In February 2021, U.S. Air Force leadership under then-President Joe Biden refused to provide military funeral honors to the late Ashli Babbitt, a USAF veteran who was shot and killed by a U.S. Capitol Police officer during the Jan. 6 Capitol demonstrations just a month earlier.

Now, four years later, the Air Force under President Donald Trump has reversed that decision and instead agreed to grant the military funeral honors that had been initially requested by her family following her untimely death, according to Fox News.

That reversal comes just a couple of months after the U.S. government also agreed to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed on Babbitt's behalf and pay her family nearly $5 million.

Request for honors denied

According to documents released by conservative legal group Judicial Watch, which represented Babbitt's family in the lawsuit, USAF Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly informed Ashli's widower husband, Aaron Babbitt, in a February 9, 2021, letter that his request for military funeral honors "have been denied for the funeral of your wife due to the circumstances preceding her death."

"As reported to us at the time of death, SrA Ashli McEntee (Babbitt) was fatally shot after having illegally entered the United States Capitol Building on January 6, 2021," he continued. "As a result, I have determined that military funeral honors would bring discredit upon the Air Force."

The general added, "Should any new information come forward for consideration, I will make a new determination at that time."

Reconsideration sought

Fast-forward more than four years, and Politico reported in June that a settlement had been reached to end the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Babbitt's family a year earlier, in which the government would pay the family $4.975 million rather than proceed to a trial next year.

A little more than a month later, in July, an attorney for Judicial Watch sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to request reconsideration of the 2021 determination to deny Babbitt military funeral honors, and specifically cited Lt. Gen. Kelly's comment that left open the possibility of a new determination if "new information" came to light.

The attorney highlighted how President Trump had extended clemency to virtually all participants in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, as well as the settlement reached to end the wrongful death lawsuit, and further took note of the details of the fatal incident in which the unarmed Babbitt, who posed no real threat, was shot and killed by USCP Lt. Michael Byrd, who was never charged or held accountable for the death, and who was later revealed to have lied about the circumstances along with having a "lengthy disciplinary history" prior to that event.

The letter also pointed out Babbitt's "distinguished military service" as a USAF military police officer, including honors received and deployments served, and concluded that, given all of the above, the previously denied military funeral honors were warranted.

Reversal issued

Less than a month later, USAF Under Secretary Matthew Lohmeir sent a letter to Babbitt's family on Aug. 15 that acknowledged the initial denial of the requested military funeral honors, but stated, "However, after reviewing the circumstances of Ashli’s death, and considering the information that has come forward since then, I am persuaded that the previous determination was incorrect."

Lohmeir further extended an invitation to the family to meet with him at the Pentagon so that he could personally deliver his condolences for their loss.

According to The Hill, Babbitt will now belatedly receive the military funeral honors she should have been given four years earlier as an eligible veteran, which includes an honor guard detail of at least two members of the Armed Forces, the ceremonial playing of "Taps," and the presentation of a folded American flag.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement, "Ashli Babbitt’s family is grateful to President Trump, Secretary [Pete] Hegseth, and Under Secretary Lohmeier for reversing the Biden Defense Department’s cruel decision to deny Ashli funeral honors as a distinguished veteran of the Air Force."