The Capitol Police officer who killed Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6 insurrection will reveal his identity in an NBC News interview set to air on Thursday night.
The officer will talk about his perspective on the events of Jan. 6, the threats he received in its wake, according to a statement from NBC. He will also address the USCP’s decision not to discipline him.
The officer’s first media appearance since the Capitol insurrection comes as former President Trump has commandeered Ashli Babbitt’s story as a rallying cry, jumping aboard the far-right effort to paint Babbitt as a martyr — an innocent woman killed by a rogue federal agent rather than a person who was caught up in false narrative of the Big Lie.
The officer’s interview was also announced a day after the USCP’s internal investigation into Babbitt’s shooting cleared him of any wrongdoing. The USCP did not recommend any discipline for the officer, who the law enforcement agency said acted “lawfully” in defending the Capitol as a pro-Trump mob breached the building and endangered lawmakers’ lives.
In a statement, the Capitol police said that the unnamed officer had received “credible” death threats. Many on the far right have moved to racialize the circumstances of Babbitt’s death, believing that the officer who killed her is African American.
The agency said that the officer’s decision to shoot Babbitt came after insurrectionists “forced their way into the U.S. Capitol and to the House Chamber where Members and staff were steps away.”
USCP found that the officer’s actions on Jan. 6 protected members of Congress, and so were “consistent with the officer’s training and USCP policies and procedures.”
