a Blaze News exclusive, Byrd was recommended for termination in 2001 for abandoning his post in House Speaker Denny Hastert’s office for a card game in a nearby cloakroom, then lying about it to Internal Affairs Division investigators.

Loudermilk’s Nov. 20 letter also detailed the favorable treatment Byrd has received by USCP since Jan. 6, including $36,000 in unrestricted retention funds, $21,000 in security upgrades at his Prince George’s County, Md., home, and a GoFundMe campaign that raised $164,206 for Byrd.

Capitol Police paid to house Byrd at the Joint Base Andrews military facility from July 2021 until late January 2022 at a cost of more than $35,000, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch Inc.

Capitol Police general counsel Thomas A. “Tad” DiBiase met with Jamie Fleet, staff director for then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), to discuss options to help Byrd, according to email uncovered by congressional investigators, Loudermilk said. Pelosi had earlier said she wanted Byrd “taken care of,” according to a Blaze News source who directly witnessed the statement during a meeting.

Loudermilk gave Manger a long list of questions and document requests at the close of his letter. The deadline was Dec. 4, 2024. A congressional source said Manger never replied to Loudermilk’s letter. The 118th Congress ended on Jan. 3, 2025. Five months after the start of the 119th Congress, the House has not yet established a successor committee or subcommittee to investigate Jan. 6.

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President Trump says he’s ‘going to take a look at’ fatal Jan. 6 shooting of Ashli Babbitt



President Donald J. Trump said he plans to investigate the “unthinkable” Jan. 6 fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt and why the U.S. Department of Justice is still opposing the $30 million wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Aaron Babbitt and Judicial Watch.

In a March 25 interview with Greg Kelly of Newsmax, President Trump said he plans to look into Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, who killed Babbitt from a hidden position, allegedly before even establishing whether she was armed or otherwise a threat. Byrd has said he feared for his life.

'She was innocently standing there.'

Kelly noted that Byrd — who is now a captain assigned to a training role making nearly $190,000 a year — was promoted in 2023 and given a medal by the Biden administration in the wake of the fatal shooting.

“I think it’s a disgrace,” President Trump said. “I’m going to take a look at it. I’m going to look at that, too. His reputation was, I won’t even say. Let’s find out about his reputation, OK? We’re going to find out.”

Trump’s comment seemed a likely reference to a letter released in late 2024 by U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), who detailed Byrd’s history of alleged aggressive personal behavior and reckless use of his service weapon. Loudermilk, then chairman of the Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, said the records of three disciplinary cases against Byrd were somehow missing.

Writing to Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger, Loudermilk said Byrd was given $36,000 in unrestricted funds as a “retention bonus” in 2021, while other Capitol Police officers received around $3,000 each. Byrd was reimbursed for more than $21,000 in security upgrades for his personal residence in Prince George’s County, Md.

Manger recently announced his plans to retire, effective May 2.

U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd appears to have his finger on the trigger of his service weapon while walking on the U.S. House floor as rioters broke windows at the House entrance at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Graphic overlay by Blaze News

Byrd complained bitterly in emails at the slow pace of an ultimately doomed plan to provide him with cash from the Capitol Police Officers Memorial Fund, Loudermilk’s letter said.

Capitol Police paid to house Byrd at the Joint Base Andrews military facility from July 2021 until late January 2022 at a cost of more than $35,000, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch Inc. When he left the base for any reason, Byrd was provided with a Capitol Police dignitary protection detail, which a source told Blaze News could easily cost $425 per hour.

A Blaze News investigation found that Byrd was recommended for termination for a 2001 incident for reportedly abandoning his post in the House Speaker’s Office for a card game in a nearby cloakroom and lying about it to Internal Affairs Division investigators.

House investigators also detailed a case in which Byrd allegedly fired at a fleeing vehicle outside his home, then lied to local police, saying the van was driving directly at him when he fired his Capitol Police service weapon.

— (@)

President Trump indicated he wasn’t aware that the DOJ continues to oppose the $30 million federal wrongful-death lawsuit filed on Jan. 5, 2024.

“I’ll look into that. You’re just telling me that for the first time,” Trump told Kelly. “I haven’t heard that.

“I’m a big fan of Ashli Babbitt, OK?” Trump said. “Ashli Babbitt was a really good person who was a big MAGA fan, Trump fan, and she was innocently standing there — they even say trying to sort of hold back the crowd — and a man did something to her that was unthinkable when he shot her. I think it’s a disgrace. I’m going to look into that. I did not know that.”

'We’re prepared to fire back at them. We have guns drawn.'

While the legacy media have painted the veteran of 14 years in the U.S. Air Force and several years in the D.C. National Guard as a rioter and insurrectionist, ample video from the hallway where she was shot proves she tried to stop the violence that erupted.

Babbitt shouted at three Capitol Police officers standing outside the Speaker’s Lobby entrance to “call f**king help” as rioter Zachary Alam bashed out the windows leading into the Speaker’s Lobby.

Babbitt eventually put a stop to Alam’s rioting when she planted a left hook on his nose and knocked off his glasses. Seconds later, she tried to climb out a broken window just behind Alam and was immediately shot by Byrd.

Trump’s investigation into the Babbitt shooting will undoubtedly uncover video showing that Byrd didn’t follow through on the shooting by advancing on Babbitt’s position after she fell to determine whether she was an active threat. He fired from a hidden position into a crowd of dozens of people, including seven Capitol Police officers.

Byrd retreated into the seating area of Speaker’s Lobby and within a minute made a false broadcast on police radio claiming that he was under fire and was “prepared to fire back.”

“We got shots fired in the lobby. We got fot [sic], shots fired in the lobby of the House chamber,” Byrd said on Capitol Police radio. “Shots are being fired at us, and we’re prepared to fire back at them. We have guns drawn.”

Ashli Babbitt punches rioter Zachary Jordan Alam in the nose after he smashed out several windows in the entrance to the Speaker's Lobby at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Babbitt was fatally shot seconds later. Blaze News graphic from Sam Montoya photograph. Used with permission.

Aaron Babbitt’s lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch Inc. said that false broadcast delayed medical aid from reaching Ashli Babbitt and created a dangerous situation because incoming officers had no reason to believe this wasn’t still an active-shooter scenario.

“The facts speak truth. Ashli was ambushed when she was shot by Lt. Byrd,” the lawsuit said. “Multiple witnesses at the scene yelled, ‘You just murdered her.’ … Lt. Byrd was never charged or otherwise punished or disciplined for Ashli’s homicide.”

After Judicial Watch filed suit in San Diego, where Ashli Babbitt had lived, the DOJ sought and won a judge’s approval to transfer the case to the District of Columbia federal district court. Judicial Watch is attempting to get the case moved back to San Diego. The decision to move the case to D.C. was issued by a judge before Judicial Watch even had a chance to file opposition. A trial in the Babbitt case is set for July 2026.

President Trump will also likely learn about suspicious individuals in the crowd where Babbitt was shot who have still not been identified 50 months after the shooting. Two of the most prominent have been dubbed “Frick and Frack,” who were escorted out of the Capitol and secretly met with Capitol Police near the edge of Capitol property.

President Trump said his decision to issue pardons to more than 1,500 former Jan. 6 defendants was in large part due to the unfair treatment they received from the DOJ and federal courts.

“They were treated so unfairly, so horribly,” Trump said. “Some of them didn’t even go into the building, and the judges, the system, the hatred, the vitriol, the prosecutors — the way they wanted to just destroy these people.”

Trump described how many defendants went into court in hopes of defending themselves, only to emerge “devastated the way they were treated. Devastated, given years in prison.

“I took care of them,” the president said. “I said that I was going to, and I did.”

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5 lies about January 6 EXPOSED



It’s been four years and a day since the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots transpired. Democrats and the legacy media have used the event to label Trump and his supporters as violent and anti-democratic, to convince the nation that Trump intentionally incited an insurrection to overturn the election results, and to rewrite history by claiming that it was “the darkest day” America has ever seen.

This narrative resulted in prison sentences for hundreds of Americans, many of whom were nonviolent attendees.

However, as time has gone on, the narrative surrounding January 6 has been unraveling as more information has come to light.

The truth is — nearly everything we’ve been told about January 6 is a lie.

Glenn Beck exposes all the facets of the J6 narrative as the egregious fabrications they are.

These “bombshells” of information that disprove the J6 narrative are what should formulate the true “message of January 6,” says Glenn.

What’s the message then?

That what really happened on January 6 reveals “the truth about our government, its accountability, and the lengths that it will go to preserve its version of a story even when it is all a lie,” says Glenn.

1. Pipe bomb lies

In the afternoon of January 6, 2021, Americans were warned that two pipe bombs capable of causing “catastrophic harm” were found near the RNC and DNC headquarters.

Why then was Vice President-elect Kamala Harris rushed to the DNC? And why did the Secret Service delete all of the records related to Harris’ whereabouts?

“Now we know the investigation into these bombs was woefully insufficient. ... Surveillance footage was ignored, cameras were turned off just hours before the pipe bomb was laid, cell phone data in both places, we were told, was corrupted,” Glenn explains. The truth is, “The only thing that was corrupted was our own government and FBI.”

Bombshell reports have since revealed that “the data was not corrupted according to the cell phone companies; they were never asked to turn over the information to the FBI. ... Critical leads went unpursued,” and because of this, “Four years later, questions about the bomber's identity still remain unanswered,” says Glenn.

Why the lack of investigation into a critical incident that could have killed the vice president-elect and destroyed the republic?

“What if the pipe bombs were nothing more than a convenient distraction, a justification to escalate security measures and cast a broader shadow over what they hoped would unfold that day?” asks Glenn, adding that “it is our duty as citizens” to ask these questions “because we now know our government lied.”

2. FBI informants

We also know as a fact now that 26 FBI informants were on the Capitol grounds that day but didn’t actually enter the building.

“What were they doing there? Were they infiltrating the crowd? Were they guiding its behavior? Were they acting as provocators?” asks Glenn, adding that “the presence [of these 26 informants] raises troubling concerns about how much of January 6 was actually organic and how much was orchestrated.”

3. Pelosi and media squashed Trump’s authorization of National Guard

It has now been verified as fact that two days prior to January 6, Donald Trump indeed “authorized the deployment of the National Guard, citing concerns over potential unrest at the Capitol on January 6.”

However, his concerns went ignored.

“His offer was rebuffed by Nancy Pelosi and the Capitol police,” says Glenn, asking, “Who in the chain of command chose to disregard this presidential directive?”

Then the mainstream media ignored Trump’s offers to deploy the National Guard and instead blasted out the narrative that he “wanted the chaos.”

“This glaring emission from mainstream narrative exposes just how much the January 6 story has been manipulated to fit a preconceived conclusion,” says Glenn.

4. Death of Ashli Babbitt

Ashli Babbitt, “a decorated Air Force veteran ... was shot and killed on live TV by a Capitol police officer while attempting to climb through a broken window.”

And yet, “Her death was ruled justified almost immediately.”

However, bombshell reporting has since revealed that the officer who killed her, who’s long been shielded from scrutiny and hailed as a hero, actually “violated multiple procedural rules” and “is now under investigation for misconduct so severe it could lead to criminal charges,” says Glenn. “[Ashli’s] story was buried under a mountain of political narratives.”

5. Tech allies offer up data to weaponized justice system

Glenn reveals how our corrupt justice system utilized its “allies in social media” and “high-tech global corporations” to obtain “location data” on individuals who were simply in Washington, D.C., on January 6 and use it for political persecution.

“January 6 wasn't about Trump supporters or Democrats in the media. It was about a system that thrives on division and chaos — a system that uses fear to control us,” he explains, asking, “If federal agencies can lie, manipulate, and withhold the truth about January 6, what are they not capable of doing?”

To hear more of Glenn’s analysis, watch the clip above.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

‘The View’s’ Sunny Hostin Retains Bat Guano Crazy Queen Crown

The co-host at ABC’s home for the criminally delusional compared the J6 riots to World War II, the Holocaust and slavery.

Merrick Garland Uses Cops Who Died By Stroke, Suicides To Rewrite J6 History

Garland's decision to invoke these emotional talking points is nothing more than a politically motivated attempt to justify his out-of-control Department of Justice.

After Winning At The Supreme Court, J6 Defendant Joe Fischer Is Still Fighting To Get His Life Back

If Donald Trump pardons people involved in the J6 chaos in Washington, D.C., it will end years of heartache.

Exclusive: Officer who killed Ashli Babbitt abandoned US Capitol post for card game, lied to investigators about it, source says



The U.S. Capitol Police lieutenant who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was recommended for termination in 2001 for abandoning his post in the Speaker’s Office for a card game in a nearby cloakroom, then lying about it to Internal Affairs Division investigators, Blaze News has learned.

The 2001 investigation of Michael L. Byrd, 56, was the first known disciplinary case brought against the lieutenant who crept from his blind near the doors to the Speaker’s Lobby on Jan. 6, 2021, and shot Babbitt to death. The 2001 incident is the fourth such disciplinary case disclosed since Nov. 20.

A source with detailed knowledge of the Internal Affairs Division case told Blaze News that Byrd was charged with abandoning his post, eating and drinking at his post, and lying to investigators — a terminable offense. It is one of three Byrd disciplinary cases for which records could not be found when a House oversight subcommittee requested them in early 2024, the source said.

Byrd was assigned to the Speaker’s Office of U.S. Rep. Denny Hastert (R-Ill.) on the evening in question. During his break, Byrd went to play cards in a cloak room near the House Chamber, the source said.

'He ends up getting into some trouble, but they won't terminate him.'

Byrd went to relieve the officer who covered Hastert’s office during Byrd’s break, but then abandoned his post and returned to the cloakroom to play cards, the source told Blaze News.

“Well, the sergeant walks by and was like, ‘Man, there’s nobody in the Speaker’s Office,’” said the source, who has worked in the top levels of U.S. Capitol Police administration. “This is a big issue.”

An internal investigation was opened.

“Of course, we have cameras everywhere and we track him walking off post, going back to the cloakroom,” the source said. “And we talked to the other people in there and he was in there playing cards.”

Investigators also found that Byrd was eating and drinking at his post in the Speaker’s Office, activities forbidden by department policy, the source said.

“Supposed to be a bit of the decorum there, but he’s sitting in a chair eating and drinking a soda, which is a big taboo, especially back then,” the source said. “It’s the Speaker’s Office.”

Investigators confronted Byrd with their findings. He denied it all.

“Mike denies that he was supposed to be assigned to the post,” the source told Blaze News. “So therefore he couldn’t abandon the post. He denied eating and denied drinking on the post.”

Investigators already had the evidence they needed, but they gave Byrd a chance to come clean, the source said.

“They told him — and this is what we do when we’re getting ready to charge somebody — ‘We know different, Mike. There are video cameras up there.’ Mike still denies it.”

Then-Lt. Michael L. Byrd shot Ashli Elizabeth Babbitt at 2:44 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, just as she leaned out a broken window into the House Speaker’s Lobby. As Byrd’s disciplinary record is being revealed in 2024, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said she wants Byrd charged with homicide.Photos by John Sullivan (left) and Aaron Babbitt

The USCP disciplinary officer recommended that Byrd be fired.

“So they charge him with eating, drinking on post, abandoning post,” the source said. “They charge him with untruthful statements with the recommendation to terminate.”

Even with the evidence and firing recommendation, Capitol Police administration did not part ways with Byrd.

“He ends up getting into some trouble, but they won’t terminate him,” the source said. “So therefore they didn’t want to move forward with the untruthful statements [charge], but that was still a sustained charge against him.”

The source questioned how records of the 2001 case and two other disciplinary cases brought against Byrd could be “missing,” as congressional investigators were told by the USCP in early 2024. There are too many intersecting emails and memos outside Byrd’s internal-affairs jacket for the record to be fully missing, the source said.

“That would’ve been documented so many different ways that it’d be impossible for them not to have it,” the source said.

“It’s funny to me that everyone knows Mike’s a liar and the case that sustains it that had all the evidence that shows he is a liar is something that Tad [DiBiase] and the department can’t find when there’s all these different records. If they just did a search on the emails, all this stuff, it would be in existence.”

Thomas A. “Tad” DiBiase is general counsel for U.S. Capitol Police.

Blaze News reached out to the Capitol Police and an attorney for Byrd but did not receive a reply by press time.

Concerns about promotion

As more details of Byrd’s work history emerge, a key Republican lawmaker expressed reservations about Byrd’s 2023 promotion to captain.

“I have concerns about this decision, given Byrd’s lengthy disciplinary history and the apparent political influence of internal operational decisions related to Byrd following January 6, 2021,” U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) wrote in a Nov. 20 letter to Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger.

Revelation of Byrd’s 2001 disciplinary case comes as congressional investigators disclosed the lengths Democrat lawmakers and Capitol Police went to after Jan. 6 to provide Byrd with income, security upgrades at his Maryland home, and months of free lodging at a secure military hotel at Joint Base Andrews in Prince George’s County, Md.

U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), shown here at a GOP leadership press event in Washington, D.C., Dec. 4, 2024, recently disclosed that several disciplinary cases had been filed over 20 years against Michael Byrd, the Capitol Police lieutenant who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Photo by NathanPosner/Anadolu via Getty Images

Records obtained by the Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight showed top House Democrats worked with DiBiase to find ways to help Byrd financially in the months after he shot and killed Babbitt at the Capitol. The records were first disclosed by journalist John Solomon and Just the News.

Byrd was given $36,000 in unrestricted funds as a “retention bonus” in 2021, while other Capitol Police officers received around $3,000 each. Byrd was reimbursed for more than $21,000 in security upgrades for his personal residence in Prince George’s County.

Capitol Police paid to house Byrd at the Joint Base Andrews military facility from July 2021 until late January 2022 at a cost of more than $35,000, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch Inc. When he left the base for any reason, Byrd was provided with a Capitol Police dignitary protection detail, which a source told Blaze News could easily cost $425 per hour.

'This is really bad for you all to do this when you know we’re expecting to have funds soon.'

DiBiase met with Jamie Fleet, staff director for then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), to discuss options to help Byrd, according to an email uncovered by congressional investigators. Pelosi had earlier said that she wanted Byrd “taken care of,” said a Blaze News source who directly witnessed the statement during a meeting.

DiBiase suggested that they could place Byrd at one of the department’s “continuity sites,” but that would require a top-secret clearance. Continuity sites are maintained to ensure that Capitol Police could continue to operate and communicate in the event of a catastrophe in Washington, D.C.

“We believe it would be very difficult for him to obtain one, give that he has had significant financial issues in the past and is currently on the USCP Lewis List,” DiBiase wrote.

The Lewis List is a confidential database of police officers who have disciplinary records and could face added scrutiny if they were called as witnesses in criminal cases.

Capitol Police considered assigning Byrd as head of security at the USCP Alternate Communications Facility, which is located outside the capital region. Under such a plan, Byrd could be awarded a per-diem payment for expenses. Sources told Blaze News that other Capitol Police officers assigned to the ACF have not been given per-diem payments.

Avoid fitness-for-duty test

DiBiase wrote that the USCP could help Byrd obtain mental health assistance, “but not move forward on a FFDE [fitness for duty evaluation] since a negative one could mean we should not allow him to carry our USCP-issued firearm if he is not fit to be a police officer.

“We believe it is more important for him to have his weapon and the ability to defend himself,” DiBiase wrote. “We have no indication Mike intends to harm himself and he has access to personal weapons, so even if we were to remove his weapon, there would still be some danger.”

According to Loudermilk’s Nov. 20 letter, the Capitol Police had planned to loan a shotgun to Byrd, but he failed the federal background check and did not qualify after shotgun training.

There was an early plan to provide Byrd with a payment from the Capitol Police Officers Memorial Fund, which was founded to honor fallen officers and support their survivors. Byrd expressed frustration that the fund was being opened to officers who were injured on Jan. 6.

“What you proposed could take months,” Byrd wrote in an email to DiBiase at 8:47 p.m. Nov. 16, 2021. “Our expectation was that this would be done soon. Now you’re telling me we got to wait for the rest of the department to even file claims, get evaluated and go through the process we have endured for months.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said she hopes incoming Attorney General Pam Bondi files murder charges against Capitol Police Capt. Michael Byrd, who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt outside the Speaker's Lobby on Jan. 6, 2021. Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images

“That is blatantly wrong to treat us like this,” Byrd wrote. “This was never proposed to us in this manner. Now we’re being grouped in with everyone else. Wow! This is really bad for you all to do this when you know we’re expecting to have funds soon. So disappointing!”

In a reply email one minute later, DiBiase was taken aback by Byrd’s attitude.

“I’m sorry you are disappointed,” DiBiase wrote. “I find that surprising since we have already provided you $36,000 in unrestricted retention funds. You know what the rest of the department is receiving? $3,000 each. Yes, you are being lumped in with the other 91 officers who suffered injuries that day. The Memorial Fund is for the entire department, not one officer.”

Byrd shot back 20 minutes later, “We play the game as you request and then once we’re in compliance you guys change the rules on us. If we were aware that our situation would be looped in with everyone on the department then we would have been better prepared.

“We were expecting this was for us and everyone else has their own situation,” Byrd wrote.

As a postscript, Byrd added: “Just so you know, my wife is vividly upset and in tears because of this news. We have to wait additionally for the fund and can’t get approval to start the GoFundMe. Happy Holidays!”

Byrd’s weapon was pointed directly at the back of U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas).

Word of the proposal to give Byrd a potentially hefty payment from the memorial fund spread around the department, and officers were not happy, said Gus Papathanasiou, chairman of the United States Capitol Police Labor Committee.

Papathanasiou said he expressed his opposition to the idea directly to acting Chief Yogananda Pittman. Rumors swirled around the department that Pittman wanted to give Byrd $400,000 from the memorial fund, he said.

“I brought it up in a formal meeting, and I had a couple of my board members with me,” Papathanasiou told Blaze News. “She looked at me like I had 10 heads. She wouldn’t agree or deny it that it happened or it was going to happen.

“Once we got wind of it and brought it to their attention, all of a sudden it kind of took them aback. They didn't expect it,” Papathanasiou said.

A GoFundMe account set up in November 2021 to benefit Byrd ended up raising $164,206 from 3,621 donors. One of the largest donations came from U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who chipped in $2,500. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), a member of the Jan. 6 Select Committee, donated $200.

“A worthy cause, as this man has faced quite an onslaught of misinformation and extreme threats,” Kinzinger posted on Twitter Nov. 18, 2021.

Byrd was notified by DiBiase on July 15, 2022, that he would not receive any payments from the Officers Memorial Fund. In an email reply a few hours later, Byrd said: “I will address on my own. USCP will not look good as a result.”

The department also looked at whether it could provide funding to Byrd to cover closing costs on the sale/purchase of a new home, according to the July 2021 DiBiase email.

Earlier discipline cases revealed

In November 2024, Loudermilk’s subcommittee disclosed several other disciplinary cases brought against Byrd since 2004.

Those included charges that he fired a weapon at fleeing vehicles near his home and provided an “inaccurate” account to investigators, claiming the vehicles were coming at him and attempting to run him over.

The Capitol Police Internal Affairs Division determined that Byrd violated use of force and use of weapons policies by discharging his service weapon in a “careless and imprudent manner.” Byrd appealed the finding to the Disciplinary Review Board, which overruled the OPR findings.

Questions have been raised about Byrd’s handling of his service weapon on Jan. 6, besides the fatal shooting. A news photo distributed by Getty Images shows Capitol Police plainclothes agents with their guns pointed at the main House door after rioters in the hallway outside broke out some of the door’s frosted panes of glass. The agents had their fingers straight along the barrels, above the triggers of their weapons.

U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd appears to have his finger on the trigger of his service weapon while walking on the U.S. House floor as rioters broke windows at the House entrance at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Graphic overlay by Blaze News

Byrd walked down the row of seats nearest the door with his finger on the trigger of his Glock handgun, the photo showed. He carried the Glock in his right hand at hip level and a package or similar object in his left hand.

Law enforcement officers are trained to keep their fingers off the trigger until they intend to fire and not point a weapon at any target they don’t intend to shoot.

Byrd’s weapon was pointed directly at the back of U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), who was defending the House entrance with a long wooden hand sanitizer stand. Four other plainclothes and uniformed police officers were in his vicinity at the time.

In 2015, Byrd was suspended without pay for seven days for an incident at a high school football game where Byrd berated an officer from the Montgomery County Police Department working security at the game, accusing him of being a “piece of sh*t” and a “racist a**hole.”

Byrd was suspended for 33 days without pay in 2019 for leaving his loaded service weapon in a bathroom in the Capitol Visitor Center. The gun was left unattended in the bathroom for some 55 minutes before it was discovered by another officer.

Byrd also has a long history of financial troubles, according to Maryland public records and federal court filings.

In August 2019, the federal government won a tax-lien judgment of $56,366 against Byrd in Prince George’s Circuit Court.

According to federal court records, Byrd filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy on March 9, 2009, and the case was converted to Chapter 7 bankruptcy in July 2010. Creditors filed $1.27 million in claims against Byrd. The case was discharged for $14,563.

Byrd also filed for bankruptcy in April 1999, and the case was discharged in July 1999. Archived U.S. Bankruptcy Court records do not indicate the amount of debt discharged in the case.

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