by WorldTribune Staff, August 28, 2025 Real World News

The Defense Department has said that the U.S. Air Force will finally provide full military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt, 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’s mother and husband, Undersecretary of the Air Force Matthew Lohmeier wrote: “On 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’s initial request was denied by Air Force leadership in a letter dated February 9, 2021. 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.”

The decision capped a long effort by Babbitt’s 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’s election.

Related: ‘I haven’t heard that’: Trump learns DOJ still fighting settlement with Ashli Babbitt’s family, March 26, 2025

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

Babbitt was the only official J6 homicide victim.

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

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

On July 23, Judicial Watch Senior Counsel Robert Sticht wrote a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth asking him to reverse the “grave national injustice” of denying Babbitt and her family military funeral honors:

On Jan. 6, 2021, Babbitt was at the front of a group of protesters pressing to enter the Speaker’s 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.

Byrd was never charged, though an investigation questioned his training. He was later promoted.

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  Pentagon to grant Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt full military funeral honors