{"id":149186,"date":"2025-08-28T14:30:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T19:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldtribune.com\/?p=149186"},"modified":"2025-08-29T16:08:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T16:08:33","slug":"pentagon-to-grant-air-force-veteran-ashli-babbitt-full-military-funeral-honors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/pentagon-to-grant-air-force-veteran-ashli-babbitt-full-military-funeral-honors\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon to grant Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt full military funeral honors"},"content":{"rendered":"

by<\/em><\/span> WorldTribune<\/strong> Staff<\/em><\/span><\/span>, August 28, 2025 <\/em>Real World News<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Defense Department has said that the U.S. Air Force will finally provide full\u00a0military funeral honors to Ashli\u00a0Babbitt, the Air Force veteran who was shot and killed inside the U.S. Capitol by then-Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd on Jan. 6, 2021.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ashli Babbitt \/ Video image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a letter to Babbitt\u2019s mother and husband, Undersecretary of the Air Force Matthew Lohmeier wrote: \u201cOn behalf of the Secretary of the Air Force, I write to extend the offer for Military Funeral Honors for SrA Ashli Babbitt. I understand that the family\u2019s initial request was denied by Air Force leadership in a letter dated February 9, 2021. However, after reviewing the circumstances of Ashli\u2019s death, and considering the information that has come forward since then, I am persuaded that the previous determination was incorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision capped a long effort by Babbitt\u2019s family and government watchdog group Judicial Watch to reverse the narrative that Babbitt helped lead a violent Capitol riot to stop the certification of Joe Biden\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

Related<\/span>:\u00a0\u2018I haven\u2019t heard that\u2019: Trump learns DOJ still fighting settlement with Ashli Babbitt\u2019s family<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, March 26, 2025<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAshli Babbitt\u2019s family is grateful to President Trump, Secretary Hegseth and Under Secretary Lohmeier for reversing the Biden Defense Department\u2019s cruel decision to deny Ashli funeral honors as a distinguished veteran of the Air Force,\u201d said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. \u201cJudicial Watch\u2019s team spent years investigating, litigating, and exposing the truth about Ashli\u2019s homicide. Judicial Watch is proud to have done its part in bringing her family a measure of justice and accountability for Ashli\u2019s outrageous killing. And our battle for justice will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Babbitt was the only official J6 homicide victim.<\/p>\n

The Biden Administration had previously denied Babbitt and her family these honors in retaliation for being at the U.S. Capitol on J6.<\/p>\n

The Defense Department\u2019s decision comes on the heels of a massive, nearly $5 million Trump Administration settlement obtained by Judicial Watch to Babbitt\u2019s family for wrongful death and other claims against the U.S. Government.<\/p>\n

On July 23, Judicial Watch Senior Counsel Robert Sticht wrote\u00a0a letter<\/span><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth asking him to reverse the \u201cgrave national injustice\u201d of denying Babbitt and her family military funeral honors:<\/p>\n

On Jan. 6, 2021, Babbitt was at the front of a group of protesters pressing to enter the Speaker\u2019s Lobby. As Babbitt, 35, was pushed through a window in the doorway to the chamber, Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd shot and killed the unarmed Babbitt.<\/p>\n

Byrd was never charged, though an investigation questioned his training. He was later promoted.<\/p>\n

\n

Support<\/span> Free Press Foundation<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by WorldTribune Staff, August 28, 2025 Real World News The Defense Department has said that the U.S. Air Force will finally provide full\u00a0military funeral honors to Ashli\u00a0Babbitt, the Air Force veteran who was shot and killed inside the U.S. Capitol by then-Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd on Jan. 6, 2021. In a letter to Babbitt\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":149224,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9,10],"tags":[498],"class_list":["post-149186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusives","category-rest-of-the-best","category-top-stories","tag-pentagon-to-grant-air-force-veteran-ashli-babbitt-full-military-funeral-honors","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149230,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149186\/revisions\/149230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}