New Documents Reveal the DC Office of the
Chief Medical Examiner Submitted a Request to Cremate Ashli Babbitt Two
Days after Gaining Custody of Her Body
Judicial Watch just received the first public documents about the shooting
death of Ashli Babbitt.
We obtained 1160
pages of documents from Washington, DC’s Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner (OCME) that document new details of the investigation of the
homicide of the Air Force veteran and San Diego native. These new documents
reveal that OCME submitted a request for permission to cremate Babbitt only
two days after taking custody of her body and that, due to the “high
profile nature” of Babbitt’s case, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner
Francisco Diaz requested that a secure electronic file with limited access
be created for Babbitt’s records.
Additionally, Babbitt’s fingerprints were emailed to a person supposedly
working for the DC government, which resulted in Microsoft
“undeliverable” messages written in Chinese characters being
returned.
Babbitt was shot and killed by an unidentified law enforcement officer as
she attempted to climb through a broken interior window in the Capitol
Building, located outside the Speaker’s Lobby off the House Floor during
the January 6 disturbance. She was unarmed. At the time of the shooting,
several officers reportedly
can be seen in videos,
standing in the crowd of protestors in which Babbitt was present.
We obtained the records in our lawsuit
concerning two FOIA requests we submitted on April 8, 2021 to the
Metropolitan Police Department and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
for records related to Babbitt’s death (Judicial
Watch v. The District of Columbia (No. 2021 CA 001710 B)).
The newly obtained records reveal:
- On January 8, 2021, at 7:13 p.m., an application to cremate
the body of Babbitt is labeled “completed successfully.” Copies of the
permit are sent to OCME officials Kimberli Hall and SaVern Fripp, as well
as Melinda Smith, Jennifer Love, Lisa Tabron, Jeanette Belle, and
Perlieshia Gales.
- In a January 6, 2021, email
sent at 9:48 p.m. from OCME official Denise Lyles to medical examiner
Francisco Diaz, the subject line is, “Case #21-00106 ID Confirmed.”
[Case 21-00106 was Ashli Babbitt’s file number.]
- On January 6, 2021, at 9:43 p.m., Lyles emails
OCME official Dr. Jennifer Love an attachment with the message, “I am
updating the information we received from IAD [Internal Affairs Division]
re the confirmed ID for OCME Case #21-00106 [Ashli Babbitt’s case]. These
are the prints that returned from the FBI, that the detectives from IAD
provided. I dropped them in the e-case file. Their names are noted
below.”
Lyles appears to have forwarded the file
after having received it at 9:33 p.m. on January 6 from someone (whose name
is redacted) within the Prince George’s County, MD, Police Criminal
Investigation Division, assigned to the “Homicide Unit – FBI/Cross
Border Task Force.” The file had been sent to that person at 9:30 p.m. on
January 6 from someone with the email address
[email protected].
- On January 6, 2021, at 7:42 p.m., OCME official Jamie Spann emailed
a scanned file called “21-00106 FBI Submission Form” to Grant
Greenwalt, Manager of the Crime Scenes Sciences unit of the DC
Department of Forensic Sciences, as well as someone with the email address
[email protected], and copying medical examiners Francisco Diaz and Jennifer
Love, asking, “Please run the attached prints.” This document contained
Ashli Babbitt’s fingerprints.
Greenwalt forwards the request to David
Chumbley, an officer of the DC Police Department. Chumbley forwards the
prints from his iPhone at 8:06 p.m. on January 6 to someone identified as
Jamese Kororma within the DC government. The email sent to “Jamese
Kororma” resulted in multiple Microsoft “ undeliverable”
messages being returned, written in what appear to be Chinese
characters.
- On January 7, 2021, Forensics photographer Matthew Brown emailed
OCME colleagues regarding Babbitt’s case with “High” importance,”
stating, “Due to the high-profile nature of case 21-00106, Dr. Diaz has
requested limited access to this case. Please create a secure folder on the
photo server for case 21-00106 and provide access only to the following
OCME staff: Dr. Mitchell, Dr. Diaz, Anna Francis, Matthew Brown.”
Brown adds, “Currently there are no
images or folders on the photo server for this case. The images are being
held on the OCME archiving server until a secure folder is
created.”
Michael Coleman, OCME’s Chief Information Officer, responded two hours
later, “The requested directory has been created with the stipulated
access granted. Please let me know if any additional adjustments are
required.”
Brown replies, “Thank you Mike. The case photos are now available on the
server.”
Responding separately to Coleman, OCME Records Manager Anna Francis says,
“I have restricted the e-case file as well. For work purposes, the
following groups have access, please let me know if permissions should be
limited further: 1. Anna Francis; 2. MLI Investigations; 3. Medical
Examiners; 4. Michael Coleman; 5. Roger Mitchell; 6. QC-n-RecMgmt; 7.
Investigators.”
- In a January 14, 2021, email
from Deputy Chief Toxicologist Stephen Raso to OCME colleague Samantha
Tolliver with the subject “Capital Riot Cases,” Raso states, “See
attached prelim results.”
- In a February 2, 2021, email
from OCME official Andrea Pugh to medical examiner Dr. Francisco Diaz, Pugh
indicated that the preliminary toxicology report on Babbitt was
completed.
- On January 13, 2021, Dr. Francisco Diaz emailed
Chief Medical Examiner/Deputy Mayor Roger Mitchell with the note,
“21-00106: COD-Gunshot wound to left anterior shoulder. MOD-Homicide.”
Note: COD is “Cause of Death” and MOD means “Manner of
Death.”
The OCME did not release the cause
and manner of Babbitt’s death until April 7, 2021:
Ashli Babbitt, 35 years old:
Cause of Death - Gunshot wound to the left anterior shoulder
Manner of Death – Homicide
- In a January 8, 2021, email,
Lead Forensic Investigator Rebecca Wood tells OCME officials, “I spoke
with the family for the above case and her legal last name is
‘Babbitt.’ CMS has been updated to reflect this change, please update
the death certificate as well.”
- In a January 8, 2021, email
sent at 3:45 p.m., OCME official Denise Lyles messages her OCME colleagues
with the subject “Capitol Incident Cases,” and notes “FYI, all the
cases from the Capitol Incident all Identifications have been confirmed,”
adding, “Ashli Elizabeth Pamatian aka A. Babbitt – partner/husband
notified.”
- The records include identification records for “Ashli
Elizabeth Pamatian,” including a copy of an FBI fingerprint
submission card, a State Department visa check record “for identification
purposes,” and a separate FBI fingerprint submission card that indicated
that the “Official Taking Fingerprints” in the Babbitt case was “E.
Betts.”
Additionally, Babbitt’s body was listed
as “Unidentified female” and “WF.”
The DC government form included in the records states: “The District of
Columbia Office of Chief Medical Examiner has recovered human remains and
is requesting AFIS fingerprint database searches for identification
purposes,” and the “transaction type” on the form indicates
“Unidentified Deceased (DEU Transaction).
The comments section notes, “Please attempt to identify this unidentified
female who was discovered deceased on 01/06/2021 in Washington, DC.” The
form asks for the response to be faxed to OCME. official Jennifer Love. An
X-ray log sheet indicates that three “LODOX” images of Babbitt’s body
were taken by a technician with the initials RK.
- In an email
on January 18, 2021, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Francisco Diaz sends an
attachment with Babbitt’s case file number to OCME officials Kristina
Giese and Kimberly Golden stating, “Please review this homicide.”
- In an email
on March 1, 2021, OCME official Cheryle Adams messaged colleagues Beverly
Fields and Dr. Francisco Diaz (copying Mayor’s office spokeswoman Olivia
Dedner), advising them that she was providing an updated spreadsheet of
reporters seeking information on the people who died at “the January 6,
2021, Insurrection at the Capitol.”
There is intense public interest in the shooting of Ashli Babbitt at the
Capitol on January 6. The continued secrecy and delayed release of
information about the shooting death of Ashli Babbitt are suspicious and
smacks of politics. The Metropolitan Police Department has not yet produced
documents about the shooting of Ms. Babbitt.
This document release is part of Judicial Watch’s independent
investigation into the January 6 disturbance.
In March, we filed a FOIA lawsuit
against the District of Columbia for documents about the death of Capitol
Police Officer Brian Sicknick. Pressure from this lawsuit helped lead to
the disclosure that Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died of natural
causes.
We also filed lawsuits for U.S. Capitol Police emails and video related
to the riot and for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s communications
with the Pentagon in the days after the January 6 incident.
That Americans still have no information about who killed Ashli Babbitt or
any police report about her death is a scandal of epic proportions.
Millions of Tax Dollars to Make University of Pittsburgh
‘One-Stop Fetal Tissue Shop’
The abortion industry is big business, and your tax dollars are supporting
it. This is a gross affront to any system of values that purports to
respect human life.
For example, nearly $3 million in federal funds were spent on the
University of Pittsburgh’s quest to become a “Tissue Hub” for human
fetal tissue ranging from 6 to 42 weeks gestation. To put this in
perspective, a typical pregnancy lasts
40 weeks.
We learned this after we and The
Center for Medical Progress (CMP) received 252
pages of documents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.
We represent CMP in a Freedom of Information lawsuit against HHS, which was
filed after the agency failed to respond to an April 28, 2020, FOIA request
seeking, among other things, the grant applications for a University of
Pittsburgh “tissue hub and collection site.” (Center
for Medical Progress v. U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (No. 1:21-cv-00642)).
The documents reveal the following:
- The aims of the project listed in the original 2015 proposal were to
“develop
a pipeline to the acquisition, quality control and distribution of
human genitourinary [urinary and genital organs and functions] samples
obtained throughout development (6-42 weeks gestation). … [and] generate
an ongoing resource to distribute fresh developmental human genitourinary
samples from various stages (6-42 weeks) to the GUDMAP [GenitoUrinary
Development Molecular Anatomy Project] Atlas projects.”
- In the proposal,
Pitt notes that it has been “collecting fetal tissue for over 10 years
… include[ing] liver, heart, gonads, legs, brain, genitourinary tissues
including kidneys, ureters and bladders.”
- Pitt noted in 2015 “we have disbursed over 300
fresh samples collected from 77 cases. The collections can be
significantly ramped up as material could have been accrued from as many as
725 cases last year.”
- The Health Sciences Tissue Bank at Pitt is “embedded
within the Department of Pathology … thus providing rapid access to very
high quality tissue and biological specimens.”
- Pitt boasts it has a number of internal connections as well as a
“strong working relationship with UPMC [University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center] and the Department of Pathology” as well as three “laboratories
in the flagship UPMC hospitals.” This includes a lab boasting a “ButcherBoy
band saw for sectioning bone,” and a “frozen section room has
digital video feed to and from the operating rooms. This also allows for
instantaneous discussions with the surgeons as well [as] immediate ‘show
and tell’ for them.” The proposal ironically also boasts about the
laboratories at the “Children’s
Hospital of Pittsburgh.”
- Later in the proposal, Pitt states that it records the “warm
ischemic time on our samples and take steps to keep it at a minimum to
ensure the highest quality biological specimens.” [The “warm ischemic
time” refers to the amount of time an organ remains at body temperature
after blood supply has been cut off. Warm ischemic time differs from
cold ischemic time which refers to amount of time the organ is
chilled. Pitt’s statement suggests the time between the abortion and
collection is minimal.]
- The Pitt scientists note “All fetal tissue is collected through a collaborative
process including Family Planning, Obstetrics and Pathology.” And
that, “the numbers of consents and collections has been steadily
increasing… and we are in an excellent position to expand our services to
include the needs of the GUDMAP Atlas projects.”
- Pitt anticipated “being able to harvest
and distribute quality tissue and cells … [and] do not anticipate any
major problems related to the acquisition and distribution of the
tissues.”
- Pitt’s target
goal “is to have available a minimum of 5 cases (tissues and if
possible other biologicals) per week of gestational age for ages 6-42
weeks.”
- Pitt’s proposal also included a racial
target for harvesting human fetal parts. Of its planned aborted
“subjects” Pitt desired 50% to be minority fetuses. The proposal
suggests that the “subjects” be diverse because Pittsburgh is diverse,
the U.S. Census Bureau shows the city of Pittsburgh is close to 70%
white.
- Pitt’s proposal requested more than $3.2
million over a five-year period. The documents show NIH has funded at
least $2.7 million so far for Pitt’s human fetal tissue harvesting and
hub.
You can learn more from The Center for Medical Progress’ press release
available here.
These latest documents show taxpayer money is being used to turn the
University of Pittsburgh is a one-stop human fetal tissue shop – from
procuring the tissue from elective abortions, “subdividing” the human
remains, to distributing and shipping the harvested tissue.
In March 2021, a federal court ordered
HHS to release additional information about its purchases of organs
harvested from aborted human fetuses. The court also found “there is
reason to question” whether the transactions violate federal law barring
the sale of fetal organs.
In May 2021, we uncovered
records from the FDA showing the agency spent tens of thousands of taxpayer
dollars to buy human fetal tissue from California-based Advanced Bioscience
Resources (ABR). The tissue was used in creating “humanized
mice” to test “biologic drug products.” The records show the
agency ordered shipments to be “fresh; shipped on wet ice.”
In June 2020, we released
records showing the FDA between 2012 and 2018 entered into eight
contracts worth $96,370 with Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR) to acquire
“fresh and never frozen” tissue from 1st and 2nd trimester
aborted fetuses for use in creating humanized mice for ongoing research. In
February 2020, we made
public additional humanized mice records.
All these records constitute a catalog of horrors that should shock the
conscience. Our grim work exposing these outrages will continue. It is a
moral imperative.
Border Crisis: Judicial Watch Sues Biden Administration for
Information on Aliens Charged with Crimes after Entering U.S.
President Biden’s lawless opening of our southern border is almost
certainly allowing all manner of dangerous people into our country, and
he’s covering it up.
In 2018, the Trump administration initiated the Migrant
Protection Protocols program; it went into effect in early 2019. Under
the program, also referred to as “Remain in Mexico,” asylum-seekers and
other aliens who arrived at the Southwest Border were required to remain in
Mexico while
U.S. officials processed their immigration claims. The Biden
administration suspended the program on January 21, 2021, then terminated
it on June 1, 2021.
On March 18, 2021, we filed a FOIA request with the Biden Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) for information on asylum-seekers and other aliens
participating in MPP who have been charged with crimes after entering the
United States. Our request is simple:
Records reflecting the number of enrollees in the Migrant Protection
Program who have been charged with crimes after entering the United States
under MPP; the nature of the charges; the disposition of the charges; and
demographic data of those enrollees charged, such as age, sex, country of
origin, etc.
After CBP and ICE failed to respond, we sued on July 16 (Judicial
Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No.
1:21-cv-01927)).
After Biden suspended Trump’s security measure, DHS opened the gates
further. DHS announced
that beginning on February 19:
DHS will begin processing people who had been forced to “remain in
Mexico” under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). Approximately
25,000 individuals in MPP continue to have active cases.
The DHS announcement also said that individuals enrolled in the MPP program
who are eligible to enter the United States while their cases are processed
would be allowed to enter the U.S. through designated ports of entry at
designated times:
We will provide instructions in the coming days for how individuals with
active MPP cases may remotely register for in-processing. We will continue
to enforce U.S. immigration law and border security measures throughout
this process.
In mid-April, Texas, Missouri and Louisiana sued
the Biden DHS and immigration agencies for ending MPP and demanded the
program be reinstated. When the Texas/Missouri
lawsuit was filed, Texas
Attorney General Ken Paxton said:
President Biden could immediately remedy the influx of crime pouring across
our border by reinstating the Migrant Protection Protocols. Dangerous
criminals are taking advantage of the lapse in law enforcement and it’s
resulting in human trafficking, smuggling, a plethora of violent crimes,
and a massive, unprecedented burden on state and federal programs for which
taxpayers must foot the bill.
According to the Louisiana complaint,
the Biden administration exceeded its authority by rescinding MPP:
Federal law requires Defendants to take custody of many criminal aliens,
including those with final orders of removal, those convicted of drug
offenses, and those convicted of crimes of moral turpitude. By refusing to
take these criminal aliens into custody, Defendants [the Biden
administration immigration agencies] have disregarded non-discretionary
legal duties.
In May, it was reported
“More than 61,000 immigrants who illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border
have been released into the United States since President Joe Biden took
office, according to federal data.” Prior to the suspension of MPP,
these individuals would have been returned to Mexico to wait while their
applications for entry were adjudicated.
The Biden administration should come clean about crimes committed by aliens
as a result of its reckless decision to end the Migration Protection
Protocols, a commonsense measure put in place by the Trump administration
to try to control the border.
In other actions provoked by the Biden administration border crisis, in
June we filed a FOIA lawsuit
against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for COVID-19
technical guidance provided to the Office of Refugee Resettlement relating
to illegal aliens released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. I noted at the time, “The Biden
administration secrecy on its border crisis includes stonewalling on the
issue of COVID-19 and illegal immigration and controversial refugee
resettlement programs.”
On April 30, we filed a FOIA lawsuit
against HHS for records about assaults on and abuse of unaccompanied alien
children in its custody after it was disclosed
that multiple facilities where children are being held are unsafe. We are
concerned that the surge of migrants seeking to take advantage of the Biden
administration’s lax immigration policies has resulted in the foreseeable
abuse of children, as overwhelmed federal authorities are ill-equipped to
handle the huge number of children crossing the border.
Let me be clear: the Biden administration is engaged in what fairly be
called the largest human trafficking operation in world history. And you
can be sure that Judicial Watch will do what we can to uncover the truth
about this unprecedented assault on our nation’s sovereignty and
safety.
Judicial Watch Sues for Records of Diplomats Subjected to Anal
COVID Tests by China
The gall of the Chinese Communists in abusing our diplomats is matched only
by the weak response by the Biden State Department.
In February2021, it was reported
that U.S. diplomats were subjected to anal swab testing for COVID-19 by the
Chinese government. At the time, the State Department told The Hill that,
Chinese officials who forced American diplomats to undergo an anal swab for
COVID-19 testing did so “in error,” the State Department told The Hill
on Thursday, as Beijing denies it conducted the tests at all….
A State spokesperson responded to a request for comment from The Hill by
saying that the department “never agreed” to such tests and had
protested directly to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs following
complaints from staff.
To learn more about this outrage, we filed a Freedom of Information Act
request for:
All records about US diplomatic personnel in or seeking to enter China
being subjected to anal swab tests for the COVID-19 virus, including all
complaints and communications regarding such testing. This request does not
seek any personal identifying information of US diplomatic personnel that
may have been subjected to such testing.
Per usual, our request wasn’t answered as the law required, which is why
Judicial Watch just filed a FOIA lawsuit against the State Department for
the documents. Again, we simply want non-identifying records of U.S.
diplomatic personnel being subjected to invasive COVID-19 “anal swab”
tests by the Chinese government (Judicial
Watch v U.S. Dept of State (No. 1:21-cv-02111)).
Our diplomatic personnel was abused in a reprehensible way by the Chinese
government, and the Biden administration seems to have done little in
response – except to cover it up.
Until next week …
|
