Capitol Police Officer Who Shot Ashli Babbitt Was Cleared of All Charges
The Claim
Ashli Babbitt was unjustly executed.
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In an email sent before the July 4 celebration, former President Donald Trump asked, "Who shot Ashli Babbitt?" He asked this same question to the thousands gathered at a Sarasota rally on July 3, adding, "We all saw the hand. We saw the gun … You know, if that were on the other side, the person that did the shooting would be strung up and hung. Okay? Now, they don’t want to give the name … It’s a terrible thing, right? Shot. Boom. And it’s a terrible thing.” He continued this rhetoric throughout the week.
Back in May, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) stated during a House Oversight Committee hearing that Babbitt was "executed" and that the truth about her murder was being "censured and covered up."
Over the course of the holiday and throughout the week, social media users weighed in with their thoughts on the 35-year-old Navy veteran, why she got shot, and who is actually to blame.
Misbar’s Analysis
Ashli Babbitt was the only rioter to be shot and killed by authorities during the January 6 riot at the Capitol. She was unarmed but shot climbing through a broken window into a secure hallway that is used as an "escape route for legislators."
Reports from the day indicate that Babbitt was part of a crowd of thousands who breached the Capitol. The hallway that Babbitt and was trying to break into was blocked by locked doors. Plainclothes officers were on the other side with guns drawn. The rioters had broken through the windows above the doors. Babbitt, the first to enter, was subsequently shot by one of the plainclothes officers. She received first aid on the scene and was later pronounced dead at the Hospital.
Babbitt, along with thousands of other pro-Trump supporters, came to the Capitol in January to support the former president because they believed the 2020 election was stolen from him. Many, including Babbitt, believed it was their patriotic duty to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election for Joe Biden.
Some blame Trump for the riot at the Capitol and for the chaos that ensued after the November election. Some point to Trump's speech and say that he incited the crowd. Others contend his speech could be taken either way, and it was more an exercise in free speech.
“If you look at his speech, there’s evidence that both sides could use,” Tom Firestone, a lawyer with Baker & McKenzie LLP and former assistant U.S. attorney in New York, told the Wall Street Journal.
Trump’s lawyers said the incitement allegations were "absurd," and further stated that "the former president was exercising his First Amendment rights to speak out against how the U.S. election was conducted and never encouraged violence against lawmakers."
To date, election fraud, especially the widespread fraud Trump supporters and the GOP have alleged, has not been discovered, but affirming what some call the "big lie" has become a test of loyalty within the GOP.
Trump and sympathetic members of the GOP Congress continue to tout the “big lie.” Part of this includes turning Ashli Babbitt into a martyr.
The fact is that Ashli Babbitt was shot for breaking and entering a restricted federal building and threatening the lives of members of Congress. Her shooter was cleared of all charges.
It is for this reason that Misbar finds the claim that she was executed or murdered to be false.
