House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is defending the officer who fired his gun during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, breaking with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s assertion that Ashli Babbitt was murdered.
“I think the police officer did his job,” Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, told reporters Thursday.
Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran, died in the Capitol riot after she was shot by U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd near the floor of the House of Representatives. Police said she tried to climb through a shattered window near a barricaded door to the speaker’s lobby, which is next to the House chamber.
The case resurfaced this week during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee discussion about Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old Black man who died after being beaten by police in Memphis, Tennessee.
Ms. Greene said the Nichols video was “tragic and extremely difficult to watch” but said there should also be a trial around Babbitt’s death.
“There’s a woman in this room whose daughter was murdered on Jan. 6, Ashli Babbitt,” Ms. Greene said. “There’s never been a trial. As a matter of fact, no one has cared about the person that shot and killed her and no one in this Congress has really addressed that issue.”
The issue was a rare sign of division between Mr. McCarthy and Ms. Greene in recent weeks. Mr. McCarthy reassigned Ms. Greene to committee assignments after Democratic leaders ousted her in the last Congress.
Former President Donald Trump, who stirred the Jan. 6 mob with claims the election was stolen and gave a speech at the Ellipse before the attack, sided with Ms. Greene and rebuked Mr. McCarthy.
Mr. Trump labeled the officer a “thug” who was “not just ‘doing his job’ when he shot and killed Great Patriot Ashli Babbitt at point blank range.”
“Despite trying to keep him anonymous, shielded, and protected, this MISFIT proudly showed up on NBC Fake Nightly News ’bragging’ about the killing,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He was not a hero but a COWARD, who wanted to show how tough he was. ASHLI BABBITT WAS MURDERED!!!”
The Capitol Police in 2021 determined that Lt. Byrd’s actions were “lawful and within department policy” and he would not face discipline.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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