Particle.news
Download on the App Store
16 ARTICLES
·
4h ago

Air Force Offers Full Military Funeral Honors to Ashli Babbitt

After a near $5 million wrongful-death settlement, Under Secretary Matthew Lohmeier said new information persuaded him the 2021 denial was incorrect.

A poster of Ashli Babbitt, who was killed by Capitol Police during the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, hangs on a fence on the first anniversary of the event outside the Capitol, in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2022.
A U.S. Air Force Honor Guard conduct military funeral honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
ashli babbitt PR
A picture of Ashli Bobbitt hangs near the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2022.

Overview

  • A Department of the Air Force spokesperson confirmed an August 15 letter offering military funeral honors to Babbitt and verified the reversal.
  • Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly had denied the family’s 2021 request, writing that granting honors would bring discredit upon the service.
  • The offer follows a 2025 settlement of nearly $5 million with Babbitt’s family in their wrongful-death lawsuit against the federal government.
  • Lohmeier invited Babbitt’s husband and mother to meet at the Pentagon; customary honors include a uniformed detail, the playing of Taps, and presentation of the U.S. flag.
  • Babbitt was shot by a Capitol Police officer as she tried to climb through a broken window toward the Speaker’s Lobby on January 6, 2021, and the officer was cleared of criminal wrongdoing by federal and departmental reviews.