News/Commentary

Air Force reverses Biden-era snub to provide funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt

August 28, 2025 | | Print Article

More than four years after she was killed during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, Ashli Babbitt will be receiving military funeral honors.

Conservative legal group Judicial Watch announced Wednesday that the Air Force veteran who died after being shot inside the U.S. Capitol by then-Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd is finally going to receive the special funeral procedures she was denied.

“The Biden administration had previously denied Babbitt and her family these honors in retaliation for being at the U.S. Capitol that day. This decision comes on the heels of a massive, nearly $5 million Trump administration settlement to her family for wrongful death and other claims against the U.S. Government,” the group noted in a press release.

Last month, Judicial Watch Senior Counsel Robert Sticht had asked Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to reverse the “grave national injustice” to Babbitt, asking him to consider “two major recent developments and also Ashli’s lengthy and meritorious military service.” He went on in the July letter to note that President Donald Trump had issued pardons or clemency to almost all the January 6 “rioters,” and Babbitt’s family was paid nearly $5 million as part of a settlement with the government.

“Many well-documented facts now clearly show that the fatal shooting was not justified,” Sticht wrote.

Judicial Watch shared that Under Secretary of the Air Force Matthew L. Lohmeier wrote a letter on August 15, 2025, to Aaron Babbitt, Ashli’s husband, and her mother, Michelle Witthoeft, with the offer to honor the veteran with a military funeral.

“I understand that the family’s initial request was denied by Air Force leadership in a letter dated February 9, 2021,” Lohmeier wrote, referring to the letter from Brian Kelly, an Air Force lieutenant general.

“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,” Lohmeier added.

“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,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.

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“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,” he added.

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Frieda Powers
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