Judicial Watch Lawsuit Demands FBI's Ashli Babbitt Files

Judicial Watch, claiming the FBI is engaged in a "cover-up" in the death of Ashli Babbitt, the U.S. Air Force veteran who was shot and killed during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach at the Capitol, has filed a lawsuit demanding the agency turn over any files it has about her and her husband Aaron. 

The watchdog group, which is working with Aaron Babbitt as the executor of his wife's estate, filed its suit Friday with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, reports the Washington Examiner.

Judicial Watch is seeking all information the FBI has about the Babbitts, as well as its reports of Ashli's shooting death outside the House Speaker's Lobby. She was shot and killed by then-Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, who remains on the force and has since been promoted.

The organization, led by Tom Fitton, and Aaron Babbitt also recently filed a $30 million wrongful death lawsuit against the government in the death of Ashli, 35.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed Friday claims that the FBI has refused two demands for files and that it has pushed back against the Justice Department's call for FOIA compliance.

"The FBI has failed to produce the requested records or demonstrate that the requested records are lawfully exempt from production, or notify plaintiffs of the scope of any responsive records they intend to produce or withhold and the reasons for any withholdings," the filing said.

Fitton commented that Babbitt "was the only homicide victim on Jan. 6, yet the FBI has been illicitly hiding its files [for a year] … why the cover-up?"

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