In this photo of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) driver’s license, provided to AP by the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, Ashli Babbitt is shown.
Maryland MVA | Courtesy of the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office through AP
The police officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt, who took part in the pro-Trump invasion of the U.S. Capitol, will reveal his identity for the first time in a television interview aired Thursday evening.
The NBC Nightly News interview with Lester Holt, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET, will air three days after the U.S. Capitol Police Department announced it would not discipline the officer following an internal investigation by the U.S. Capitol. January 6 shooting.
The Justice Department previously said it would not pursue criminal charges against the officer, whose identity has not been revealed.
Babbitt, who was part of a crowd of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol, tried to climb through an opening in a broken glass door outside the Orator’s lobby, which leads to the House of Commons. Chamber, according to DOJ research. The officer, who was inside the lobby, pulled out his service pistol and shot Babbitt once in the left shoulder, causing him to fall back to the ground. She was taken to Washington Hospital Center, where she died.
Since his death, Babbitt has become a far-right martyr. Online crowdfunding pages for his family have raised thousands of dollars. Former President Donald Trump issued a statement earlier this month saying he was talking to Babbitt’s mother and saying she was “murdered at the hands of someone who should never have taken the trigger from his gun.” .
The family of 35-year-old Air Force veteran Babbitt vowed to file a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the police department and the officer who fired the gun. Babbitt’s family is also currently suing to force Washington to release records that reveal the identity of the agent who shot her.
A lawyer for Babbitt’s family did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the interview.
The session official “will share his perspective on the events of that day, including the aftermath of the deadly insurgency and the threats he has received,” NBC said in a press release.
It will also discuss the USCP’s conclusion that its actions in the Capitol during the riot were “lawful and within the Department’s policy.”
This policy states that an officer may only use lethal force when he “reasonably believes that the action consists in the defense of human life, including the life of the officer, or in the defense of any person in immediate danger of physical injury. serious “.
The USCP statement also said the officer and his family “have been the subject of numerous specific and credible threats.”
An earlier investigation was completed in April by the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington.
It was found that Babbitt, one of hundreds of riots that broke into the Capitol on January 6, was part of a crowd that broke into a hallway in front of the Orator lobby, leading to the House of Commons.
The Justice Department investigation found that members of that mob tried to open the glass doors between the hallway and the lobby, which officers had barricaded with furniture.
Trump spread false conspiracy theories of a rigged election that fueled some of his supporters to invade the Capitol. At a rally in front of the White House on Jan. 6, Trump urged his supporters to march on the Capitol and pressure Republicans to challenge key state election votes for President Joe Biden.
Hundreds of Trump supporters storming the building on Jan. 6 forced a joint session of Congress to evacuate their chambers and hide from the mob, temporarily halting confirmation of Biden’s victory.
“They have been literally there to‘ Stop the Robbery, ’” Harry Dunn, PFC of Capitol police, said at a hearing last month before a select committee of lawmakers investigating the Capitol invasion.
This committee was formed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, after Senate Republicans rejected an effort to form an equally bipartisan “9/11” commission on the attempted insurgency.
On Wednesday, the selection committee issued large applications for records from numerous federal agencies, as well as the Trump White House, as part of its review.
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