The Air Force has granted military funeral honors for a January 6 rioter killed at the U.S. Capitol in 2021.
Ashli Babbitt, 35, was killed by a Capitol police officer as over 1,000 people rioted in protest of Donald Trump losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
Babbitt, an Air Force veteran from California, was crawling through a broken window leading to the Speaker’s Lobby, where members of Congress were evacuating, when she was shot.
Highlights
- Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran killed during the January 6 Capitol riot, will now receive full military funeral honors after an Air Force reversal.
- The initial denial of military funeral honors was due to Babbitt’s illegal entry into the Capitol, which was deemed discrediting by Air Force leadership.
- Air Force Under Secretary Matthew Lohmeier overturned the prior decision after reviewing new information and invited Babbitt’s family to the Pentagon.
- The reversal follows a $5 million wrongful death settlement paid by the Trump administration to Babbitt’s family.
- Judicial Watch, a conservative group, pushed for the reversal, calling the denial a 'grave national injustice' and highlighting Babbitt’s meritorious military service.
Ashli Babbitt was shot as she climbed through the broken window of a door
Image credits: Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The Capitol police officer who shot Babbitt was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Her family requested military funeral honors from the Biden administration after her death, but they were denied.
Then Air Force Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly said Babbitt had illegally entered the U.S. Capitol Building when she was fatally shot.
“As a result, I have determined that military funeral honors would bring discredit upon the Air Force,” Kelly wrote in a 2021 letter to Babbitt’s husband, Aaron.
Image credits: X
That decision has now been reversed under the Trump administration.
Air Force Under Secretary Matthew Lohmeier, in a letter dated August 15, wrote that he was overturning the previous decision.
“I understand that the family’s initial request was denied by Air Force leadership in a letter dated February 9, 2021,” he said.
“However, after reviewing the circumstances of Ashli’s death, and considering the information that has come forward since then, I am persuaded that the previous determination was incorrect.”
Image credits: Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images
“Additionally, I would like to invite you and your family to meet me at the Pentagon to personally offer my condolences.”
The letter was shared by Judicial Watch, a Conservative activist group that investigates claimed misconduct by government officials.
Its president, Tom Fitton, shared the news of Babbitt’s funeral honors online.
“Long overdue. Glad we could make this right,” Lohmeier wrote in response to the post.
The Air Force overturned a previous decision denying military funeral honors
Image credits: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
The decision comes after the Trump administration agreed to pay $5 million in a wrongful death lawsuit brought on behalf of Babbitt’s family.
That settlement, along with Trump granting pardons and commutation of sentences for those involved in the January 6 riot, was mentioned in a July letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
In the letter, Judicial Watch Senior Counsel Robert Sticht asked Hegseth to reverse the “grave national injustice” of denying Babbitt and her family military funeral honors.
“I respectfully encourage the Department of Defense to favorably consider two major recent developments and also Ashli’s lengthy and meritorious military service,” he wrote.
It is not clear whether Babbitt’s family will hold the military funeral, which would come more than four years after her death.
Military honors funerals usually involve traditions such as uniformed personnel in attendance, the playing of ‘Taps,’ and a flag presentation.
The specific components of funerals can vary depending on the person’s rank.