A viral post shared on X claims former President Joe Biden pardoned Lt. Michael Byrd, the U.S. Capitol Police Officer who allegedly shot Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot.

Ashli Babbitt was an Air Force veteran who served this country for 12+ years and won awards for her Iraq service.

Ashli was 5’2”, 115 pounds, unarmed. Lt. MICHAEL BYRD shot her in the neck.

Biden just pardoned him. pic.twitter.com/6Janu7jiUs

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 20, 2025

Verdict: False

Byrd’s name is not included in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)’s list of pardons issued by Biden during his presidency, and there is no other evidence to support the claim.

Fact Check:

Biden issued “blanket pardons” for his siblings and their spouses before he left office on Jan. 20, according to The Associated Press. President Donald Trump responded to the move, saying it makes Biden “look very guilty,” The Hill reported.

The X post, viewed over four million times, claims Biden pardoned Byrd.

“Ashli Babbitt was an Air Force veteran who served this country for 12+ years and won awards for her Iraq service. Ashli was 5’2”, 115 pounds, unarmed. Lt. MICHAEL BYRD shot her in the neck. Biden just pardoned him,” the post reads.

The claim is false. Byrd’s name is not included in the DOJ’s list of pardons issued by Biden during his presidency. Likewise, the claim is neither referenced on the Biden White House website archives nor its archived X account. Biden also has not commented on the claim using his personal X account.

In addition, Check Your Fact found no credible news reports to support the claim. Actually, the opposite is true. On Jan. 20, Lead Stories debunked the claim. According to the outlet, Biden recently granted clemency to “police officers from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department or the U.S. Capitol Police who testified before the Select Committee [investigating the January 6, 2021 riot].” There is no evidence suggesting Byrd testified before the committee, the outlet reported.

Finally, Trump has not publicly referenced the purported claim about Byrd. (RELATED: Did Trump Post An Image Of A ‘United DPRK’ On Truth Social?)

During an August 2021 sit-down interview with NBC News host Lester Holt, Byrd said he shot Babbitt during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol as a “last resort.” Byrd fired one shot, which struck Babbitt’s shoulder. The 35-year-old Air Force veteran and Trump supporter later died from her injuries, the outlet reported.

Before leaving office, Biden also commuted the sentence of indigenous activist Leonard Peltier who killed two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents in 1975, The Associated Press reported.