Blaze News: Officer Who Killed Ashli Babbitt Should Not Have Been Employed on January 6

Brett T. | 11:30 PM on December 12, 2024

Democrats, including President Joe Biden, like to refer to the "deadly" insurrection on January 6, 2021, claiming that multiple police officers were killed that day. Actually, one person did die during the riot at the Capitol Building, and that was Ashley Babbitt, who was shot by a police officer whose identity was kept under wraps until he did an interview with NBC News' Lester Holt in August. Lieutenant Mike Byrd told Holt that he "saved countless lives" with his actions.

As Twitchy recently reported, shooting and killing Babbitt turned out to be very lucrative for Byrd, who was reported to have received a $36,000 retention bonus, ten times the $3,000 offered other officers.

In an exclusive report, Blaze News' Steve Baker and Joseph M. Hanneman reveal that Byrd should have lost his job before January 6.

🚨Breaking🚨 According to a high-ranking @CapitolPolice source, Ashli Babbitt’s shooter should not have been employed on #J6. Among other hidden disciplinary actions, at least one should have resulted in Michael Byrd’s termination. https://t.co/fSo8BqJyno
— Steve Baker - TPC (@TPC4USA) December 12, 2024

They write:

The U.S. Capitol Police lieutenant who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was recommended for termination in 2001 for abandoning his post in the Speaker’s Office for a card game in a nearby cloakroom, then lying about it to Internal Affairs Division investigators, Blaze News has learned.
A source with detailed knowledge of the Internal Affairs Division case told Blaze News that Byrd was charged with abandoning his post, eating and drinking at his post, and lying to investigators — a terminable offense. It is one of three Byrd disciplinary cases for which records could not be found when a House oversight subcommittee requested them in early 2024, the source said.
The 2001 investigation of Michael L. Byrd, 56, was the first known disciplinary case brought against the lieutenant who crept from his blind near the doors to the Speaker’s Lobby on Jan. 6, 2021, and shot Babbitt to death. The 2001 incident is the fourth such disciplinary case disclosed since Nov. 20.