Lieutenant Who Shot and Killed Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6 Was ‘Doing His Job,’ House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Says

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) gives remarks at a news conference in Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol on February 02, 2023. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

With the GOP-controlled U.S. House of Representatives yet to take up a list of issues ignored by the former Jan. 6 Select Committee, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Feb. 2 declared that Ashli Babbitt was not murdered and the Capitol Police lieutenant who shot her was “doing his job.”

During McCarthy’s weekly press conference at the Capitol, a reporter asked him, “Do you think Ashli Babbitt was murdered, or do you think the police officer who shot her was doing his job?”