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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J6 Prosecutors Brag To Congress About Locking Up Americans For Misdemeanors

The prosecutors who dedicated themselves to getting Jan. 6 convictions cannot fathom that they were heavy-handed and unjustly charged too many people.

Here’s the ‘Truth About January 6’



Over the last four years, more and more information about what really went down on January 6, 2021, has trickled out. From FBI involvement to Capitol Police possible perjury, Blaze Media has been unveiling the bombshells that shatter the left’s anti-Trump insurrectionist narrative.

In our final episode of “The Truth About January 6,” BlazeTV is blowing that narrative wide open. We’ve got Capitol surveillance footage, conflicting timelines, and serious questions about Officer Harry Dunn’s story — the one he used to get rich and famous.

Blaze Media investigative reporter Steve Baker, who has studied Dunn’s every move for the last year and a half, says this exposé “will contradict everything he’s ever said about that day.”

In this episode, Baker dismantles Dunn’s story from beginning to end. From Dunn's morning briefing and his violent encounters with protesters to his efforts to save Rosanne Boyland and the tirade of racial slurs that drove him to weep, Baker, armed with ample video footage, shows that none of it ever happened.

“There is no other conclusion that can be made: Dunn is either a pathological liar, or he’s been conscripted by the left-wing establishment in D.C. to support their narrative,” says Baker.

The left’s lie that Officer Dunn is a “hero” deserving of praise ends with the release of “A Day in the Life of Harry Dunn: Part Three.”

Join us as we set the record straight. Our final installment of “The Truth About January 6” is streaming right now on BlazeTV. To watch the full investigation from the very beginning, subscribe to BlazeTV.

Senators Demand Obama-Era Inspector General’s Cooperation In Probe Of J6 Undercover Agents

More than four years have passed since J6. It is time for all agencies involved to be transparent about their involvement that day.

Justice finally arrives for newly pardoned former Jan. 6 defendant Thomas Caldwell



Four years and 60 days after Thomas Edward Caldwell was thrown on the hood of an FBI sedan during a predawn SWAT raid of his Virginia farm over alleged Jan. 6 crimes, justice finally came calling — courtesy of President Donald J. Trump.

Exactly 1,520 days after Caldwell was accused of being an Oath Keepers leader who plotted to attack the U.S. Capitol, President Trump signed a “full and unconditional pardon” for the service-disabled U.S. Navy veteran.

'That's a DC way of saying the government got it wrong.'

Caldwell, 70, of Berryville, Va., was neither an Oath Keeper nor a leader of the organization made up of military veterans, law enforcement officials, and first responders. Nor did his colorful language and pointed statements in private messages and on social media constitute a plot to attack the Capitol. But that did not stop the FBI and Department of Justice from attempting to make that narrative stick in front of a jury.

Caldwell said the chilling thought is what could have happened if the November 2024 presidential election went the other way.

“We are so grateful to President Trump, because if he had not been elected, this day of justice would not have arrived,” Caldwell told Blaze News. “I mean, this is almost like Old Testament day of jubilee stuff here, considering how many years we’ve been under the boot heels.”

Originally received commutation

When President Trump issued his pardon declaration on Jan. 20, Caldwell’s name was among 14 Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who were given sentence commutations. That did nothing for Caldwell, who went home from his Jan. 10 sentencing hearing a free man, sentenced to time served and a $100 fine. At the time, he expressed hope the president would “upgrade” to a full pardon at some point.

Defense attorney David W. Fischer began lobbying for a pardon before President Trump took office.

“Of the hundreds of J6ers who are worthy of presidential pardons, Mr. Caldwell is arguably first among equals,” Fischer told Blaze News on Jan. 14.

After learning of Caldwell’s pardon, Fischer said the bottom line is the federal government simply got it wrong in its prosecution of his client.

“At the time Tom went on trial, progressive D.C. juries had not acquitted a single January 6 defendant of a single count — 65 guilty counts, 0 not guilty,” Fischer told Blaze News.

'Didn’t even mind the tear gas.'

“Tom was acquitted of three major conspiracy counts, the Supreme Court exonerated him on a fourth count, and a federal judge sentenced him to a slap on wrist,” Fischer said. “That’s a D.C. way of saying the government got it wrong.”

On Nov. 29, 2022, a jury found Caldwell not guilty of felony seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy to prevent members of Congress from discharging their duties.

He was found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding, a charge eventually dropped after a landmark 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. So he was left facing a felony charge of tampering with documents for deleting his own exculpatory photos in a private message sent via Facebook Messenger. Those photos were on his phone and Caldwell said he never tried to hide them.

The Caldwells went to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 due to concerns the 2020 election had been stolen. The closest they got to inside the Capitol was the Lower West Terrace, and they retreated from there after five minutes.

Caldwell said brash things in messages to friends, including a suggestion he wipe his rear end using the doorknob to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. In his sentencing memo, Fischer described Caldwell as “more akin to a loud-mouth Walter Mitty than the Rambo-type figure the government has portrayed him.”

Thomas and Sharon Caldwell at a high school reunion event in 2024.Photo courtesy of Sharon Caldwell

The DOJ originally sought 14 years in prison for Caldwell, who during the length of his case had a total hip replacement and a spinal fusion. Caldwell has a 100% service disability from a progressively deteriorating back injury caused by a mortar round while he was on a classified mission in the Philippines. He was an intelligence officer in the Navy.

After the U.S. Supreme Court essentially shut down the obstruction of an official proceeding charge, the DOJ still wanted Caldwell to go to prison for four years. Fischer argued for a sentence of time served.

Caldwell said he is still amazed the legacy media is parroting the same talking points as it did in January 2021. Two days after Caldwell’s Jan. 19 arrest, the Washington Post quoted one of Caldwell’s messages to friends on Jan. 6.

“Us storming the castle. Please share. Sharon was right with me! I am such an instigator! She was ready for it man! Didn’t even mind the tear gas,” the message read. The so-called update Caldwell sent out was nonsense. Neither he nor Sharon went into the Capitol, and they were never tear-gassed.

That same day, the New York Times published an article calling Caldwell “an apparent leader of the far-right Oath Keepers.”

“It was totally nonsensical,” Caldwell told Blaze News. “And they [media] are getting all their stuff all that time directly from the DOJ.”

Caldwell said four years later, nothing has changed.

Same old falsehoods

“It’s a little disappointing to see the same falsehoods repeated over and over and over again, even in the wake of this good news,” he said. “The AP and UPI and all these people are saying, ‘Hey, he was an Oath Keeper and he did this.’ No, that’s not true. Gosh, they can’t even get my age correct.”

The Caldwells said they want to ensure that what happened to Tom Caldwell will not happen to anyone else, whether it was the abuse suffered in custody, the trial tainted with perjured police testimony, or the judge’s refusal to entertain a change of venue based on studies showing deep bias in D.C.

“The 53 days that I spent being mistreated in prison were to the very limits of what this old body could handle,” Caldwell said. “I mean, I am a veteran, I’m a disabled veteran. I’m a severely disabled veteran. And it was the Lord that pulled me through and my loving wife.”

Caldwell said he wants to see the FBI records of his three-hour interrogation on Jan. 19, 2021.

“I’ll tell you the transcripts of that, which will never see the light of day,” Caldwell said, “are extremely telling because so much of their questioning was, ‘Well, why do you like Trump? Why do you follow Trump?’”

Thomas Caldwell working on his Virginia farm before the Jan. 6 prosecution forced him to sell his animals and farm equipment. Photos courtesy of Sharon Caldwell

The Caldwells said they harbor no anger at prosecutors and do not wish any of them to be sent to jail, but the full story of what they did during the Oath Keepers trial needs to be released to the public.

“We try to pray for these folks,” Sharon Caldwell said. “And honestly, I can't speak for Tom, but I can say as time has gone by, and certainly now that we have this great outcome, I really don't, when I think about them, I do not have anger and bitterness in me.”

To finance Caldwell’s defense, the couple said they had to sell off their farm animals and farm equipment. The farm was saved, but they said it’s not clear how they can rebuild what they had. They have received prayers and financial support through a special Save Our Farm website, which Sharon Caldwell said would soon be updated with Tom’s pardon.

“We’ve got this beautiful little piece of land that I grew up on that I worked shoulder-to-shoulder with my late parents and my sister, my widowed sister,” Caldwell said. “And we look out here and there are no farm animals. There’s no equipment. We don’t have any of that. We just don’t know how we’re going to rebuild our lives. We hope that we can.”

While the federal judicial system needs reform, Caldwell said, in a way, the system worked in his case — just with a little help.

“I guess you could say the system did work out, but it took our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Caldwell said. “It took the support of people all across this country and in our local community."

“And it took a guy getting elected to the presidency this past November that a lot of people think is riding to the rescue of our republic. It took all of those things to bring us freedom today.”

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



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

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

'She was innocently standing there.'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

— (@)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Jan. 6 conviction vacated by Court of Appeals is 'a sense of justice being served,' former deputy says



While having his entire Jan. 6 conviction and criminal case tossed out is a “step in the right direction,” former sheriff’s deputy Colt McAbee says he must rebuild his life amid ongoing cries of “insurrection” from the left.

In a per curiam order March 17, a special three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated McAbee’s Jan. 6 criminal conviction and remanded the case to the U.S. district court, where the same day, it was dismissed as moot.

Both actions were based on McAbee’s appeal filed in March 2024 and a U.S. Department of Justice now under the control of President Donald J. Trump.

'I was genuinely helping people there.'

“At the end of the day, it’s just words on paper,” McAbee, 31, of Unionville, Tenn., told Blaze News. “People still have their own opinions. The Democrats still call us insurrectionists and domestic terrorists, even though it’s their party that destroyed our cities and is now destroying our vehicles.”

McAbee was released from the federal prison in Rochester, Minn., on Jan. 20, hours after President Trump issued a pardon declaration covering more than 1,600 Jan. 6 defendants. He walked out into the minus-18-degree cold to hear a shout of “FREEDOM” from his waiting wife, Sarah, and her mother, Kim.

“Since I was released, I’ve been looking for a new career and a way to take care of my family financially,” McAbee said. “It’s still a struggle. I’m still fighting for the restoration of my rights in Tennessee.”

McAbee was one of the most high-profile Jan. 6 defendants, based on the government’s claim that he was a lawless law officer who came to Washington, D.C., that day to commit violence against police.

Chronicled extensively by Blaze News, the case was described as a “manifest injustice” by McAbee’s onetime defense attorney, William Shipley.

Colt McAbee on his way home after a pardon from President Trump. Photo courtesy of Sarah McAbee

As detailed in a Blaze News investigation, federal prosecutors lied, twisted evidence, and withheld material from a judge in order to keep McAbee behind bars. A careful review of video evidence shows that McAbee never assaulted Metropolitan Police Department Officer Andrew Wayte as alleged. He shielded him and helped him get back to the police line.

A jury found McAbee guilty on five criminal counts in October 2023. He had earlier pleaded guilty to slapping one police officer who cross-checked McAbee’s broken shoulder with a riot stick. McAbee received a 70-month prison sentence on Feb. 29, 2024.

McAbee said having the entire case dismissed shows he was trying to help people in front of the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, including Officer Wayte and a dying Rosanne Boyland, who was unconscious and being ignored by police.

Speaking out

“I feel a sense of justice being served,” McAbee said. “It shows that I was genuinely helping people there. ... It’s a step in the right direction.”

The McAbees have been vocal about his case and the weaponized criminal justice system since he returned to Tennessee.

'I pray that everything goes back to normal.'

“I’ve used my experience to speak out. I’ve done several appearances and speeches since then, and it’s amazing that people still don’t know the truth of what happened that day,” McAbee said. “Of course, people are amazed about the atrocities that happened on the inside.”

McAbee filed suit against the District of Columbia Department of Corrections and former Lt. Crystal Lancaster for an incident in September 2022 in which McAbee said he was repeatedly hit with a stream of pepper spray for removing his COVID mask in order to take medication.

“I’ve been pretty vocal about it and won’t stop until everything is over,” McAbee said. “More and more is coming out, thanks to [Blaze Media investigative journalists Joe Hanneman] and Steve Baker. The truth will come out in full!”

For now, McAbee said he faces an uncertain future.

“I don’t know what the future holds,” he said. “I just hope that it works out for all of us.

“I pray that everything goes back to normal, but what is normal?”

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Trump declares Biden's 'autopen' pardons for J6 committee, Fauci, others are 'VOID'



President Donald Trump declared early Monday morning that Joe Biden's pardons are "VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT," suggesting that the former president did not sign them or "know anything about them."

While the potential voidance of Biden's pardons could spell trouble for Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, members of the Biden clan, and others with troubled pasts, Trump indicated that former members of the House Jan. 6 select committee — including Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) — are his favorites to reap the whirlwind.

"Those on the Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level," Trump noted on Truth Social.

Earlier this month, the Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project revealed that Biden's signature on numerous executive orders, pardons, and other documents of national consequence was apparently machine-generated. The watchdog group indicated that with the exception of Biden's announcement concerning his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, "every document" researchers could find "used the same autopen signature."

'If in fact this has been occurring, then all those orders are void.'

"The prolific use of autopen by the Biden White House was an instrument to hide the truth from the American people as to who was running the government," Oversight Project Executive Director Mike Howell told Blaze News at the time.

Biden's cognitive decline alone may have been enough to doubt the legal legitimacy of many of the official documents issued in his name and bearing his signature. Suspicions were, however, compounded by reports of staffers and family members making decisions on his behalf; Biden's alleged admission to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) that he did not remember signing a consequential January 2024 order to pause decisions on exports of liquefied natural gas; and evidence that Biden's signature appeared on documents while he was absent — and in one instance, while on vacation.

In a recent letter demanding that the Department of Justice investigate whether "President Biden's cognitive decline allowed unelected staff to push through radical policy without his knowing approval," Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey noted, "It is black-letter law that a document is void, ab initio, when the person signing it lacks mental capacity."

Bailey added, "Staffers and the Vice President cannot constitutionally evade accountability by laundering far-left orders through a man who does not know what he is signing. If in fact this has been occurring, then all those orders are void."

'He had no idea what the hell he was doing.'

After further analysis, the Oversight Project confirmed that "the same exact Biden autopen signature" was used on the pardons for Fauci, Milley, and members of the Jan. 6 committee, as well as on the pardons for several members of Biden's family who were apparently involved in dodgy foreign deals with the former president and his felonious son Hunter Biden, and for Gerald Lundergan, the former head of the Kentucky state Democratic Party, who served as state chair for Hillary Clinton's failed 2008 presidential campaign and was convicted in 2019 of making illegal campaign contributions.

— (@)

In the wake of the Oversight Project's damning reports, a former Biden aide told the New York Post that a key staffer, who was not named, was suspected of unilaterally making decisions to sign documents as the former president's mental faculties declined. According to the aide, others in the Biden administration questioned the staffer's routine use of the autopen but refrained from speaking up.

"I feared no one as much as I feared that [staffer]. To me, [the staffer] basically was the president," said the aide. "No one ever questioned [the staffer]. Period."

Trump raised the issue of the autopen in his Friday address to the Department of Justice, calling it a "big deal."

"You don't use the autopen," said the president. "Number one, it's disrespectful to the office. Number two, maybe it's not even valid because who's getting [Biden] to sign? He had no idea what the hell he was doing."

Trump evidently became convinced of the illegitimacy of Biden's autopen-signed orders and pardons over the weekend, declaring early Monday morning, "The 'Pardons' that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen. In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!"

"The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime," continued Trump.

Trump suggested further that in the case of the Jan. 6 committee members, the pardonees were "likely responsible for the Documents that were signed on their behalf without the knowledge or consent of the Worst President in the History of our Country, Crooked Joe Biden!"

The president subsequently shared an image of three presidential portraits. The first and third framed images were of Trump, with the plaques below indicating his duration in office. The second image was of an autopen machine writing Biden's signature with the dates 2021-2025 marked below.

— (@)

Despite his declaration of voidance, Trump reportedly told reporters Sunday evening, "It's not my decision; that'll be up to a court."

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Report claims Kash Patel set to REVEAL the Jan 6 pipe bomber



The identity of the January 6 pipe bomber remains a mystery, but perhaps not for long.

“A new report claims that FBI Director Kash Patel is about to blow the gates wide open on the January 6 fedsurrection,” specifically as it relates to the pipe bomber, says Liz Wheeler, BlazeTV host of “The Liz Wheeler Show.”

It’s “the key to unraveling the entire plot to entrap Trump supporters on January 6,” she says.

If it’s true and the pipe bomber’s identity is revealed, it will be“one of the biggest exposures of the deep state weaponizing government against us that we have ever seen,” says Liz.

“We've known for a long time that this shouldn't have been a case that caused the FBI that much consternation to solve,” says Liz, noting that we have videotapes as well as geolocation data from the individual’s cell phone.

Using the data, the FBI narrowed down its pool of suspects to 186 people and then narrowed it down further to one single phone number.

“So we got him. We know who the January 6 pipe bomber is,” says Liz. “But then suddenly after they'd narrowed it down to just one person, … the FBI ceased their investigation” and “closed the book on the January 6 pipe bomber investigation right before they got their guy.”

“The FBI is at the very least covering up information that someone in the federal government doesn't want you to know. Now whether it's the FBI that committed the wrongdoing, whether this was a completely staged event, whether the ATF was involved, whether Nancy Pelosi was in knowledge of this, we don’t know,” she continues. “But Kash Patel does.”

But is the report true? Will Kash Patel actually release the name of the pipe bomber?

Liz thinks so.

“I think it is, because Kash Patel went into the FBI promising to root out the deep state, and this is it!” she says.

To hear more about the report, watch the episode above.

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Legal Watchdog: D.C. Police Demand $1.57 Million To Release Jan. 6 Bodycam Footage

The non-profit published a press release outlining the department's demands in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit.