Judicial Watch Files $30 Million Wrongful Death Lawsuit against U.S. Government on behalf of Ashli Babbitt’s Husband and Estate

Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. Government on behalf of the family of Ashli Babbitt, the U.S. Air Force veteran who was shot and killed inside the U.S. Capitol by then-Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd on January 6, 2021 (Estate of Ashli Babbitt and Aaron Babbitt, et al. v. United States of America (No. 3:24-cv-00033)).

The lawsuit includes claims against the U.S. Government for wrongful death, assault and battery, and various negligence issues.

Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt was a 35-year-old resident of San Diego, California, where she owned and operated a successful pool business with her husband Aaron. Ashli traveled alone from San Diego to Washington, DC, to attend the Women for America First (aka Save America) rally on January 6, 2021, at the Ellipse.

As the lawsuit details:

Ashli loved her country and wanted to show her support for President Trump’s America First policies and to see and hear the president speak live while he remained in office. Ashli did not go to Washington as part of a group or for any unlawful or nefarious purpose. She was there to exercise what she believed were her God-given, American liberties and freedoms.

After the rally, Ashli, like a great many other patriotic Americans attending the rally, walked to the Capitol peacefully, a distance of approximately 1.5 miles. Two undercover Metropolitan Police Department officers followed close behind Ashli as she climbed the stairs to the West Terrace. Ashli entered the Capitol on the Senate side long after others had done so. Once inside, Ashli encountered a female Capitol Police officer, who directed her to walk south toward the House side. Ashli complied, walking alone through the Capitol and ultimately arriving at the hallway outside the main door to the House chamber, where demonstrators had gathered. From there, Ashli walked by herself east, along the hallway outside the House chamber, then turned south, reaching the hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby at the southeast corner of the Capitol.

***

The shooting occurred at the east entrance to the Speaker’s Lobby. After demonstrators filled the hallway outside the lobby, two individuals in the crowded, tightly packed hallway struck and dislodged the glass panels in the lobby doors and the right door sidelight. Lt. Byrd, who is a USCP commander and was the incident commander for the House on January 6, 2021, shot Ashli on sight as she raised herself up into the opening of the right door sidelight. Lt. Byrd later confessed that he shot Ashli before seeing her hands or assessing her intentions or even identifying her as female. Ashli was unarmed. Her hands were up in the air, empty, and in plain view of Lt. Byrd and other officers in the lobby.

***

https://www.judicialwatch.org/wrongful-death-lawsuit-babbitt/

Pentagon chief suffered surgery complications

Lloyd Austin’s secret hospital stay went unnoticed for days

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has been hospitalized since the start of the year, with his deputy handling “routine business,” Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder revealed on Friday.

Austin was admitted to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Monday, for what Ryder described as “complications following a recent elective medical procedure.” The 70-year-old retired general is “recovering well and is expecting to resume his full duties today,” Ryder added.

The Pentagon would not disclose the sort of “elective procedure” that Austin had undergone, or what the complications might have been. Ryder told the MIlitary Times that the decision to keep Austin’s hospital stay secret was made “taking privacy into account” and due to the “evolving situation.”

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was “prepared to act for and exercise the powers of the secretary, if required” and has in fact “conducted some routine business for the department on his behalf,” Ryder told reporters.

The non-disclosure came in “stark contrast” to how the Marine Corps handled its commandant’s heart attack in October, the Military Times noted. The USMC sent out an email to reporters the very next day, letting them know that General Eric Smith had survived and was recovering from the medical episode.

Austin is the historic first African American to head the Pentagon, having been nominated by President Joe Biden in January 2021. Upon retiring from the military in 2016, Austin joined the board of the military contractor Raytheon Technologies. He received a congressional waiver to be able to lead the Pentagon, since he had not been out of active service for seven years as required by law.

https://www.rt.com/news/590174-pentagon-austin-surgery-complications/

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2024/01/05/defense-secretary-hospitalized-for-surgery-complications/

US preparing for expansion of Gaza conflict – Politico

Washington is discussing scenarios that could potentially draw it into a war in the Middle East, officials told the outlet

The White House is worried that the conflict in Gaza could expand to other parts of the Middle East and is drawing up plans for a possible US response if that happens, Politico has reported, citing informed officials.

Internal discussions are underway in the administration of US President Joe Biden about scenarios that could see Washington drawn into a major war in the region, the outlet said in an article on Thursday.

The potential for a wider conflict in the Middle East is growing, said sources including a senior Biden administration official.

The events of the past few days “have convinced some in the administration that the war in Gaza has officially escalated far beyond the strip’s borders,” Politico wrote.

These events included a US drone strike in Baghdad that killed Iraqi militia leader Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, the killing of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri in an Israeli UAV attack in the Lebanese capital Beirut, and twin explosions in Iran that claimed 84 lives and wounded almost 300 people.

According to the officials, the US military is drafting plans to strike back at Houthi fighters, who have been targeting commercial ships off Yemen’s coast in response to the attacks on Gaza by Israel. “From our perspective, the most worrying thing is that the Houthis might sink a ship. Then what happens?” one of the sources said.

The intelligence community is trying to find ways of anticipating and resisting the attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria by local militias. It’s also working to determine whether the Houthis would carry out similar strikes, the report read.

Such contingency planning is routine amid heightened tension in the Middle East, officials said. But this activity has intensified this week on orders from the top echelons of the administration “over fears that the violence in the region will only continue to grow and that Washington will eventually have to intervene,” they explained.

Politico stressed that rising tensions in the Middle East “are perilous not just for regional security, but for Biden’s re-election chances.” The president, who planned to focus his campaign on domestic issues, instead “ends his first term as the West’s champion for the defense of Ukraine and key enabler of Israel’s retaliation against Hamas,” it said.

https://www.rt.com/news/590150-biden-us-yemen-gaza/

CASUALTIES REPORTED AFTER IRAQI RESISTANCE ATTACKS ON U.S. BASES IN SYRIA

On January 4, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella group of Iranian-backed armed factions, attacked two bases of the United States military in Syria with suicide drones.

The first attack targeted a military training camp in the area of al-Rukban near the U.S. al-Tanf garrison in the southeastern region, while the second attack hit the Green Village base which is located in al-Omar oil fields in the eastern governorate of Deir Ezzor.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based pro-opposition monitoring group, confirmed that both bases were hit by suicide drones and reported casualties in the Green Village. The U.S. Central Command is yet to provide any details.

The IRI said in two separate statements that the attacks were an act of “resistance” against U.S. occupation and a response to Israeli “massacres” against Palestinains in the Gaza Strip.

The two attacks came just a few hours after Mushtaq Talib “Abu Taqwa” al-Saidi, a senior commander of Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, was killed in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, in a U.S. drone strike. Another member of the faction was also killed and at least six others were wounded.

Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, which is backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is a part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, which is officially recognized by the Iraqi government, and thought to be one of the main factions of the shadowy IRI.

An unnamed U.S. defense official told Al-Monitor that Abu Taqwa was assassinated because he was “actively involved” in planning, executing attacks on U.S. forces.

More than 100 attacks with rockets, ballistic missiles and suicide drones have targeted U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since October 17, ten days after the outbreak of the war in Gaza. The IRI claimed responsibility for most of the attacks.

The Iraqi government held the U.S.-led coalition responsible for the assassination, calling it a “dangerous escalation” and “an aggression against Iraq.” Meanwhile, many political parties and leaders called for expelling U.S. forces from the country and vowed to take revenge.

The IRI will likely intensify attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria in the coming days in response to the assassination of Abu Taqwa.

https://southfront.press/casualties-reported-after-iraqi-resistance-attacks-on-u-s-bases-in-syria/

‘Right Wing-Conspiracy Theorists’ Are Proven Right Yet Again, But It’s Even Worse Than We Thought

https://dailycaller.com/2024/01/05/rooke-right-wing-conspiracy-theorist-jeffrey-epstein-bill-clinton/