With the GOP-controlled U.S. House of Representatives yet to take up a list of issues ignored by the former Jan. 6 Select Committee, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Feb. 2 declared that Ashli Babbitt was not murdered and the Capitol Police lieutenant who shot her was “doing his job.”
During McCarthy’s weekly press conference at the Capitol, a reporter asked him, “Do you think Ashli Babbitt was murdered, or do you think the police officer who shot her was doing his job?”
McCarthy (R-California) didn’t hesitate: “I think the police officer did his job.”
File Photo – Michael Byrd, Capitol Police officer who shot and killed unarmed Ashli Babbitt.
Byrd said he feared for his life and felt justified in shooting the 5 foot 2 inch, 115-pound Babbitt. The U.S. Justice Department agreed, ruling there was not sufficient evidence to prove that Byrd used excessive force. Capitol Police also cleared Byrd of wrongdoing. His name was kept from the public until late August 2021, when he went on national television to tell his story.
From early July 2021 until late January 2022, Byrd was housed in a military hotel at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, costing Capitol Police tens of thousands of dollars.
‘Ashli Babbitt Was Murdered’: Trump
Aaron Babbitt, Ashli Babbitt’s widower, said he was “very disappointed” with McCarthy’s remarks.
“I’d venture to guess that Speaker McCarthy has very little actual knowledge about the events that led to my wife’s murder,” Babbitt told The Epoch Times.
“Speaker McCarthy gave an ill-informed, stupid answer to a stupid question from a hack reporter,” Babbitt said. “There’s a reason he’s known as a blunderer. He has a lot to learn from Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has done a deep dive into my wife’s murder. She is far more knowledgeable on the subject.”
McCarthy’s pronouncement lit up social media on both sides of the issue. “The real Kevin has shown up,” one man wrote on Twitter. “Swamp rat,” said another. Philip Anderson, who was trapped along with Rosanne Boyland in a human stampede on the Lower West Terrace on Jan. 6, said McCarthy is “exposing himself for the absolute RINO, traitor, and coward that he truly is.”
Jan. 6 detractors pounced on the topic. “Finally, a true statement from @SpeakerMcCarthy,” one woman wrote on Twitter. “The officer did his job. She didn’t belong there and posed a threat to officers,” another woman said.
Former President Donald J. Trump ripped the idea that Byrd was just doing his job.
“I totally disagree with the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, in that the police officer ‘thug,’ who has had a very checkered past to begin with, was not just ‘doing his job’ when he shot and killed Great Patriot Ashli Babbitt at point-blank range,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“Despite trying to keep him anonymous, shielded and protected, this MISFIT proudly showed up on NBC Fake Nightly News ‘bragging’ about the killing,” Trump wrote late Thursday.
“He was not a hero but a COWARD, who wanted to show how tough he was. ASHLI BABBITT WAS MURDERED!!!”
Murder Under Color of Authority
Byrd’s views on the shooting being justified are far from universal. One of the nation’s top police use-of-force experts said Babbitt was “murdered under the color of authority.” In The Epoch Times documentary, “The Real Story of Jan. 6,” Stan Kephart said Babbitt was not an imminent threat to anyone.
Byrd and other officers could have pulled Babbitt through the window and handcuffed her, or they could have retreated until her intentions became clearer, Kephart said.
Supporters of the Babbitt family have high hopes that a new House investigative panel will examine the shooting, as well as the deaths of Rosanne Boyland, Benjamin Phillips, and Kevin Greeson. The Jan. 6 Select Committee did not investigate the deaths that occurred on Jan. 6.
McCarthy’s statement put him directly at odds with Rep. Greene (R-Ga.), who described the shooting as a murder during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Jan. 31.
“There is a woman in this room whose daughter was murdered on Jan. 6,” Greene said. “Ashli Babbitt, there’s never been a trial. In 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 January 6th Committee did not address it.”
Greene was referring to Micki Witthoeft, Babbit’s mother, who was in the gallery during the House Oversight Committee meeting. Witthoeft is in Washington meeting with congressional leaders to garner support for a new Jan. 6 investigation.
Witthoeft was not pleased with McCarthy’s statement on the shooting of her daughter.
“I will be making his office my first stop Monday,” Witthoeft told The Epoch Times. “I want to ask him if he’s had the stomach to watch my daughter’s murder, or if he just says whatever his handlers tell him to say.”
I beg to differ, Kevin.
IF killing an unarmed person is “Doing their job”, then why all the heartache, every time a cop KILLS ARMED BLACK Offenders?
Ahh…Kevin, you were doing so good and you had to go and blow it.
Lethally Shooting an unarmed woman alone in a crowd of armed musclebound angry men is not doing your job, but MURDER in the first degree. I suppose if she were the only unarmed black ex-service woman that would be whole other matter and comment. If this coward with a record for being about as trigger conscious responsible like when he left his loaded gun in the Washington men’s room, as Alec Baldwin was, when he claimed he didn’t pull the trigger,,, and had he shot Ashley in the leg or arm, yes, perhaps he was doing his job. If this shot was righteous why did they hide him and cover up for months. Just more Bald lies for another attempt at a diversionary Bald Win. Next time McCarthy needs to think before he speaks, which is good advice for ANY Speaker of THE HOUSE or speaker of THE PEOPLE.
Byrd acted more like a well-armed shotgun loose cannon Elmer Fudd, on the hunt for an illusive illusioned Wacky Wabbit in the real life personna of Ashley Babbitt.
No kidding. What was McCarthy thinking? That comment will haunt him for a long time.
Maybe he wasn’t thinking. Just parroting what the dems wanted him to say.
If Kevin McCarthy actually believes the “I think the police officer did his job ” statement and he is Speaker Of The House, then this congress is going to be a total loss.
MANY of us warned, he was a rino. GUESS this is proof..
“Byrd said he feared for his life and felt justified in shooting the 5 foot 2 inch, 115-pound Babbitt.
Babbitt was not an imminent threat to anyone.
Byrd and other officers could have pulled Babbitt through the window and handcuffed her, or they could have retreated until her intentions became clearer.”
So now WHY would McCarthy (R-California) not hesitate in saying: “I think the police officer did his job.”
I believe that this Kevin McCarthy (R-California) must be a RINO swamp rat.
And if she “WAS an imminent threat”. WHERE WAS HER WEAPON that made her an imminent threat.
Looks like Kevin is channeling Biden! Maybe he should look at all the footage. before making such an ignorant comment. He is a prime example of what is wrong with the Republican party.
i knew he was a bad choice from the get go!
Hence why i was praying he wouldn’t win the speakership.. HE DIDN’T deserve it!
SHE WAS MURDERED
At a minimum, this gunny should face a manslaughter charge like the female police officer who mistook her firearm for her taser and killed someone during a traffic stop.
Murder 1. Not manslaughter.. IMO at least.
YOU USELESS RINO POS. ASHLI BABBITT WAS UNARMED AND SHOT DEAD IN COLD BLOOD BY THIS MURDERING COP. A TINY LITTLE WOMAN WHO SERVED OUR COUNTRY AND WAS ABSOLUTELY NO THREAT TO THIS CORRUPT MURDERING COP. THIS IS WHY CONSERVATIVES DON’T TRUST YOU AND KNOW YOU’RE A SELF SERVING FLIP FLOP RINO. YOU TALK BS TO LEAD CONSERVATIVES TO BELIEVE YOU ARE COMMITTED TO OUR PARTIES BEST INTEREST BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY YOUR JUST LIKE MITCH MCCONNELL AND A SWAMP THING AND THE VERY TYPE OF FAKE POLITICIAN THAT CONSERVATIVE AMERICANS HATE. YOU HAVE THIS VETERANS BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS YOU RINO POS.
I kept waiting for the protests, riots, looting and burning to start after Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed white woman was murdered in the WH.
It’s all on video, umpteen witnesses yet still nothing even though the evidence is overwhelming. It appears this was not racial enough for a mass protest. In today’s America everyone is presumed innocent until proven conservative. After that all bets are off, you’re on your own.
A) She was conservative.
B) she was white..
ERGO no riots.
NOW Had she been black, then that would have caused all sorts of rioting.
Roger that. In all of the riots during ’20 and ’21 the number of looters, arsonists, and KILLERS shot by police was NILL! Not until the misnamed “insurrection” at the Capitol building in DC did a police officer(?) shoot and kill a protester – the ONLY person shot during the whole debacle on 6 January 2021!
In many cases, the cops were ORDERED BY THE DEMS in charge, to ‘stand down’..
THAT is why none got shot.. LET Alone arrested.
Now that the House has a new rules package, including the rule that it only takes a single member to call for the removal of the Speaker, any principled, conservative Republican want to do that official duty? James Comer? Others???
Maybe someone needs to grow a pair, and USE THAT RULE.
Sorry Kevin, I could never agree with your statement, unless you think every person that got inside the Capital Building deserved to be shot on sight?
He’s partly correct. He WAS doing his job. Unfortunately, that job was to murder Ashli.
Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene. These are patriots who are willing to tell the truth. Fearless, moral, and just. True leadership for a great nation.
We were warned Kevin was a RINO. Guess enough of those who put him in as Speaker didn’t pay attention to the evidence. We all saw the video; Ashli was NOT a threat to anyone, least threatening to a white-hating racist Capitol cop. Just like an earlier McCarthy -Joe- You blew it.
This is just another example of why I have no faith in Republicans in Congress.
These days, i lack ANY FAITH in republicans in general.. NOT just the cretins in congress.
ABSOOTOOTLY! If two parties were attempting to govern this country, instead of these Democrat and Democrat Lite outfits, America would NOT be, as Mark Levin says, “America is not approaching the abyss, America is already in the abyss!”
Never trusted that traitorous RINO !!
The Republicans are no better than the Democrats in Congress. All are corrupt, just like our government. 100 billion sent to Ukraine. The Covid lies brought to you by the CDC and the FDA.
@ a 1500 character limit, this will need 2 follow-ups. Speaker McCarthy, by consenting that this gunny Lt. “did his duty,” proves he is as incompetent to judge any shooting as this Lt. is in being ARMED!
“….an officer may use deadly force only when the officer reasonably believes that action is in defense of human life, including the officer’s own life, or the defense of any person in immediate danger of serious physical injury,” What pablum! This officer, in what way, thought his life or the life of another was in danger from some 130 lb UNARMED woman? Below is what anyone schooled in the use of ‘lethal’ weapons would tell you after viewing just the side view of that shooting.
Those “investigating” this shooting, should view the video Laura Ingraham presented on her program. It clearly showed the shot that killed the AF Vet. The shooter is a black man, recently reported to be the same Lt. on the Capitol Police unit that left his loaded, untended, firearm in a Capitol restroom. SEE PART II
Part II Continued:
The following is ‘my theory,’ and if true a possible reason little has been forthcoming about this “shooting.” My thinking is based on being involved with firearms my entire life, including a 20-year career in the Marine Corps. In that video, you initially see the ‘shooter’ pointing his handgun at people to his right that is closest to him. He then swings his arms/aims to the left towards his center and just as he stops that movement the shot is made striking the unarmed Vet (in the neck, not “center mass” as instructed!). There is much to know about what is going on in this sequence. When you play the video in slo-mo, you can see the shooter, even in his initial aim, before starting to change the point of aim, has his trigger finger fully engaged with the BOOM actuator (trigger). This single fact is a violation of proper handgun operation/safety! SEE PART III
Exactly. Fire arm safety rule #2.. DO NOT Put your finger on the Trigger TILL YOUR SITE IS on the target..
Part III
Unless you are immediately prepared to destroy what you are aiming at, intending to shoot, that finger remains OUTSIDE the trigger guard resting on the slide NOT even the guard. WHY? Because when ON that trigger you are +-5 lbs of pressure from releasing something you CANNOT CALL BACK! The human body pumps out a HEAVY dose of adrenaline when perceiving a possible Life or Death encounter, even folk having experienced such still have to deal with that. Two things are guaranteed, especially for a first-timer, you get tunnel vision and lose fine motor skills (amount of ‘felt’ pressure being applied to a firearm’s trigger), that adrenaline rush that is married to the fight or flight response. I contend that this gunny did NOT INTEND to shoot the woman, and probably was not even aware that he had released the shot. This Lt. was so amped up that swinging that handgun and stopping it was all the extra, unfelt, pressure needed to launch that un-recallable shot! SEE PART IV
Part IV
BTW, this is by far NOT the first time an ‘unintentional discharge’ under duress has occurred. To illustrate: Three police officers had a suspect captured, two officers had him face down on the concrete, hands behind his back, applying the cuffs. The third officer standing about 8-10 feet away was pointing her weapon in the direction of the three, her two pals, and the perp, who was now all but in handcuffs. The real “gunnies” of us watching the video we’re waiting for the BOOM! WHY? That officer still pointing toward the action of the three had ‘her BOOM actuator’ fully on that bullet launcher. She also appeared to be still amped up over whatever went down in getting this perp down, and the BOOM came – by God’s Grace, nobody got dead or even shot, the bullet hit the concrete just slightly in front of and to the right of those three still on the ground! Hopefully, that officer only rides a desk unarmed!! SEE PART V
When i was in Bahrain, we had a Marine unit near our building, putting a 50 cal on the hummer outside.. BUT THE HEAT was so great (because the weapon had not been properly cleaned and lubed recently), that when they put the ammo in, IT COOKED several rounds through the barrel, INTO THE SIDE of the building.
Three of the 5 guys, got ripped for negligent discharges, because of that. IF THEY CAN BE DONE.. THEN THIS cop should.
“Negligent discharge” is the key, as this was no “ACCIDENTAL discharge!” Perhaps scarier is that this ‘incompetent’ Lt. is still with that police unit, ARMED! Was I one of his cohorts on that force, I would NEVER allow this ‘gunny’ to be behind me.
As the Gunny there, who trained us for the base’s Auxiliary security forces often said “THERE IS NO thing as an accidental discharge. JUST Negligent discharges!”
Part V
The hated phrase, the bottom line for this shooter is, at what point did he think ‘his life was in immediate mortal danger’ that would have induced him to “intentionally” discharge that weapon? That is what every CCW licensee would HAVE TO articulate to a judge if, God forbid, we have to shoot anyone!! Further info has been revealed about this Officer. He is reported to be the same officer that had left his loaded firearm in the Capitol building men’s room, only retrieving the weapon when discovered by another individual. There is at least one photo of the Officer carrying a load of paperwork(?) in his left arm with his firearm drawn and held in his right hand before he shoots the AF Vet – the view indicates his finger is already engaged with the trigger, and his fellow officers in ‘front’ of him are unknowingly in real danger! Ashli Babbitt’s life might have been spared at the expense of a Capitol Police officer’s life if this incompetent officer had stumbled or fallen, or just INADVERTENTLY mashed that trigger. SEE PART VI (Final)
Part VI (Final)
All indicators say that this “officer” is still on the job, ARMED, but at least should ONLY be riding a desk UNARMED, and at best facing the same charges the female officer who mistook her firearm for her taser which resulted in the killing of a resisting perp! As far as ‘believing’ this was any kind of useful investigation of a ‘wrongful killing’ of an unarmed individual, as John Stossel would say, “GIVE ME A BREAK!”

Ya sure Kevin. And what threat did Ashli pose to the “LT” or the Capital? NNNNNNOOOOONNNNEEEEE You DB.
Wonder if Kevin will say the same thing if a white cop shoots an unarmed black woman for trespassing.
Na.. He;’ll say it was because of systemic racism. Parroting his dem master’s party line.
I had hopes McCarthy was mending his ways. Time for a no confidence vote and replace him with Mike Lee.