Aaron Babbitt, the widower of Ashli Babbitt, who was killed during the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, has revealed that President Donald Trump called him in the aftermath of her death to express his sympathies.
Speaking on Newsmax’s Greg Kelly Reports Tuesday, on the fifth anniversary of the failed insurrection and his wife’s death, Babbitt said of Trump reaching out: “It was a game-changer for my confidence.
“It was July of 2021 that he called me and said her name at a rally that night, and then I knew I had friends in the right places at that point.”
Ashli Babbitt, 35, was a U.S. Air Force veteran and QAnon believer from San Diego who was shot dead by a Capitol Police officer on January 6 as she attempted to climb through a smashed window into the Speaker’s Lobby inside the halls of Congress.
She was quickly painted as a “martyr” by Republicans keen to reframe the day as a peaceful protest, some of whom demanded to know the identity of the officer who fired the fatal shot.
The Department of Justice mourned Babbitt’s “tragic loss of life” in April 2021 but said that the officer in question had fired in self-defense and in the defense of lawmakers and staffers who had faced threats to their lives from the assembled mob.
The Capitol Police concluded its own review that August, which found the officer’s conduct had been “consistent with the officer’s training and (U.S. Capitol Police) policies.”
Lt Michael Byrd subsequently came forward to identify himself as the man who shot Babbitt. “I know that day I saved countless lives,” he told NBC News. “I know members of Congress, as well as my fellow officers and staff, were in jeopardy and in serious danger. And that’s my job.”
Aaron Babbitt argued during his Newsmax interview that Byrd should not have been on duty that day, making a series of allegations about the officer’s past conduct and professionalism.
He has previously alleged on the same channel’s National Report that Byrd gave his late wife no opportunity to surrender and claimed that “she would have complied if she was given the opportunity but she was not.”
Trump’s involvement in Babbitt’s story began in earnest after he left office and began referring to her in interviews and rally appearances as “an innocent, wonderful, incredible woman, a military woman,” who had died for “no reason,” even claiming at one point that she had been shot by “a lunatic.”
He subsequently reached out to her mother, Micki Witthoeft, and enlisted her to speak at his rallies, at one of which she said her daughter had “made the ultimate sacrifice to bring attention to a stolen election.”
After returning to office a year ago, Trump promised to “look into” Babbitt’s death, and duly paid out $5 million in a settlement to her family as well as a funeral with full military honors.
Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego protested that last step in Congress on Tuesday, saying that military funerals were “sacred”.
“Ashli Babbitt was not a hero,” he said. “She was part of the violent mob that tried to overturn our democracy… She did not die defending her country. She died trying to tear it down.”
On the other side of the political spectrum, Babbitt’s memory was also invoked by ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and others as they marched from the Ellipse to the Capitol on Tuesday, retracing the exact route the rioters took five years earlier.
“We’re memorializing and celebrating the life of Ashli Babbitt and many others that lost their lives that day, and that's the only thing we’re here for,” Tarrio said.
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