Speaker Kevin McCarthy Plans to Meet With Micki Witthoeft, Ashli Babbitt’s Mother

Micki Witthoeft, the late Ashli Babbitt's mother, waits for the start of the House Committee on Administration hearing on Capitol Hill Feb. 28, 2023. Photo courtesy of Micki Witthoeft

A month after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd was “doing his job” when he shot and killed Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6, 2021, Babbitt’s mother said the speaker scheduled a meeting with her for later in March.

Micki Witthoeft said she was waiting to get into the gallery for the House Committee on Administration hearing at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 28 when she was approached by Tim Monahan, a senior aide to McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Witthoeft said the aide told her that McCarthy “wanted to schedule a meeting with me because I had requested a meeting with him.”

“I found the overall conversation was respectful,” Witthoeft told The Epoch Times. “It is encouraging.”

During a press conference at the Capitol on Feb. 2, a reporter asked McCarthy, “Do you think Ashli Babbitt was murdered, or do you think the police officer who shot her was doing his job?”

McCarthy didn’t hesitate: “I think the police officer did his job.”

The remark didn’t sit well with Aaron Babbitt, Ashli’s widower, or with Witthoeft.

“I will be making his office my first stop Monday,” Witthoeft said at the time. “I want to ask him if he’s had the stomach to watch my daughter’s murder, or if he just says whatever his handlers tell him to say.”

‘Perhaps a Little Aggressive’

Witthoeft visited McCarthy’s Washington office a short time later.

“I went in the day after he made those remarks about Michael Byrd just doing his job, and I was perhaps a little aggressive with his aide,” Witthoeft said.

Babbitt, 35, was shot and killed by then-Lt. Byrd outside the entrance to the Speaker’s Lobby just before 2:45 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021. Babbitt, a 14-year U.S. Air Force and National Guard veteran, wasn’t armed as she started to climb through a broken window leading into the Speaker’s Lobby. Byrd fired a single shot from his Glock 22 service weapon, striking Babbitt in the front of her left shoulder.

Byrd said he feared for his life and felt justified in shooting the 5-foot-2, 115-pound Babbitt. The U.S. Justice Department agreed, ruling there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prove that Byrd used excessive force. Capitol Police also cleared Byrd of wrongdoing. His name was kept from the public until late August 2021, when he went on national television to tell his story.

Micki Witthoeft (C), mother of slain Jan. 6 protester Ashli Babbitt, attends the first hearing of the Weaponization of the Federal Government subcommittee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Feb. 9, 2023. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Witthoeft said Monahan asked her if she planned to disrupt the Committee on Administration hearing that was about to get underway. She said the question took her aback.

“I was surprised by his question, to ask me if I was going to disrupt this hearing, because I’ve been to several hearings,” Witthoeft said. “I’ve not been disruptive ... I’ve been extremely well-behaved in the halls of Congress.”

She said Monahan referenced her Jan. 6 arrest by U.S. Capitol Police for blocking traffic and failure to move out of the street. The case was later dropped.

The Epoch Times asked for comment on the planned meeting from McCarthy’s office but didn’t receive a reply by press time.

Micki Witthoeft (C), mother of Ashli Babbitt, who was killed on Jan. 6, 2021, stands with supporters of Jan. 6 defendants outside the U.S. Supreme Court on the second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

During her rounds of Capitol Hill from Feb. 27 to March 1, Witthoeft said she was introduced to Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee. She said Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) stopped and prayed with her.

On a previous trip to Capitol Hill in February, Witthoeft met with Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.).

Witthoeft said it’s disheartening to see so many media outlets continue to refer to her daughter as a “rioter” or “insurrectionist,” when videos show that Babbitt tried to stop rioters outside the Speaker’s Lobby from vandalizing the doors and windows.

“All of it frustrates me,” she said. “They were American citizens exercising their First Amendment rights. Some crimes were committed that day, and they should be judged on those crimes, but not beyond them and not by the day on the calendar. I feel that way about Ashli and the decisive, excessive use of force and loss of life. She was definitely violated that day.”