Ashli Babbitt — the 35-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran killed inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021 — will finally receive the full military funeral honors she earned through more than a decade of service to her country. The reversal comes after years of bitter controversy, political stonewalling, and a wrongful death settlement her family reached earlier this year.
Judicial Watch, which has represented Babbitt’s family in their long fight, announced Wednesday that the Air Force has overturned its 2021 denial. That denial, issued under the Biden administration, stripped Babbitt of honors normally afforded to veterans with her record, on the grounds that she had been present at the Capitol riot.
The breakthrough came after Judicial Watch Senior Counsel Robert Sticht pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to review the case. On Aug. 15, Under Secretary of the Air Force Matthew L. Lohmeier sent a letter to Babbitt’s husband, Aaron, and her mother, Michelle Witthoeft, offering full funeral honors.
BREAKING: The US Air Force has RESTORED funeral honors to veteran Ashli Babbitt — reversing a vicious, political decision by the Biden regime to deny them to her and her grieving family. Thank you @RealDonaldTrump, @SecDef @PeteHegseth and @usairforce Under Sec @matthewlohmeier!… https://t.co/kdSCWkelUg
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) August 27, 2025
“After reviewing the circumstances of Ashli’s death, and considering the information that has come forward since then, I am persuaded that the previous determination was incorrect,” Lohmeier wrote.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton hailed the decision as long overdue: “Ashli Babbitt’s family is grateful to President Trump, Secretary Hegseth and Under Secretary Lohmeier for reversing the Biden Defense Department’s cruel decision to deny Ashli funeral honors as a distinguished veteran of the Air Force.”
Babbitt’s service record speaks for itself. She enlisted in the Air Force in 2004, served on active duty until 2008, then continued with the Reserves until 2010 and the Air National Guard until 2016. She deployed multiple times overseas, completing more than a decade of uniformed service before returning to civilian life.
On Jan. 6, 2021, she was shot and killed by a U.S. Capitol police officer as she attempted to climb through a shattered window near the Speaker’s Lobby. Federal investigators cleared the officer of wrongdoing, but the decision only fueled outrage and deepened partisan divides. Earlier this year, the Babbitt family reached a nearly $5 million settlement with the federal government under President Trump’s administration.
With this policy reversal, Babbitt’s funeral will now include the solemn traditions she earned: an honor guard, the playing of Taps, and the folding and presentation of the American flag. For her family, it is a measure of dignity long denied. For many others, it marks a symbolic correction — one that acknowledges service, even amid one of the most polarizing moments in modern American history.
