J6 Cop Who Killed Ashli Babbitt Received ‘Huge Compensation, More Than Any Other Officer’ [WATCH]

Questions surrounding the January 6, 2021, shooting death of Ashli Babbitt were raised again this week during an exchange between conservative commentator Benny Johnson and Rep. Barry Loudermilk, a Republican member of the House Administration Committee, which oversees the U.S. Capitol Police.

Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran, was shot and killed inside the U.S. Capitol by Capitol Police officer Michael Byrd during the January 6 breach.

She was unarmed at the time of the shooting. The incident has remained one of the most disputed and controversial moments of that day, particularly among conservatives who argue the shooting was unjustified and that Byrd was never held accountable.

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Johnson contrasted the intense media and political attention given to recent law enforcement encounters with what he described as the lack of scrutiny over Babbitt’s death.

“There’s a lot of conversation about Renee Good and Alex Pretti and saying that you know, the federal government is acting with deadly force and without warning and so on,” Johnson said.

“This all happened on January 6. I didn’t see any of these people like at all mentioned multiple members of the MAGA movement that were killed on January 6. Ashli Babbitt is the one that is the most famous, and she was unarmed. She was killed without warning. It was an extrajudicial murder.”

Johnson pressed Loudermilk on whether Congress would further investigate Byrd’s actions or provide additional compensation or closure for Babbitt’s family.

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Loudermilk responded that the matter had already been examined during the previous Congress and said the committee’s work led to financial compensation for Babbitt’s family.

“Well, the reality of that is we, in the previous Congress, we investigated that pretty thoroughly, and as a result of our investigation, Ashli Babbitt’s family did receive a judicial reward in their favor from the federal government because of the investigative work we did,” Loudermilk said.

He added that Byrd “should have not been on the force based on previous disciplinary problems that he had.”

According to Loudermilk, the investigation uncovered what he described as favoritism within the Capitol Police and raised serious questions about why Byrd remained employed, let alone promoted, after the shooting.

“There appeared to be a lot of favoritism going on within Capitol Police,” Loudermilk said.

He explained that he had sent a letter to the former Capitol Police chief, who has since retired, seeking justification for Byrd’s promotion and compensation.

“Why was he even on the force still, much less being promoted, and why did he receive such a huge financial compensation, much larger than any other Capitol police officer did who was engaged in frontline fighting on January 6.”

Johnson reacted with surprise, prompting Loudermilk to confirm that Byrd received bonus pay in the thousands of dollars.

“Oh yeah, it was in several thousands of dollars of bonus, you may say, that he received,” Loudermilk said.

Johnson responded, “To kill an unarmed woman and a veteran?”

Loudermilk said those are precisely the questions that still need answers and expressed hope that new leadership at the Capitol Police will bring greater accountability.

“This is a question that needs to be asked as to why, and we had not gotten those answers,” Loudermilk said.

He noted that leadership changes at the department could open the door to deeper reviews of past conduct.

“I hope that they’re going to be doing some deep dives into a lot of the performance of those certain people within the Capitol Police.”

Loudermilk argued that transparency and accountability are necessary to prevent future tragedies, comparing the resistance to scrutiny to a political effort to shield uncomfortable truths.

“If you don’t know the truth, you’re never going to stop bad things from happening again, or you won’t be ready when they do,” he said.

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