Tom Fitton to Newsmax: Congress Must Own Up to Ashli Babbitt's Death

Ashli Babbitt, the only person to die inside the U.S. Capitol during the protests on Jan. 6, 2021, was the victim of an "unlawful shooting" and the government must own up to that, Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, said on Newsmax on Saturday.

Judicial Watch has filed a $30 million lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of the estate of Ashli Babbitt and her husband, Aaron Babbitt.

"There was one homicide that day, and it was of Ashli Babbitt," Fitton told Newsmax's "Saturday Agenda," on which he appeared with Aaron Babbitt.

He added that Congress must "own up for the fact that their police force was poorly managed and negligent in allowing this shooting to take place."

Ashli Babbitt was shot while attempting to climb through a broken window leading to the Speaker's Lobby, which is near the House floor.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, targets Capitol Police officer Michael Byrd, saying he was negligent and was not legally justified to shoot and kill her.

It also accuses other law enforcement officers on the scene of acting negligently, saying that Sgt. Timothy Lively and officers Kyle Yetter, Christopher Lanciano, Steven Robbs, Don Smith, Brandon Sikes, and Mike Brown, along with Jason Gandolph, a House Sergeant at Arms employee, "owed Ashli a duty to act as reasonably prudent officers to protect her from harm," reported Roll Call.

The Department of Justice opted not to pursue charges against Byrd, who has been promoted to the rank of captain in the Capitol Police, according to reports.

"The idea that the Justice Department would look at this and say, 'Well, there's not enough here to pursue him,' and ... then the Capitol Hill police would then look at it and do nothing administratively to me is the scandal of Jan. 6," said Fitton. "They're responsible."

Aaron Babbitt described his late wife as a "God-loving American patriot" who served her country for 14 years.

"We went overseas four times from major deployments," he said. "She wanted to see President [Donald] Trump speak one last time."

Babbitt said his wife flew from San Diego to Washington to attend Trump's Save America rally on Jan. 6.

"I've seen her on camera the whole time while she was there," he said. "She was not violent whatsoever — by herself, walking around, taking selfies. They've put this narrative together that she was just an awful, crazy maniac. And it's just completely false and slanderous."

Fitton commented that according to video of the shooting, Ashli Babbitt was "in a terrible spot there, and there was no good reason to shoot her."

And for "all of establishment Washington" to "pretend her death was not improper simply because of politics is so corrupt," Fitton added. "We're pleased to be able to bring this in federal court. The U.S. government is responsible for Ashli Babbitt's untimely death, and there's no justification for it. We're going to push hard legally to make this case."

Meanwhile, he said he does not know whether the lawsuit will lead to public access of video or other evidence that has not yet surfaced.

"There have to be a lot of green lights from the court to begin discovery there. But I'll tell you, [Speaker] Mike Johnson in the meantime can fully release additional information," said Fitton. "We know already there are emails from other Judicial Watch litigation that they're sitting on. Congress needs to own up for the fact that their police force was poorly managed and negligent in allowing this shooting to take place. They're responsible."

The lawsuit claims Ashli Babbitt entered the Capitol through the Senate side of the building and was directed by a police officer to the House chamber, but her husband said that it is "hard for me to speak" on her state of mind.

"You know, she left the speech, walked down with however many people — you know, I'm saying millions; some say 300,000 — walked down to the Capitol," Babbitt said. "There was a good hour after people had already started going in there. So, I mean, she's blended in with the crowd. But I can't speak to what her thoughts were [about] what was going on. I just know that she was in there extremely peacefully with a whole bunch of other people."

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