The corporate media has earned a reputation for ignoring, downplaying, or outright denying stories that challenge its ideological leanings — from the lab-leak theory of COVID-19 to the obvious decline in President Joe Biden’s mental and physical fitness. These stories eventually became impossible to deny. But in many cases, the recognition came too late to matter.

So far, that reckoning hasn’t come for the United States Capitol Police.

'The corruption persists because of what they know about bad Congress members and their bad behaviors.'

For years, allegations of corruption have dogged the USCP. Yet, local and national media outlets continue to turn a blind eye — even after an officer with a scandal-ridden history was named interim chief of the department.

Last year, Blaze News investigative reporter Steve Baker published a detailed exposé uncovering deep-rooted misconduct within the USCP. His report alleged theft of government funds, perjury, fraud, and forgery involving high-ranking officers. Among the most damning revelations: Former Captain Sean Gallagher and two lieutenants under his command reportedly participated in a 2010 overtime scam.

Gallagher allegedly forged his supervisor’s signature on overtime forms, according to a 2012 internal investigation by the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility. He later claimed the forgery “never resulted in personal gain.” That revelation built on a 2014 National Journal report about the overtime abuse, though the earlier article did not name the officers involved.

Despite the seriousness of the allegations and the clarity of the documentation, Baker’s story received little to no attention from other media. Not even Washington-based outlets like the Washington Post or WUSA9 reported on the claims.

“Why is it that Blaze Media has done an exclusive on multiple cases of Capitol Police corruption, and the other media — especially the local media, who should be holding local agencies accountable — are ignoring the story?” Baker said in an interview.

U.S. Capitol Police Acting Chief of Police Sean Gallagher. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

That silence has consequences. As media scrutiny wanes, institutional accountability weakens — and careers flourish despite serious allegations.

On June 2, the U.S. Capitol Police announced Gallagher would serve as interim chief. Despite the prior disciplinary record, Gallagher has continued to ascend the department’s ranks. The appointment drew immediate criticism from within the agency.

The U.S. Capitol Police Labor Committee, which represents officers on the force, issued a rare rebuke, stating Gallagher “fails to meet the standard of trust and integrity required” to lead. Their public opposition stirred some interest among local reporters, but national media coverage remained scarce.

Departing Chief J. Thomas Manger defended the promotion, arguing Gallagher’s familiarity with the department outweighed past controversy. “If they pick someone from the inside, they’re going to know what our mission is,” Manger said before retiring. He accused the union of orchestrating a “smear campaign.”

Still, the union’s resistance had an effect. Within days, the department appointed Michael Sullivan, former acting police chief in Phoenix, to take over the USCP permanently.

'It has far-ranging implications. The Capitol Police are charged with protecting every member of Congress. And yet no one wants to cover it.'

But for Baker, the deeper problem remains unaddressed.

“These cops know where all the bodies are buried,” he said. “The corruption persists because of what they know about bad Congress members and their bad behaviors.”

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Baker pointed to former Assistant Chief Yogananda Pittman, who was accused of intentional inaction during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol protests. She later landed a chief position at the University of California, Berkeley.

Too often, he said, officers with serious black marks on their records go on to secure law enforcement jobs elsewhere — thanks, in part, to systemic failures in reporting misconduct.

“All of these bad actors in law enforcement, when they have these types of disciplinary actions against them, that is supposed to be reported to a national database called the Lewis Registry,” Baker explained.

The Lewis Registry serves two critical functions: alerting prospective employers of past disciplinary actions and making such records accessible to defense attorneys if an officer testifies in court.

In Baker’s view, the Capitol Police scandals should concern more than just local watchdogs or city beat reporters.

“This is not just a local D.C. story,” he said. “It has far-ranging implications. The Capitol Police are charged with protecting every member of Congress. And yet no one wants to cover it.”

The U.S. Capitol Police, the Washington Post, and WUSA9 did not respond to Blaze News' requests for comment.

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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.

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.

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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Controversial assistant chief embroiled in 2010 fraud scandal named acting Capitol Police chief

Sean P. Gallagher, the assistant U.S. Capitol Police chief who became embroiled in a time-card fraud scheme in 2010 and was blamed by a top department commander for disastrous inaction in the USCP Command Center on Jan. 6, has been named acting chief of the department.

The U.S. Capitol Police Board made the appointment as the search begins for a permanent replacement for just-retired Chief J. Thomas Manger. The three-member board includes the House and Senate sergeants at arms and the architect of the Capitol. The police chief serves as a non-voting member.

'Supervisors are held to a lower standard, even when the conduct is criminal.'

Gallagher’s appointment as acting chief will most likely not lead to him being offered the permanent job, according to Capitol Hill sources who spoke with Blaze News on the condition of anonymity. Still, his appointment was described by several police sources as a morale-killer among the rank and file.

Gallagher has drawn fire throughout his nearly 25 years with U.S. Capitol Police, including a felony-level time-cardfraud case that involved him forging the signature of a USCP inspector in order to file bogus overtime claims, internal documents show.

Gallagher was one of the subjects of a scathing Jan. 6 whistleblower letter that alleged that he and the then-chief "simply watched, mostly with their hands in their laps" while officers fought for their lives across Capitol grounds after tens of thousands of protesters surrounded the building.

“It’s the white shirts that are so corrupt,” one source told Blaze News on June 2. “They’re the ones who almost got us killed on January 6.”

Acting Capitol Police Chief Sean Gallagher joined the department in 2001. His tenure has been marred by controversy.Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images

The move to place Gallagher in the top spot was most likely intended as a resume pad to help him move on to another law enforcement department or agency, sources said.

Manger, who joined as chief in July 2021 and retired May 30, oversaw massive budget growth in the wake of Jan. 6. He submitted a budget request to the current Congress for nearly $1 billion.

Manger’s final six months in office were marred by high-profile security failures. In January 2025, a man was admitted through the Capitol Visitors Center checkpoint armed with a 9mm handgun hidden in his waistband. The man was later detained after he exited the Library of Congress.

On March 4, a congressional staff member who attempted to bring a loaded handgun through a security checkpoint told Capitol Police that he successfully brought the weapon through security the day before.

Manger blamed the security lapses on “the hardest kind of failure to address: human failure.”

Former Capitol Police Lt. Tarik K. Johnson, who was suspended for nearly 18 months after Jan. 6 by former acting Chief Yogananda Pittman and the Office of Professional Responsibility, said if Gallagher is named permanent chief, the truth about Jan. 6 will never come out.

“If he gets the position permanently, January 6th will go down in history as an insurrection caused by President Trump,” Johnson wrote on X, “as Gallagher will ensure nothing comes out that would disturb the insurrection narrative.”

Johnson was one of the first officials to call out the Jan. 6 inaction of Gallagher and Pittman that he said endangered House and Senate members as the Capitol was overrun. The leadership vacuum in the Command Center delayed evacuations and set up the conditions leading to the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt just outside the Speaker’s Lobby, Johnson has said.

Capitol Police radio transmissions show that Johnson pleaded for permission to evacuate the U.S. Senate just before 1:30 p.m. that day, but was greeted by complete silence from the Command Center. Johnson eventually acted on his own, rushing senators and staff to safety just as an angry crowd moved toward the main Senate entrance.

Johnson’s suspension was officially because he wore a red Make America Great Again ball cap as he moved in and out of the crowds on Jan. 6. Johnson counters that the real reason for his discipline and demotion was that his decisions exposed the failures of senior leaders assigned as area commanders for the Capitol that day.

Gallagher’s appointment is a head-scratcher, sources said, given a checkered history that includes sustained charges of felony-level time-card fraud in 2010 that cost taxpayers at least $10,000.

Overtime fraud discovered

Documents obtained by Blaze News in 2024 showed that Gallagher was recommended for termination for a time-card fraud scheme involving himself and two lieutenants under his command.

According to Rhoda Henderson, a retired USCP sergeant and whistleblower, the other participants in the fraud scheme included Deputy Chief John Erickson and former Lt. Wendy Colmore, who left the department in 2015 for a post in the U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms office.

According to Office of Professional Responsibility disciplinary records obtained by Blaze News, Gallagher forged his supervisor’s signature on overtime pay submissions, using a different color pen for the forged signature from the one he used for his own. The fraud scheme was discovered in 2010 and sparked a long investigation.

An OPR memo dated Dec. 18, 2013, recommended Gallagher’s termination “for having defrauded the government of more than $10,000.”

U.S. Capitol Police Assistant Chief Sean Gallagher testifies during the House Committee on Administration Subcommittee on Oversight hearing on March 12, 2024.Photo by Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images

“The offense is egregious and, absent any mitigating factors, warrants nothing less than termination,” the memo read. “This offense was willful and frequent, occurring on eight occasions. Captain Gallagher misrepresented his times, forged his supervisor’s signature on overtime authorization forms, falsified pay certification sheets, and forged his supervisor’s signature on pay certification sheets to defraud the government for significant personal gain.”

Despite the fraud alleged, Gallagher kept his job. A Capitol Police source told Blaze News that then-Capitol Police Chief Kim C. Dine intervened in Gallagher’s case. Dine assigned the discipline investigation to Inspector Daniel Malloy, the supervisor whose signature Gallagher was accused of forging. Chief Dine left the job in 2015.

The OPR investigation recommended that Gallagher be demoted from captain to lieutenant, but Gallagher escaped with only a 10-day unpaid suspension.

Jim Konczos, chairman of the Capitol Police Labor Committee’s executive board at the time of the overtime fraud investigation, described a department culture in which “supervisors are held to a lower standard, even when the conduct is criminal.”

Gallagher was promoted to assistant chief in October 2023 from his previous title of deputy chief and head of the Protective Services Bureau. He was named inspector in June 2018 and became commander of the Dignitary Protection Division. He became deputy chief in 2019. From 2010 to 2018 he was assistant commander of the Dignitary Protection Division and the Capitol Division. From 2008 to 2010, Gallagher was assistant commander of the Investigations Division.

The USCP Public Information Office did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

‘Two bumps on a log’

A 16-page whistleblower letter sent to Congress in September 2021 faulted Deputy Chief Gallagher and acting Chief Pittman for inaction that led directly to injury of officers and put lawmakers in danger.

“In the Command Center, they simply watched, mostly with their hands in their laps,” wrote former Deputy Chief Jeffrey J. Pickett. “They did not try to help or assist as officers and officials were literally fighting for each other, their lives, and the Congress.”

The signature on the whistleblower letter was redacted, but Pickett later acknowledged writing the document.

“What I observed was them mostly sitting there, blankly looking at the TV screens showing real-time footage of officers and officials fighting for the Congress and their lives,” Pickett wrote. “This observation of their inaction was reported and corroborated by other officials and non-USCP entities.”

Pickett said he believed the inaction was intentional.

“It is my allegation that these two, with intent and malice, opted to not try and assist the officers and officials, blame others for the failures, and chose to try and use this event for their own personal promotions,” Pickett wrote.

“These two instead, while officers were being injured, elected to do nothing, lie and attempt to profit professionally,” Pickett wrote. “They chose to watch, as one non-USCP witness stated, ‘like two bumps on a log,’ make calls, and start to blame everyone for their failures.”

Former acting U.S. Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman testifies before a U.S. Senate committee on April 21, 2021.Photograph by Greg Nash/The Hill/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Pittman, who was named acting chief for the six months prior to Manger being named chief, in February 2023 became chief of police at the University of California at Berkeley. Although she did not yet qualify for Capitol Police retirement pension, Manger granted her five months of leave without pay until she reached the retirement threshold.

The department has been mired in other scandals since January 6. Former Officer Harry Dunn and Special Agent David Lazarus gave conflicting and apparently false testimony in the trial of four Oath Keepers and one associate in 2022.

Lazarus testified that he witnessed a confrontation between members of the Oath Keepers and Dunn in the Small House Rotunda, but at the time he cited, he was not even in the Capitol. The Oath Keepers had left the building prior to Lazarus meeting up with Dunn, according to a multi-part Blaze News video series by Steve Baker.

Lieutenant Michael L. Byrd, who shot and killed Babbitt at 2:44 p.m. outside the Speaker’s Lobby, was shielded from public view for seven months, hidden in a luxury hotel room at the Joint Base Andrews military facility in Maryland.

Capitol Police paid for $21,000 in security upgrades to Byrd’s Maryland home, awarded Byrd nearly $40,000 in unrestricted retention funds, and helped him establish a GoFundMe campaign that netted more than $164,000, according to a November 2024 letter from U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.).

Byrd had been accused of abandoning his post in the Speaker’s Office for a nearby cloakroom card game in 2001, then lying about it to internal affairs investigators.

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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 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.

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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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