The US air force will provide military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt, the rioter fatally shot during the January 6 Capitol riot, marking another step in Donald Trump’s aggressive rehabilitation of the attack.
The under secretary of the air force, Matthew Lohmeier, confirmed the decision in an August letter to Babbitt’s family. The Biden administration previously denied Babbitt the honors, but Lohmeier said he was “persuaded that the previous determination was incorrect” after reviewing new information about her death.
Babbitt, 35, served in the air force and air national guard and was shot by Capitol Hill police as she climbed through a barricaded door near the House chamber in the mass frenzy to overthrow the results of the 2020 election. The air force had originally refused honors in February 2021, according to Lohmeier’s letter, saying they would “bring discredit upon the Air Force” due to the circumstances of her death. She was the only person killed by gunfire during the riot.
The announcement, made public Wednesday by conservative legal group Judicial Watch, follows a nearly $5m wrongful death settlement the government paid Babbitt’s family in July.
Trump has systematically worked to reframe January 6 since returning to office. On his first day back, he pardoned approximately 1,500 defendants connected to the riot, calling their prosecutions “a grave national injustice”. The pardons covered nearly all those jailed or awaiting trial, including extremist group leaders sentenced for seditious conspiracy.
The administration has fired dozens of federal prosecutors who worked on January 6 cases and hired lawyers who previously defended rioters, including one who compared the prosecutions to the Holocaust. The justice department also hired former FBI agent Jared Wise, who participated in the attack and was charged with encouraging the mob to kill police officers before receiving a Trump pardon.
Trump has repeatedly called the rioters “patriots” and “political prisoners”, framing the assault on the Capitol as legitimate protest rather than an attempt to overturn the 2020 election. The systematic reversal extends beyond pardons to a wholesale reimagining of January 6 as political persecution rather than criminal conduct.
Babbitt owned a pool business with her husband in San Diego. She traveled alone to Washington DC for Trump’s “Save America” rally before joining the raid on the Capitol.
The military honors will include a ceremony with taps and the presentation of an American flag to her family. Lohmeier also invited Babbitt’s mother and husband to meet him at the Pentagon.