Explosive new records have surfaced revealing that disgraced U.S. Capitol Police Lieutenant Mike Byrd, the officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt during the January 6 protest, has been operating what investigators describe as an unaccredited “daycare center” out of his Maryland home while receiving an eye-popping $190 million in taxpayer funding under a Biden-era federal program.
The revelations raise serious new questions not only about Byrd’s conduct and history inside law enforcement, but about what critics warn is a rapidly expanding web of questionable daycare-related government payouts, echoing the Somali-linked daycare fraud crisis now engulfing Minnesota and other states.
One of the final acts of Joe Biden’s autopen before leaving office was to pardon Capt. Byrd.
Byrd is the DC officer who killed Ashli Babbitt with a single gunshot during the events of January 6, 2021.
Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was the only person who was killed during the protests.
Video from that day captured Byrd firing on Babbitt, who was unarmed, without warning, as she attempted to climb through a narrow interior window near the barricaded entryway to the Speaker’s Lobby.
Other armed officers were visible in the background, appearing in a position to intervene without lethal force.
Following an internal review, Byrd was cleared of wrongdoing.
However, unresolved questions have persisted surrounding the escalation to deadly force and the absence of non-lethal attempts to detain Babbitt.
Byrd’s disciplinary record has also drawn scrutiny.
In February 2019, he left his Glock 22 service weapon in a Capitol Visitor Center bathroom.
His police powers were also reportedly revoked multiple times after failing to satisfy the required firearms qualification standards.
During a later NBC News interview, Byrd expressed no remorse over the killing, instead claiming, without evidence, that he had saved “countless lives” by shooting Babbitt.
He complained about receiving death threats, calling the backlash “disheartening.”
But Byrd insisted that he had simply been “doing my job.”
Now, newly unearthed records appear to reveal an entirely different controversy.
Investigative reporter Paul Sperry reported that Byrd, now promoted to Captain, has been operating an unaccredited home-based daycare operation with his wife from their Maryland residence since 2008.
The records indicate that the center has been a beneficiary of a massive federal daycare funding channel overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS).
According to Sperry:
“NEW: Records show US Capitol Police Capt. Michael Byrd, who fatally shot unarmed J6 protester Ashli Babbitt w/o warning, has been running an unaccredited day-care center w/ wife Kaleska from their MD. home since 2008. MD. rec’s $190m in HHS day-care funds.”
NEW: Records show US Capitol Police Capt. Michael Byrd, who fatally shot unarmed J6 protester Ashli Babbitt w/o warning, has been running an unaccredited day-care center w/ wife Kaleska from their MD. home since 2008. MD. rec's $190m in HHS day-care funds.https://t.co/Ly2JCVx966
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) January 6, 2026
Despite allegedly operating for nearly 17 years, the business reportedly has no parent reviews posted on its website.
The lack of reviews is a detail critics argue heightens transparency and legitimacy concerns.
Open since 2008 and no parental reviews: pic.twitter.com/cdCvs8B8WF
— Geriatrick (@GeriatrickGames) January 6, 2026
The disclosure lands amid what federal investigators and independent journalists have described as a nationally expanding daycare funding crisis, with increasingly shocking allegations of unprecedented taxpayer fraud being exposed.
Earlier reporting in Minnesota uncovered widespread allegations of daycare centers receiving millions in public subsidies while appearing largely inactive.
The fraud scandal is tied to a growing network of operators linked to the Somali community.
As Slay News previously reported, the controversy further escalated after a Craigslist posting went viral, advertising paid “child actors” to pose as daycare attendees during state inspections.
The post, which drew national outrage, stated:
“To help hurry this state vetting processes, we are looking to hire 20 child actors for 3 days, while state is present on site.
“We pay up to $1500 actor, per day.”
Investigators and financial fraud specialists have since warned that the alleged Minnesota schemes, spanning daycare, Medicaid, housing, and adult-care programs, appear to share patterns common to coordinated grant-harvesting operations, including shell facilities, staged activity during audits, and rapid name-changes once scrutiny begins.
While the Byrd-linked Maryland operation has not yet been publicly tied to the Minnesota network, the structural similarities are beginning to alarm watchdogs:
- large-scale federal payouts
- limited verifiable activity
- lack of visible participants or clientele
- minimal oversight
- long-term accumulation of taxpayer funds
Critics argue that Byrd’s federal pardon, subsequent promotion, and now-exposed participation in a lucrative government-funded “daycare” enterprise point to a deeper culture of unaccountable privilege inside political and bureaucratic institutions, particularly when beneficiaries are aligned with protected narratives.
Meanwhile, as the Democrats and their corporate media allies scramble to downplay the scandal, critics are calling for immediate transparency over:
- where the $190 million was directed
- whether Byrd’s operation ever served real clients
- how an unaccredited home center qualified for federal funding
- whether background investigations were bypassed
- why oversight failed for more than a decade
The Biden-era HHS funding program responsible for the surge in daycare subsidies has come under renewed fire as multiple state-level audits, beginning in Minnesota, continue uncovering systemic loopholes, weak verification standards, and political resistance to enforcement.
With investigations widening across multiple states, questions now loom over how many additional “ghost” facilities may have quietly siphoned federal funds, and whether Capt. Mike Byrd’s case is an isolated outlier or a far larger warning sign.
READ MORE – Ad Emerges for ‘Child Actors’ to Fill Minnesota ‘Daycare’ amid Somali Fraud Scandal
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