Exclusive: Officer who killed Ashli Babbitt abandoned US Capitol post for card game, lied to investigators about it, source says
Capitol Police Internal Affairs Division probe led to a recommendation that Michael Byrd be fired for the 2001 incident. He kept his job.
The U.S. Capitol Police lieutenant who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was recommended for termination in 2001 for abandoning his post in the Speaker’s Office for a card game in a nearby cloakroom, then lying about it to Internal Affairs Division investigators, Blaze News has learned.
The 2001 investigation of Michael L. Byrd, 56, was the first known disciplinary case brought against the lieutenant who crept from his blind near the doors to the Speaker’s Lobby on Jan. 6, 2021, and shot Babbitt to death. The 2001 incident is the fourth such disciplinary case disclosed since Nov. 20.
A source with detailed knowledge of the Internal Affairs Division case told Blaze News that Byrd was charged with abandoning his post, eating and drinking at his post, and lying to investigators — a terminable offense. It is one of three Byrd disciplinary cases for which records could not be found when a House oversight subcommittee requested them in early 2024, the source said.
Byrd was assigned to the Speaker’s Office of U.S. Rep. Denny Hastert (R-Ill.) on the evening in question. During his break, Byrd went to play cards in a cloak room near the House Chamber, the source said.
Capitol Police Internal Affairs Division probe led to a recommendation that Michael Byrd be fired for the 2001 incident. He kept his job.
The U.S. Capitol Police lieutenant who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was recommended for termination in 2001 for abandoning his post in the Speaker’s Office for a card game in a nearby cloakroom, then lying about it to Internal Affairs Division investigators, Blaze News has learned.
The 2001 investigation of Michael L. Byrd, 56, was the first known disciplinary case brought against the lieutenant who crept from his blind near the doors to the Speaker’s Lobby on Jan. 6, 2021, and shot Babbitt to death. The 2001 incident is the fourth such disciplinary case disclosed since Nov. 20.
A source with detailed knowledge of the Internal Affairs Division case told Blaze News that Byrd was charged with abandoning his post, eating and drinking at his post, and lying to investigators — a terminable offense. It is one of three Byrd disciplinary cases for which records could not be found when a House oversight subcommittee requested them in early 2024, the source said.
Byrd was assigned to the Speaker’s Office of U.S. Rep. Denny Hastert (R-Ill.) on the evening in question. During his break, Byrd went to play cards in a cloak room near the House Chamber, the source said.
'He ends up getting into some trouble, but they won't terminate him.'
Byrd went to relieve the officer who covered Hastert’s office during Byrd’s break, but then abandoned his post and returned to the cloakroom to play cards, the source told Blaze News.
“Well, the sergeant walks by and was like, ‘Man, there’s nobody in the Speaker’s Office,’” said the source, who has worked in the top levels of U.S. Capitol Police administration. “This is a big issue.”
An internal investigation was opened.
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