by Jack Cashill, American Thinker:
Incredibly, U.S. Capitol Police captain Michael Byrd, the cop who shot J6 protester Ashli Babbitt, appears to have been extorting the Democrats for favors, including a promotion. Even more incredibly, leading House Democrats have obliged him. Much of this bizarre saga Rep. Barry Lourdermilk (R-GA) has documented in a detailed letter to U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) chief Thomas Manger.
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What is undeniable is that Byrd shot and killed an unarmed woman of a different race. Undeniable, too, is that no police officer in recent memory has received anything like the treatment proffered to Byrd for a comparable shooting. Indeed, only in the DIE-infested miasma of the D.C. swamp does Byrd’s story make any sense at all.
In the way of background, Ashli Babbitt entered the Capitol alone on the Senate side through a broken window at 2:23 P.M. on January 6, 2021. Upon entering, Babbitt climbed over a velvet rope to honor the walking lane designated for visitors. She had less than 20 minutes left to live.
Still alone, Babbitt continued to explore the Capitol. At 2:36, citizen-journalist Tayler Hansen, camera rolling, followed her down a long, narrow corridor leading to the Speaker’s Lobby. Guarding the lobby doors were three USCP officers. A 14-year Air Force veteran with military police experience, Babbitt identified with the officers and joked with them.
Within a minute or two, a trailing crowd of roughly thirty people quickly filled up the corridor in front of the lobby doors. One provocateur reached between the officers and began punching the glass panels. Babbitt’s police training kicked in. “Call f—— back-up!” she shouted at the feckless officers as they stood in place with their backs to the doors, doing nothing.
When the officers inexplicably abandoned their post, the provocateur busted out a window pane with a helmet. After yelling for the window-breaker to stop, Babbitt slugged the man in the face and knocked his glasses off. Fleeing the madness, she hopped into the window frame, now fully free of glass, a feat only a person as small as she could have managed.
On the far side of the barricaded lobby doors stood Lt. Byrd, his arm outstretched, gun in hand. Other armed officers hovered nearby in the narrow Speaker’s Lobby. No members of Congress remained in the lobby, and only a handful of Republicans, all men, remained on the adjacent House floor.
How Lt. Byrd came to be there in the role of incident commander is something of mystery. As Loudermilk documents in detail, Byrd had a career-long record of reckless behavior. He shot at a stolen vehicle, got cited for “conduct unbecoming an officer” after a racial confrontation, left his service weapon unattended in a public bathroom, later failed a routine background check for a shotgun purchase, and then failed the USCP shotgun training course.
The IRS seems to have treated Byrd preferentially as well. As licensed private investigator Susan Daniels has reported, a year before the shooting, the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County slapped Byrd with a $56,000 federal tax lien. The case remains open.
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