Undersecretary of the Air Force Matthew Lohmeier said “considering the information that has come forward since then,” he concluded the earlier denial was “incorrect.”
The US Air Force has reversed a prior decision and will extend military funeral honors to Senior Airman Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer during the January 6, 2021, riot.
Babbitt, a 14-year Air Force veteran, was initially denied funeral honors by Air Force leadership in February 2021. At the time, Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly wrote that granting such honors “would bring discredit upon the Air Force.”
The decision has now been overturned and in an August 15 letter sent to Babbitt’s husband, Aaron, Undersecretary of the Air Force Matthew Lohmeier wrote that after reviewing the circumstances of her death and “considering the information that has come forward since then,” he concluded the earlier denial was “incorrect.” Additionally, Lohmeier offered to meet with Babbitt’s family at the Pentagon.
The reversal comes weeks after the federal government agreed to a nearly $5 million settlement with Babbitt’s family in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch. The suit alleged Babbitt was “ambushed and defenseless” when she was fatally shot as she attempted to climb through a broken door window near the House chamber.
Federal investigators had previously cleared the officer of wrongdoing. The Justice Department’s April 2021 review concluded that he fired a single shot believing it “necessary to do so in self-defense or in defense of the members of Congress and others evacuating the House chamber.”
The new decision also follows President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon almost all the individuals convicted of crimes tied to the Capitol riot. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton praised the Air Force’s reversal, crediting Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Undersecretary Lohmeier.
“Ashli Babbitt’s family is grateful to President Trump, Secretary Hegseth and Undersecretary Lohmeier for reversing the Biden Defense Department’s cruel decision,” Fitton said in a statement.
According to Stars and Stripes, military funeral honors are a final tribute offered to veterans who served honorably. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, they include a minimum of two service members in attendance, the playing of taps, and the ceremonial folding and presentation of an American flag to the next of kin.
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