In a racially tinged Truth Social post Thursday night, former President Donald Trump once again smeared the Capitol police officer who shot Jan. 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt.
Trump wrote that he disagreed with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who told a reporter earlier in the day that Lt. Michael Byrd “did his job.”
Despite having been exonerated by the Capitol Police, the D.C. Metropolitan Police and the Justice Department, Byrd was nevertheless branded a “coward” and a “thug” by Trump.
“Despite trying to keep him anonymous, shielded, and protected, this MISFIT proudly showed up on NBC Fake Nightly News ‘bragging’ about the killing,” Trump complained.
Byrd told NBC in August 2021 that he and his family had received death threats in the preceding months. He used his firearm as a “last resort,” he said, adding that he “saved countless lives.”