Breaking: Biden Did Not Pardon Ashli Babbitt Killer Michael Byrd

Probably an oversight, but too late to correct

The headline of the article from PressTV that circulated around the Internet on the afternoon of January 20 had many J6 activists concerned. It read, “Biden pardons Capitol officer who killed unarmed Jan. 6 protester.”

The article related the facts of the case without obvious bias—“Babbitt, who was a US Air Force veteran, died after being shot in the neck by Capitol police officer Michael Byrd”—and had the ring of authenticity about it.

A convincing fact check by “Lead Stories” suggests, however, that the PressTV article was simply wrong. The article—unwittingly, I think—included Byrd among those officers Biden thanked for having “served our nation with honor and distinction.”

Biden did pardon “the police officers from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department or the U.S. Capitol Police [USCP] who testified before the Select Committee,” but Byrd never testified before the J6 committee.

Byrd has good reason to worry. As explained in the law suit filed by Judicial Watch on behalf of Ashli’s husband Aaron Babbitt, Byrd violated just about every Capitol Police directive on the use of deadly force.

Masked and out of uniform, Byrd did not identify himself as a police officer, did not give Babbitt verbal orders to stop, nor give her a chance to comply.

He did not “diligently assess” the situation before firing. He never considered any other defensive tactics or compliance techniques. And he disregarded the presence of seven other police officers in his line of fire.

Most critically, Babbitt did not pose “an imminent danger of death or serious injury.” When Byrd fired, he did not even know she was a female.

The treatment afforded Byrd after the shooting was unprecedented. For six months, the USCP brass refused to say who killed Ashli Babbitt. Quietly, they put Byrd and a pet up in a “distinguished visitor suite” at the “Presidential Inn” on the grounds of Joint Base Andrews.

Not until August 2021 did the Capitol Police name Byrd as the shooter. Lest the public think ill of him, his friends arranged an exculpatory interview with NBC’s uber-empathetic black newsman, Lester Holt.

Byrd needed a makeover. As Steve Baker and Joseph Hanneman reported recently in the Blaze, in 2001 Byrd was charged with “abandoning his post, eating and drinking at his post, and lying to investigators.” How he kept his job is something of a mystery.

In November 2024, in a detailed query to US Capitol Police (USCP) Chief Thomas Manger, Rep.Barry Lourdermilk (R-GA) added fresh detail to Byrd’s unusual history and unique treatment

In 2004, under mysterious circumstances, Byrd fired at a fleeing van outside his home in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

As Loudermilk related, the USCP’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) ruled that Byrd's testimony to the local police was “inaccurate,” which is a polite way of saying he lied.

In fact, according to the OPR, Byrd discharged his weapon in a “careless and imprudent manner.” Always resourceful, Byrd appealed the ruling and kept his job.

In 2015, Byrd provoked a racial confrontation with police in Montgomery County, MD, when they tried to prevent him from entering a high school football field.

OPR found Byrd’s conduct to be vulgar and abusive. He was suspended for seven days for conduct unbecoming an officer, but he managed to keep his job and was later promoted to lieutenant.

In 2019, Lieutenant Byrd was referred to OPR for leaving his loaded service weapon in a bathroom in the Capitol Visitor’s Center. In this incident, he was suspended for 33 days without pay.

Despite this history of serious infractions, the USCP assigned Byrd to serve as incident commander on the Capitol floor on January 6. When Ashli Babbitt hopped into a broken window frame of a door leading to the Speaker’s lobby, the panicky Byrd fired without warning. It was not out of character.

Nor was it out of character for the USCP to promote Byrd to captain after the shooting and provide him with any number of perks. These included an unrestricted $36,000 bonus as part of a retention agreement in August 2021 and assistance in setting up a GoFundMe that raised over $164,000.

Loudermilk also wondered why, when Byrd failed to honor his “telework” agreement for two summer months, the USCP paid him anyhow.

Wrote Loudermilk in a massive understatement, “Based on the above information, it appears USCP treated Byrd more favorably than other officers.”

According to Steven Richards and John Solomon, Byrd had friends in high places. Apparently, House Democrats pressured the USCP to provide Byrd special financial assistance as well as the promotion from lieutenant to captain.

Byrd’s friends in high places have flown the coop

“He is very upset about how he is being treated. He wants us to figure this out and now,” a top aide to Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, wrote to the USCP in November 2021.

Wrote Richards and Solomon, “The records show that pressure also came from then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s staff and from then-Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.”

Well, Pelosi is no longer House speaker. Byrd’s friends in Congress—MOCs, as he called them—lack the clout to take care of him. And Biden’s gone.

“We play the game as you request,” wrote Byrd to the USCP at one point in their negotiations. Well that game is over, and what remains to be seen are the consequences are for losing.

Jack Cashill’s latest book, Ashli: The Untold Story of the Women of January 6, is available in all formats.