Top Lawyer Files FOIA Request To Name Babbitt's Killer As DoJ Hides Identity, Arrests Reporter Who Recorded Shooting
Successful trial attorney Norm Pattis, described by the media as being “brilliant and audacious” and a “legal top gun”, has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain the name of the Capitol Hill police officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt during the civil unrest that transpired in Washington, D.C. on January 6. National File has obtained a copy of the FOIA request.
The Biden administration’s Department of Justice is refusing to name or charge the police officer responsible for Babbitt’s death, despite admitting that the officer had no reasonable cause to discharge his firearm against her. The Babbitt family attorney has pledged to continue fighting on behalf of his clients, and suggested civil litigation against the federal government and the unnamed police officer may be impending.
To further complicate matters, yesterday the Department of Justice took the unprecedented move of arresting the video journalist who captured clear video of the fatal shooting. Many conservatives decried the seemingly political persecution, including Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, who compared the action to authoritarian silencing of dissident journalists that is commonplace in the third world.
“Questions still remain in the public’s mind over whether the officer’s use of force was justified. The United States Department of Justice obviously shared those concerns because it opened its own investigation into whether the officer should be charged with a federal crime,” wrote Pattis in the FOIA request. “That investigation concluded that the officer should not be charged, and the Department publicly announced its conclusion.”
“The public now desperately wants to know why the Department of Justice did not charge the officer. It also wants to know who that officer is,” Pattis explained. “The Department of Justice’s press release offers little information about how it reached its conclusion and the evidence supporting or disproving its conclusion. It offered no clue as to who the officer is.”
“The public’s interest in Ms. Babbitt’s unfortunate death at the hands of a Capitol police officer is more intensified than usual in light of the circumstances ongoing in the United States during 2020 and 2021. The public’s confidence in police officers, prosecutors, and other law enforcement officials is at an all-time low due to the numerous law-enforcement involved deaths that occurred in 2020 and 2021,” Pattis continued, explaining why the officer’s name should be released to his client, Alex Jones’ Infowars.
Meanwhile, journalist Tayler Hansen claims to have identified the officer responsible for the shooting as Lieutenant Mike Byrd, who once left his service pistol unattended in a bathroom and claimed that he “will be treated differently” because of his senior rank. Hansen says that Byrd is apparently in hiding, and is no longer employed or living at his address.
After leaving his firearm unattended in the bathroom, he said he “will be treated differently” because of his rank as a lieutenant.
Clearly he’s proven this to be true. https://t.co/qTACGLm7ys
— Tayler Hansen (@TaylerUSA) April 13, 2021
The FOIA request from Pattis, who is representing Jones and Infowars in the effort to obtain the information about Babbitt’s killer, comes one day after the FBI arrested and the Department of Justice charged Infowars video editor Samuel Montoya for entering the U.S. Capitol building on January 6. Acting in a journalistic capacity, Montoya recorded video of the protesters entering the U.S. Capitol, and continued recording as they walked toward the Speaker’s Lobby, directly outside the U.S. House chambers. Montoya captured clear video of the moment Babbitt was shot by the unnamed, uncharged Capitol Hill police officer.
Charging documents reveal that Montoya was arrested over three months after he recorded the footage of Babbitt’s death when a family member gave information to the FBI identifying Montoya as the journalist who captured the video.
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