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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Hero or hoax? The real story behind Harry Dunn’s FBI interviews



My interest in former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn began on Oct. 6, 2022 — the third day of the first Oath Keepers trial at the U.S. District Courthouse in Washington, D.C.

Shortly after a recess and before the jury returned to the courtroom, lead prosecutor and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler approached the lectern. He informed U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta that Jonathon Moseley — a recently disbarred attorney — had threatened to release two confidential FBI documents known as “302s.”

Much of what Dunn described in his FBI interviews, congressional testimony, court appearances, and even his book and media tour simply didn’t happen.

Form FD-302 consists of written notes and recollections recorded by an FBI special agent following an interview. In this instance, Nestler referred to two 302s based on separate interviews with Officer Dunn. The FBI conducted the first interview in May 2021 and the second in August 2021.

Nestler stated that both forms remained sealed by the court and were labeled either “sensitive” or “highly sensitive.” Moseley, however, argued that the documents could now be released publicly because the House Select Committee on January 6 had introduced them as part of its proceedings.

What I saw looked like a pre-orchestrated performance between Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler and Judge Amit Mehta — the first of several such moments I witnessed during that trial. Mehta appeared furious at the idea that Moseley believed he could release something still under his seal.

I watched the exchange unfold from the media room on the first floor of the district courthouse. That room received live audio and video feeds from the courtroom upstairs, where the trial was taking place. On a typical day during the nine-week trial, 20 to 30 journalists gathered there to cover proceedings. It was the only place in the courthouse where we could use laptops and other electronic devices, which were banned in the courtroom itself.

Most reporters spent their time compiling notes for end-of-day write-ups. But a small group of us tweeted the proceedings in real time.

After Nestler informed the judge of Moseley’s threat to release the FBI 302s, Mehta responded in a way I had never seen before.

He turned his attention to the journalists in the media room and instructed us to “tweet out” a message directly to Moseley: If he released the 302s — or any other documents still protected under court seal — Mehta would hold him in contempt of court.

“He’ll find out,” the judge said.

What was in there?

The media room burst into laughter at Judge Mehta’s directive that we do his bidding and relay his warning. Within seconds, keyboards clattered as journalists rushed to compose their own versions of the judge’s threat, broadcasting it across social media.

Each day of the trial, I took my place in the back right corner of the media room. I was a newcomer among a group of seasoned courtroom reporters — an outsider observing the insiders. During the first two weeks, the courthouse remained under a COVID-19 masking mandate. From my seat, I could let my mask dangle from one ear without attracting much attention — or the disapproval of my more dutiful colleagues.

That vantage point also gave me a clear view of the room. I could watch what the other reporters were typing, observe their screens, and monitor how they shaped the narrative.

While they laughed and tweeted Mehta’s warning to Moseley, I kept my focus elsewhere. One question consumed my thoughts: What is in those two 302s?

What exactly did those two FBI forms contain that the prosecution — and the judge — didn’t want the jury or the American public to see?

One clue had already surfaced on social media. It came from Dunn’s May 18, 2021, FBI interview, cited in a pretrial motion filed by Stewart Rhodes’ attorney, Edward Tarpley. A footnote on page 12 of the filing quoted the following excerpt:

U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn informed all protestors they needed to leave and told the Oath Keepers that the protestors were fighting officers. The Oath Keepers advised Dunn they would help keep the protestors from the lower west terrace area. Dunn advised he allowed them to stand in front of him to help keep the protestors from getting down the stairs. Dunn left this area when he was relieved by USCP riot officers.
— FBI Interview of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, May 18, 2021, page 2, publicly disclosed by the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

This account — Dunn’s own description of his encounter with four Oath Keepers at the top of a Capitol staircase near the Rotunda — appeared to support their claim that they had helped de-escalate a volatile situation. Rather than confronting the officer, the Oath Keepers allegedly positioned themselves between Dunn and a more aggressive crowd, attempting to prevent further escalation.

I had to get my hands on those 302s — and eventually, I did.

Inventions and evasions

The second 302, based on Officer Harry Dunn’s August 16, 2021, interview with the FBI, told a very different story from the first. In that follow-up, Dunn completely reversed his account. He now claimed he never gave the four Oath Keepers permission to assist him at the top of the staircase. Instead, he described the interaction as hostile, saying they tried to force their way past him.

Dunn also invented a second encounter — this one taking place a floor below, in the crypt. In that version, he said another group, also wearing militia-style gear resembling the Oath Keepers’, attempted to position themselves between him and a more aggressive crowd of protesters.

The contrast between the two interviews raised more questions than answers.

Although I’ve never publicly released the two 302s, both proved invaluable. They offered critical details — and pointed me toward what to watch for once Congress finally granted journalists access to the long-promised 41,000 hours of Capitol CCTV footage from January 6.

Drawing from that surveillance footage, D.C. Metropolitan Police body-worn cameras, and other open-source videos released during various January 6 trials, Blaze Media has been able to confirm a troubling pattern: Much of what Harry Dunn described in his FBI interviews, congressional testimony, court appearances, and even his book and media tour simply didn’t happen.

Two weeks before the October 2023 release of his book, “Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officer's Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6th,” Dunn agreed to meet with me for an off-the-record conversation. We spent four hours together at the U.S. Capitol Arboretum.

Because the meeting was off the record, I can’t disclose anything Dunn said. But I came prepared with some frank and direct points of my own. By then, I had already spent days in the Capitol CCTV viewing room, combing through surveillance footage we would later call “A Day in the Life of Harry Dunn.” I had also read an advance copy of his book.

To say the video evidence and his personal narrative about January 6 don’t match is putting it mildly. It's the understatement of the century.

I shared with Dunn several specific examples where the video evidence directly contradicted his claims of heroism and derring-do on January 6. Eventually, he asked how I planned to write his story.

“Harry, the media, Congress, even the president — they’ve made you a national hero,” I told him. “But I can make you a real hero if you give me the names of those who pushed you to change your story about the Oath Keepers in that second FBI interview.”

After that, I walked him to his car. He said he’d think about it.

But he never gave me those names.

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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House Freedom Caucus to censure Al Green following Trump speech meltdown



The House Freedom Caucus wasted no time in censuring Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas on Wednesday after he repeatedly interrupted President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of congress Tuesday night.

Just minutes into Trump's historic address, Green stood up and waved his cane from the House floor, shouting, "You have no mandate!" After he ignored a warning from Speaker Mike Johnson, the sergeant at arms removed Green from the House chamber.

'Democrats are clearly still coping with the fact that their policies don’t work and the American people don’t trust them anymore.'

"The President's address to tonight’s joint session of Congress is a constitutional obligation — not a sideshow for Democrats to use noisemakers, make threats, throw things or otherwise disrupt," HFC said in a statement ahead of the address.

Speaker Johnson directs the Sergeant-at-Arms to restore order and remove Democrat Rep. Al Green from the chamber: pic.twitter.com/Lx6pvCMYOR
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) March 5, 2025

"Our colleagues are on notice that the heckler's veto will not be tolerated," the statement continued. "You will be censured. We expect the Sergeant at Arms and Capitol Police to take appropriate action against any Members of Congress or other persons violating House rules.”

The following morning, HFC confirmed that it will introduce a resolution to censure Green following his stunt.

"Rep. Al Green should be censured for his childish behavior on the House floor last night," Republican Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona, a HFC member, said Wednesday. "Democrats are clearly still coping with the fact that their policies don’t work and the American people don’t trust them anymore. HFC members are drafting a censure resolution."

Other Republicans have also drafted their own resolutions to censure Green, including Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas and Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington.

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Watch: Alex Stein BRUTALLY TROLLS Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw — ‘Such a little loser!’



Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R), who is currently under fire for apparently threatening to kill Tucker Carlson, was recently paid a visit by BlazeTV host and king of trolls Alex Stein.

Crenshaw, or “Eye-Patch McCain,” as Tucker likes to call him, was none too pleased with Alex’s public confrontation. His reaction to being called out on his globalist agenda, weak conservative values, and uniparty politics can only be described as unhinged.

“Dan, you’re just such a little loser,” said Alex, following Crenshaw down the street.

Crenshaw then lunged forward to slap the camera.

“Look, you’re too slow!” laughed Alex, before making fun of Crenshaw for being smaller than him.

“You’re a sad little boy,” Alex said.

A heated exchange then commenced in which Alex accused Crenshaw of “giving more money to Ukraine” when “we have so many issues here in America,” especially “an invasion at our border.”

“You’re disgusting!” said a ruffled Crenshaw.

“He cares more about Ukraine than he does about America, so you're a globalist. Why don't you take care of America? You don't care. That's your problem, Dan — you don't care about America; you don't care about Texas,” Alex fired back, continuing to follow Crenshaw down the street.

“You’re a globalist; you’re a traitor; you’re a dwarf,” Alex said, when Crenshaw refused to address any of the legitimate issues he brought up.

And that’s when the Capitol Police stepped in.

To see the footage, watch the clip above.

Want more from Alex Stein?

To enjoy more of Alex's culture jamming, comedic monologues, skits, and street segments, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Jan. 6 case dismissed 40 days after judge found Luke Coffee guilty of 'assault' on Officer Lila Morris



Texas filmmaker Luke Coffee took a direct blow to the left arm from Metropolitan Police Department Officer Lila Morris on Jan. 6, 2021, yet it was Coffee who was found guilty of assaulting the notorious D.C. officer who seconds later savagely beat Rosanne Boyland with a hardened walking stick, multiple videos viewed by Blaze News showed.

Forty days later, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ordered the case dismissed with prejudice on a motion from the U.S. Department of Justice — now controlled by President Donald J. Trump — drafted by acting U.S. Attorney Edward Martin.

“This journey has been about so much more than ourselves,” Coffee told Blaze News after his case was dismissed. “It has been about standing firm for truth, even when the odds seemed insurmountable. It has been about shining a light on the humanity and dignity of the 1,500-plus J6ers who have endured unimaginable struggles.

“For four years, our lives were turned upside down, and yet, through it all, God has been working — restoring, redeeming, and preparing us for this very moment.”

'Luke Coffee might be dead today, but by the grace of God he was pulled to safety.'

Hero or perpetrator?

At a Dec. 13 hearing to announce the verdicts in Coffee’s bench trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mindy Deranek lionized Morris as a “hero,” a “victim,” and a “valued member of the community” who was honored by the U.S. government for her Jan. 6 actions.

Deranek claimed that Boyland died of an “overdose.”

She failed to mention that the medical examiner’s cause of death — acute amphetamine intoxication from a legal Adderall prescription for ADHD — is hotly contested by the Boyland family. The Boylands’ forensic pathologist ruled that the death was caused by compression asphyxiation and said the amphetamine salts in her system from the prescription medication did not cause her death.

Three hundred twenty-four days after his bench trial before Judge Contreras ended, Coffee was found guilty of civil disorder; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon; trespassing with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

Coffee, 45, of Dallas, was found not guilty of disorderly conduct in a capitol building. Two other charges had been previously dropped by prosecutors.

Metropolitan Police Department Officer Lila Morris winds up with a wooden walking stick to strike protester Luke Coffee and a lifeless Rosanne Boyland outside the Lower West Terrace Tunnel at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.U.S. Department of Justice/Metropolitan Police Department body cam

One of Coffee’s defense attorneys, Carolyn Stewart, said the DOJ moved to have Coffee immediately taken into custody Dec. 13, but Judge Contreras refused.

“The vindictive AUSA Deranek said she wanted to ‘put lies to bed’ while instead further defaming and lying about Lila Morris’ illegal use of lethal force against Boyland and Coffee,” Stewart told Blaze News. “Appallingly, she said the dishonorable Morris was a ‘hero’ who was ‘honored by the government’ for her heroic fighting.

“I felt like vomiting at the lies that the murderer Morris is being called a hero,” Stewart said.

Morris was one of three MPD officers feted as Jan. 6 heroes by the National Football League at Super Bowl LV in Tampa — along with Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges.

“Yes, the lying, unscrupulous DOJ calls the cowardly murder of the woman driven to unconsciousness by the MPD’s illegitimate use of OC [pepper] spray and tear gas in a confined space with no escape route — where the MPD caused a stampede and Morris then beat the unconscious Rosanne — as ‘heroic,’” Stewart said.

Morris and the officers who employed gas in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel about 4:20 p.m. should be tried for murder in Boyland’s death, Stewart said.

“Luke Coffee might be dead today, but by the grace of God he was pulled to safety after being sprayed into unconsciousness by murderers,” she said.

'Stacked two-three deep'

Nearly four years later, Boyland’s death still looms over Jan. 6 like a storm cloud.

She had just wandered into the tunnel at 4:18 p.m. when police released a gas that bystanders said sucked the oxygen out of the air. An officer just inside the doors at the back of the tunnel started firing high-velocity projectiles, including pepper balls — one of which struck Boyland and caused her to fall, witnesses and her parents have said.

The panic from the gas and an aggressive push-out by police with shields caused protesters to spill from the tunnel like a waterfall, with many tumbling down the concrete steps, only to be crushed by layers of bodies, video shows.

“I put my arm underneath her and was pulling her out, and then another guy fell on top of her, and another guy was just walking [on top of her],” Boyland’s friend Justin Winchell told an Atlanta television station in 2021. “There were people stacked two-three deep … people just crushed.”

Capitol Police security video and open-source video from those who surrounded the mouth of the tunnel showed that Coffee stepped front and center and implored police to stop. He had earlier faced the crowd and repeatedly implored them to “Stop!” and “Pray!”

Luke Coffee was repeatedly doused with pepper spray by police outside the Lower West Terrace Tunnel at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Capitol Police CCTV/Blaze News Graphic

Coffee was targeted with heavy streams of pepper spray at least eight times, according to defense attorneys Stewart and Anthony Sabatini.

Morris, who had worked her way to the front of the tunnel and was crouched behind a bystander trying to escape, picked a wooden walking stick from the ground and used it as a weapon rather than employ her department-issued riot stick, video showed.

Morris used a two-handed overhead swing — a defense attorney described the swing “as if using an axe” — to strike Coffee in the left elbow with the walking stick, video showed. She swung at Coffee again but missed.

Then, inexplicably, Morris turned her fury on the lifeless Boyland, who was turning purple from hypoxia. With a two-handed overhead swing, Morris delivered three blows to Boyland’s body in quick succession, striking her head, face, and ribs, video showed.

The beating was so furious that the walking stick flew out of Morris’ hands during the fourth swing, bounced off the top of the archway, and see-sawed onto the ground six feet away.

Metropolitan Police Department Officer Lila Morris strikes protester Luke Coffee at the mouth of the Lower West Terrace Tunnel at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Video shows Morris then used the wooden walking stick to attack unconscious protester Rosanne Boyland.Metropolitan Police Department: Officer Lila Morris body cam

During cross-examination at Coffee’s trial, Morris said Coffee did not assault her. She said she was trying to defend herself against a man behind Coffee and to his left who wielded a “long stick.”

“Did the man in the center with the cowboy hat ever strike you?” defense attorney Stewart asked.

“Not that I recall,” Morris replied.

Stewart asked the officer how she was trained to use a riot stick.

'I can make sure she is never forgotten.'

“Are you ever trained to hold it like a bat and strike it over somebody's head?” Stewart asked.

“No,” Morris answered.

After she lost the walking stick, Morris turned her back on the crowd and was shortly pulled inside by other MPD officers, video showed. She was carried, kicking and flailing, into the Capitol basement hallway, saying, “I can’t breathe!” bodycam video and Capitol CCTV recordings showed.

Morris was approached by MPD Officer Anthony Walsh, who said, “Take a minute to catch your breath. … Were you pulled out into the crowd?”

“I was in the front. They were pulling me, but they kept jabbing my face with something, hit me, and I couldn’t … I lost my breath and couldn’t breathe,” Morris said just prior to 4:34 p.m., according to Walsh’s bodycam video.

Video showed that no one attempted to pull Morris into the crowd, but a man wearing orange ski goggles repeatedly attempted to smack her with what appeared to be a long wooden dowel. One of the thrusts struck Morris in the face shield, video showed.

Protester Luke Coffee of Dallas holds up a crutch in what he says was an attempt to create a separation between police and the crowd outside the Lower West Terrace Tunnel at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.U.S. Capitol Police CCTV

Coffee twice held up his hand in a “stop” gesture. Coffee picked up a 1.6-pound aluminum crutch and held it over his head. He said it was an effort to make himself as large as possible to be a barrier between police and the crowd.

Security video showed Coffee held the crutch over his head for nine seconds before lowering it to waist level and pushing into the police line like a snowplow. He drove the entire line of officers back and stayed pressed against the front line for 20 seconds, according to prosecutors. After he slipped and fell, Coffee “charged” the line a second time, the DOJ argued.

The body cam of MPD Officer Steven Sajumon shows that once Coffee got back on his feet, he took what appeared to be two quick steps toward Sajumon with the crutch held in front. Coffee said he was blind from being doused with pepper spray. The officer put his right hand on Coffee’s head, pushed him back, and said, “We’re good.”

Coffee said he then tried to switch the crutch into his left hand. Prosecutors claimed it was a “swing” at Sajumon that constituted assault. The officer’s body cam shows his right hand on the tip of the crutch when he said, “We’re good, we’re good.” Judge Contreras found the interaction constituted felony assault by Coffee.

Coffee told Blaze News that Officer Sajumon snapped him out of fight-or-flight mode when he patted him on the head and said, “We’re good.” Coffee then stumbled away, collapsed, and fell unconscious to the ground.

Aaron James and Isaac Westbury help Luke Coffee of Dallas after Coffee fell inside the Lower West Terrace Tunnel at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. A short time later, Coffee collapsed and was dragged down the stairs.Metropolitan Police Department body cam

Bodycam video shows Coffee in a supine position being dragged down the steps from the tunnel at 4:29 p.m. Coffee said he was unconscious during this time, until bystanders helped to revive him.

Lindsey Graham, a social media influencer who is known as the Patriot Barbie, testified in Coffee’s trial that when she encountered Coffee at the bottom of the steps, his eyes were swollen shut and he was in serious pain.

“He appeared to me somewhere within a few feet of me, with his face kind of red and swollen and his eyes closed, and he looked in need of help,” Graham said, according to the court transcript. “… What made me notice him was that he looked like he was in distress. He was sweating and crying, and his eyes were closed and his face was red and inflamed.”

Graham said she found bottled water that Coffee used to rinse his eyes, but that didn’t bring relief. Blake McAlavy offered Coffee a bottle of thick green juice to use as a rinse, she said.

“Blake had some kind of green juice in his pocket that he had brought, and he gave Luke some green juice, hoping to help him as well.”

Coffee never struck Officer Morris

Officer Morris testified that Coffee did not touch her with the aluminum crutch, but she felt squeezed in the crowd of officers and had trouble breathing.

At trial, defense attorney Stewart asked, “So the crutch does not hit you?”

“No, it doesn’t hit me,” Morris said.

“Okay,” Stewart replied. “I wanted to check here, because we’re, we’re charged with contact assault.”

At the Dec. 13, 2024, verdict reading, Judge Contreras found Coffee guilty of seven counts, including felony assault on two police officers with the aluminum crutch he picked up off the ground. He found Coffee not guilty on one misdemeanor charge.

'Let’s put these lies to rest right now.'

Judge Contreras ruled that the aluminum crutch qualified as a dangerous weapon and asserted that it was Coffee’s intent to injure officers by pressing them back with the crutch.

Contreras said he did not believe Coffee acted out of concern for Boyland, and he claimed Coffee did not help Boyland get moved to safety after she was struck by Officer Morris.

“Other rioters moved Ms. Boyland out of the tunnel area seconds before Mr. Coffee charged the officers in the tunnel,” Contreras said, “thus highlighting that his attack on the officers in the tunnel was not reasonable or necessary with respect to defending Ms. Boyland, who, by that time, was out of the tunnel and off to the side, well out of harm’s way.”

Luke Coffee holds up a crutch to create separation between police and protesters while bystanders pulled an unconscious Rosanne Boyland to safety outside the Lower West Terrace Tunnel at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Metropolitan Police Department body cam

Video shows, however, that bystanders who rescued Boyland after the beating by Morris pulled her to safety simultaneously to Coffee raising the crutch over his head.

The judge did not mention the beating that Morris doled out to the dying Boyland.

Judge Contreras allowed prosecutor Deranek to put her arguments into the record as to why Coffee should be jailed.

Deranek ripped Coffee and social media commentators for claiming Morris caused Boyland’s death. Deranek contended that online discussion of Morris’ actions made the officer a victim again, in addition to Coffee’s alleged assault on her.

“Let’s put these lies to rest right now,” Deranek said, according to the trial transcript. “Officer Morris had nothing to do with Roseanne [sic] Boyland’s death. Roseanne Boyland was not killed by Officer Morris or any of the other officers defending the Capitol that day. She died of a tragic overdose.”

Deranek then blamed Coffee for the fact that police did not render aid to Boyland. Relying on a New York Times video analysis, Deranek said, “It was in fact the defendant’s actions that prevented the officers from rendering her aid as she lay dying.”

The only contact any police officer had with Boyland before she was pulled into the Capitol was Morris and the wooden walking stick she used to strike the unconscious Boyland in the head, face, and ribs, video showed.

Luke Coffee rinses out his eyes after being doused with pepper spray by police in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Coffee said even though he wore sunglasses, his eyes and the skin around them sustained especially painful burns.Photos by Blake McAlavy (1986-2022)

Bodycam video, CCTV, and video from media and bystanders showed that no police officers moved to aid Boyland that afternoon, even when bystanders begged and pleaded and said Boyland was dying. Officers pushed more people from the tunnel on top of Boyland, who was crushed under the pileup, bodycam video showed.

Sheriff’s deputy Ronald Colton McAbee repeatedly pointed at Boyland when he stepped in front of the police line just before Coffee arrived.

“Quit f**king trying to kill that girl!” McAbee shouted at officers, according to MPD bodycam video. “F**king stop!”

The same argument used on Coffee was made against McAbee: that he prevented police from helping Boyland. Video from police body cameras, Capitol Police CCTV, and bystanders showed, however, that McAbee repeatedly tried to get officers to help Boyland, who lay a few feet from police.

The DOJ contention only added to the pain McAbee still experiences over Boyland’s death.

“Her name will live on as long as there is breath in my lungs,” McAbee wrote to Boyland’s parents just after his trial. “There will be justice for her. I couldn’t bring her back, but I can make sure she is never forgotten.”

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Trump confirms inauguration will take place indoors



President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20 will be moved indoors due to weather conditions, according to a Friday announcement on Truth Social.

Trump's swearing-in ceremony, as well as all other inaugural addresses and speeches, will instead take place inside the Capitol rotunda on Monday.

'Everyone will be safe, everyone will be happy, and we will, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!'

"It is my obligation to protect the People of our Country but, before we even begin, we have to think of the Inauguration itself," Trump said. "The weather forecast in Washington, D.C., with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows. There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don't want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way."

The last president to be sworn in indoors was Ronald Reagan in 1985 due to severe temperatures. Reagan similarly took his oath of office inside the Capitol rotunda, and the inaugural parade was canceled.

"Therefore, I have ordered the Inauguration Address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the United States Capitol Rotunda, as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985, also because of very cold weather," Trump added. "The various Dignitaries and Guests will be brought into the Capitol. This will be a very beautiful experience for all, and especially for the large TV audience!"

Trump also announced that the Capital One Arena, the venue for his victory rally on Sunday, will be opened on Monday for a live viewing of the inauguration and to host the presidential parade. Following his swearing in, Trump will join the crowd at Capital One.

"Everyone will be safe, everyone will be happy, and we will, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" Trump said.

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Blaze News original: Christian fighting for free speech scores major victory, displays Nativity scene on US Capitol steps



A former pastor who has been fighting against restrictions on First Amendment freedoms scored a major legal victory earlier this year, prompting him to set up a Nativity scene on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building, a peaceful demonstration that would have gotten him arrested just a few short months ago, he told Blaze News.

At noon on December 10, Rev. Patrick Mahoney — a reformed Presbyterian minister who has spent the last 32 years as the director the Christian Defense Coalition based in Washington, D.C. — brought statues representing baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the wise men, and even a few animals and arranged them on the southeastern steps of the U.S. Capitol, the area K-LOVE described as "the House of Representatives side."

Then Mahoney; his wife of 51 years, Katie; and only three other guests were then able to gather round, read some scripture verses, and sing Christmas carols without fear of reprisal from law enforcement. The event lasted for about an hour.

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According to Mahoney, this Nativity scene was a historic moment as it marked the first time ever that a Nativity scene was put on display on the steps of the Capitol.

"We read the Christmas story. We prayed for our country. We stressed how important the message of hope and peace that Jesus brought ... through his birth was open to all humanity," Mahoney told Blaze News. "We prayed for our government. We prayed for the new incoming government."

"So we celebrated the birth of Christ as the most significant moment in world history," he continued.

"We rejoiced in that."

The fight for the First Amendment

In the land of the free and the home of the brave, where freedoms regarding speech and religious expressions are enshrined into the Constitution, such peaceful events held in our nation's capital should hardly be remarkable. But Rev. Mahoney knows better, understanding that such liberties have been readily sacrificed in recent years in the name of safety and security.

The first major event that curtailed civil liberties in D.C. was 9/11. Shortly after the attacks, which included a deadly attack on the nearby Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol Police decided to prevent Americans from demonstrating at the Capitol building, according to Eric Sell, an attorney with the Center for American Liberty, which represents Mahoney.

"It's roughly 250 feet circle all around the Capitol building, which includes the eastern steps, and it's totally off limits to demonstration activity," Sell explained to Blaze News.

'No person or group of any size may engage in demonstration activity on the steps of the United States Capitol.'

For more than two decades, Capitol Police did not change that policy. In fact, they worked to enhance restrictions even further after January 6, 2021.

Mahoney learned firsthand just how strictly those enhanced restrictions were enforced. In April 2021, just a few short months after the riot at the Capitol, Mahoney tried to host a prayer vigil on Good Friday as he had in previous years — and was soon arrested.

Photo shared with Blaze News. Used with permission

Mahoney was charged with unlawful assembly and later paid an estimated fine of $125. The heightened security restrictions on the steps at the Capitol building remained in place though, effectively prohibiting regular Americans from speaking openly outside a government building they paid for with their taxes.

"It had just been members of Congress who were able to use the Capitol steps virtually whenever they wanted to," Sell said. "And what they would do is they would often invite their allies up there with them."

"But members of the public couldn't do that," Sell added.

Traffic Regulations released by the Capitol Police Board in January 2024 reiterated the restrictions regarding the Capitol steps:

"No person or group of any size may engage in demonstration activity on the steps of the United States Capitol, on the steps of any building on Capitol Grounds or in any area otherwise closed or restricted for official use."

Mahoney refused to accept the ongoing suspension of American civil liberties and sued the Capitol Police Board to end the restrictions. The process to end the regulations was long but quite successful.

"After 18 months, we secured the right back to peaceful demonstrations, back to free speech activities, our Good Friday services," he told Blaze News, "but there was one area that still we were seeking free speech rights on, and that were the Capitol steps."

Mahoney's determination to reclaim that critically important public area eventually paid off earlier this year. In May, James Boasberg, the chief judge of the D.C. District Court who was appointed by Obama, ruled that "the ban on all non-sponsored speech on the eastern steps" of the U.S. Capitol was "unconstitutional."

Sell told Blaze News that this decision formally classified the eastern steps of the Capitol as "a traditional public forum" where First Amendment rights are strongly protected.

"It's much harder for the government to prohibit speech that's in a traditional public forum," Sell explained. "And having the Capitol steps be determined by a federal court to be a traditional public forum is an incredible victory for free speech because that means people are allowed to go there and express their messages."

While Capitol Police and other government officials "can still require permits and have other kind of regulations," Sell continued, they can no longer "prohibit speech there outright like they have been doing since 2001."

Mahoney said that the Capitol steps are "the people's house" and that the people, not just congressmen and their "lobbyist" friends, have a right to express themselves and their religious beliefs there without fear.

"It doesn't belong to an elite group of the political class, but every citizen, whatever their views or values are, should have the right to freely go to the United States Capitol and air them."

The Capitol Police Board did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

A 'decisive legal victory' — and yet ...

Shortly after Judge Boasberg issued the ruling, Rev. Mahoney knew how he would would celebrate it: by hosting a Christmas celebration in December complete with a Nativity scene and carol-singing. Mahoney indicated to Blaze News that the eastern steps were ground zero for "the war on Christmas."

"Having this event on the steps of the Capitol — the most powerful public forum, the most powerful public place in the world — if we can come and worship freely there and celebrate Christmas there and express our religious freedoms there, then we've won the war on Christmas and the war on Christmas is over," he said.

Other Christians and Christian organizations view the ruling and the Nativity scene at the Capitol building similarly.

Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, director of the Conscience Project, told Blaze News:

The Nativity display set up on the steps of the US Capitol building by the Christian Defense Coalition — a group of private citizens — is a wonderful expression of the freedoms all Americans enjoy. Peaceful demonstrations in places traditionally considered public forums don’t lack their protection under the Constitution because they have a religious character. All defenders of treasured American freedoms, whether they are Christian or not, should celebrate that this one battle in the “War on Christmas” has been won.

In a statement to Blaze News, Erika Ahern, associate editor for CatholicVote and the LOOP, said:

In this historic first, we see a sign of Christmas joy and hope for our great nation. Public displays of the Nativity of Jesus acknowledge the central role of religion in American history, as well as the reality that the majority of Americans honor Christ at Christmas. Much is made of our political divisions, but the display of the Holy Family is a sign that America is healing.

Sell likewise described the ruling as "incredible" and as a "decisive legal victory."

'If we did this eight months ago or last Christmastime, we would have been arrested.'

Unfortunately, the ruling still has one major restriction attached to it. Even though Judge Boasberg found that forbidding free speech on the eastern steps was "unconstitutional," he nevertheless agreed to severely limit the number of people who can exercise their First Amendment rights there, at least for the time being.

In fact, only Mahoney and four of his friends are permitted to participate until the new administration is inaugurated next month.

"The government had asked the district court to stay the injunction with respect to everyone except for Patrick Mahoney," Sell told Blaze News. "[The judge] was concerned that the government raised legitimate concerns about safety from the election until the inauguration."

Though only five total people could officially participate in the Christmas event, plenty of tourists enjoyed it so much that they stopped to take selfies with Mahoney, his wife, and the Nativity figures.

"People loved it," Mahoney said with pride. "They really rejoiced in it."

Photo shared with Blaze News. Used with permission.

Sell described the temporary restriction as "ridiculous" and noted that even the American Civil Liberties Union was incensed about it and wanted to get involved.

"We've had some conversations with the D.C. chapter of the ACLU," Sell said. "They are interested in this case. They support Reverend Mahoney, and they support the public's right to speak on the Capitol steps. It sounds like they may submit an amicus brief in support of us on appeal."

Though Mahoney said he does not often see eye to eye with the ACLU, he appreciates the organization's willingness to stand with him in the fight for free speech. Sell indicated that an amicus brief from the organization could influence the courts.

"Having them file a brief in support we think helps because it shows that this isn't something that's confined to the ideological right or the ideological left," Sell said. "People across the spectrum believe in free speech in this country, and the fact that you have the ACLU coming in and filing a brief shows that this is about free speech. It's not about right-wing or left-wing ideology."

The ACLU did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

For now, Mahoney is just grateful that a federal judge, an Obama appointee no less, sided in favor of the First Amendment.

"If we did this eight months ago or last Christmastime, we would have been arrested," he said.

Despite the progress, Mahoney warns Christians and all Americans of good will not to become complacent about their civil liberties.

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," Mahoney said, quoting an inscription on a sculpture at the National Archives in D.C. "And I think particularly the faith community needs to take that to heart, that we must continually speak out and fight to ensure that every American is free to express their religious views and beliefs and values in the public square, how they raise their children, how they conduct their lives, without government harassment or opposition."

He also indicated to Blaze News that he is optimistic that the First Amendment is in better hands with President-elect Donald Trump than it would have been under Vice President Kamala Harris, who he suggested has "animus and hostility toward people of faith."

"I think one of the key undercurrents, like in the election, obviously immigration, crime, the economy were key issues," Mahoney said. "But I think bubbling under that for the 80% of evangelicals who voted for President Trump was the sense that our religious freedoms would be protected."

"One of the most dangerous things in America is when our federal law enforcement is turned against their own citizens, especially people of faith," he added, referencing the peaceful pro-life protesters jailed under the Biden-Harris administration.

"It's dangerous."

H/T: The Patrick Madrid Show

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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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