Former President Donald Trump is insisting officials identify the police officer who shot and killed an insurrectionist at the Capitol on January 6.
“Who shot Ashli Babbitt?” asked Trump in a statement released via email Thursday that only included that question.
Ashli Babbitt, a Capitol rioter, was shot and killed as she and others forcibly attempted to get inside the House chamber. The 35-year old Navy veteran joined thousands of protesters who broke into the U.S. Capitol to prevent the certification of election results cementing Joe Biden as the next president over Donald Trump.
The former President isn’t the only Republican calling for the officer’s identification to be made public.
During a House Oversight committee meeting in May, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) questioned the acting attorney general about Babbitt’s death, suggesting she had been “executed.” Gosar alleged the police officer was “lying in wait,” pointing to how she was unarmed.
“The truth is being censored and covered up,” Gosar said.
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Although officials ruled Babbitt's death a homicide, the Justice Department said the officer who fired at the doorway was acting “in self-defense or in defense of the members of Congress and others evacuating.” The agency said there was “insufficient evidence” to charge the officers.
On Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) appointed a special committee to investigate the violent attack at the Capitol.