Responding to Biden’s charge that he is a killer, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted, in an NBC News interview, that somebody murdered Ashli Babbitt, a U.S. military veteran, who was among a few Trump supporters who went into the Capitol on January 6. With this reference, Putin successfully deflected questions about the assassination squads he supervises. He cleverly moved the attention away from his former comrades in the KGB to the Deep State in Washington, D.C., covering up for his own crimes.

No wonder Biden didn’t want to stand on the same stage with Putin and hold a joint news conference. Putin is too clever. What’s more, the point that Putin made is a valid one. He is making it difficult for those of us who understand the vicious nature of the Russian state to maintain a critique of Putin on grounds that he exclusively represents Murder Inc.

America has a Murder Inc. located in Washington, D.C., in the federal centers of governmental power.

Speaking to NBC, Putin said, “Did you [someone in the United States] order the assassination of the woman who walked into the Congress and who was shot and killed by a policeman? Do you know that 450 individuals were arrested after entering the Congress?”

He turned the tables on the American media and the American government. It is assumed she was killed by “accident,” sort of like how the China virus “escaped” from the Wuhan lab. But Putin is going further, alleging that Babbitt was assassinated. He makes this claim to put American government officials on the defensive. He has done so.

If the murder was “innocent” in some way, we wouldn’t see the kind of cover-up that is taking place.

Putin is obviously aware of the secrecy surrounding the murder. He knows that the Biden “Department of Justice” said it would not pursue criminal charges against the Capitol police officer who killed Ashli Babbitt. It won’t even name him. The U.S. Attorney’s Office simply declared that “the investigation revealed no evidence to establish that, at the time the officer fired a single shot Ms. Babbitt, the officer did not reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so in self-defense or in the defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber.”

Attorney Terrell N. Roberts, III, who has handled police brutality cases and represents Ashli’s husband and family members, responded, “This double-negative is an odd way of explaining the basis for not bringing charges. It plainly glosses over the obvious problem of squaring the decision not to prosecute with the known facts. The actual evidence is this: the officer shot an unarmed woman who was not an immediate threat to him or any Member of Congress. That is inconsistent with any claim of self-defense or the defense of others, period.”

In a previous release, the attorney noted, “The shooting of Ashli Babbitt on January 6, 2021, by an unidentified U.S. Capitol Police Officer was an unjustified use of deadly force which violated her constitutional rights. It is clear from video footage that Ashli did not pose a danger to the officer, or any other person when she was shot. Ashli was unarmed. She did not assault anyone. She did not threaten to harm anyone. There was no excuse for taking her life.”

Another attorney, Jonathon Moseley, concluded that the shooting of Ashli Babbitt inside the Capitol qualifies as murder, or more precisely, an unjustified killing. Moseley noted that the reports are clear that the massive, bank-vault-strong doors into the Capitol were open and pro-Trump protesters (and others) were able to just walk in. He notes some reports indicate that police gestured Trump supporters inside the building through the open doors. Trump had called on anybody going to the Capitol to be peaceful.

Our media love police brutality cases when white police officers can be accused of killing blacks—but the Ashli Babbitt murder is something else. She was a Trump supporter.

Attorney Roberts is one determined foe of government misconduct. According to his website, he “has developed a special expertise in the field of police misconduct and civil rights litigation. In the past two decades, he has helped dozens of clients recover millions of dollars in damages for police brutality and police misconduct, including a 2.7 million dollar verdict for the family of a Howard University student who was killed by the police. Some of his accomplishments in cases against the police were noted in a Washington Post article entitled Putting the Screws to Police Brutality.”

By bringing up this case, Vladimir Putin is digging into the Achilles heel of the Biden administration and its failure to seek justice. Clearly, he has ulterior motives. As a former KGB colonel, he understands propaganda.

But Putin’s claims aside, there are obvious questions that have occurred to many people. Did the Capitol Police shooter reasonably believe he was in danger? Not likely. The presence of police officers near where Babbitt was shot must also be examined. Did they think standing there was a threat? Why didn’t they arrest her? The Capitol Police say she was rendered medical assistance “immediately,” so she must have been very close to the officers or other Capitol Hill employees.

If the murder of Ashli Babbitt was not an assassination, the government should prove it. It looks to outside observers that she was invited into the Capitol, surrounded, and killed.