Former President Donald Trump, through his Save America PAC, asked a poignant question Thursday afternoon.
In a one-sentence message issued just after lunchtime, the former president asked, “Who shot Ashli Babbitt?”
From the 45th President
Who shot Ashli Babbitt? pic.twitter.com/ETS0yI2lLX
— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) July 1, 2021
The question immediately sent Twitter — a platform that banned Trump two days after Babbitt was shot and killed during the Jan. 6 incursion into the Capitol — into a frenzy.
Babbitt’s name was actually the number one trend on the site as of Thursday evening — if that gives you any indication as to how much power words from Trump still wield on the site that used the building incursion as a justification to ban him.
President Trump asks who shot Ashli Babbitt. Every American should know who shot Ashli Babbitt. An unarmed young woman was shot at point-blank range and killed for trespassing. Any cop in this country they did that anywhere else would already be in prison. pic.twitter.com/2UKmhrIzEc
— Bernard B. Kerik (@BernardKerik) July 1, 2021
Will we ever learn who shot Ashli Babbitt?
— 🇺🇸 Matthew Holliday 🇺🇸 (@Matthew_4_Trump) July 1, 2021
DJT weighing on on Who shot Ashli Babbitt… wow. pic.twitter.com/n4DJbIJl04
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) July 1, 2021
Trump Demands Identity Of Officer Who Shot Capitol Rioter Ashli Babbitt Despite DOJ ‘Self-Defense’ Finding https://t.co/YBF3BAhqf4 pic.twitter.com/z2GiMHOHgV
— Forbes (@Forbes) July 1, 2021
The sad fact is we do not know, after nearly six months, the identity of the officer who shot and killed Babbitt, who was a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces.
Babbitt was unarmed when she was shot and left to die in the Capitol building during an apparent security breach that Democrats and the establishment media continue to use as a pretext to go after American citizens. Many are reported to be languishing in jail for, in some cases, walking into a building after police appeared to allow them in.
We can rest assured that if Babbitt were a member of Black Lives Matter, we would know who took her life.
We know that had any one of these recent White House “insurrectionists” been shot and killed, the name of the officer who fired the shot would be plastered on every establishment media website and cable TV news chyron.
Young climate activists carrying signs reading "Biden, you coward – fight for us" and "No climate, no deal" gathered outside the White House on Monday to protest what they called U.S. President Joe Biden's broken promises and pandering to Republicans. https://t.co/iqTYnW6hpg
— WNDU (@WNDU) June 30, 2021
Hey, @FBI. You’re on this, right? https://t.co/Rx1muZCw8F
— Buzz Patterson (@BuzzPatterson) June 29, 2021
None were of course shot, despite the fact that they crowded entrances to the White House earlier this week, according to Newsweek.
But Babbitt wasn’t a left-wing activist. The Air Force veteran did not set any fires and there are no reports she attacked any cops on Jan. 6. We do know the names of the police officers who died on or around Jan. 6 — even though none of them were killed by MAGA organizers or Babbitt.
But being given the identity of the officer who shot an unarmed American woman who was protesting at the Capitol on Jan. 6 is information the federal government has decided we do not need to know.
That information is apparently shrouded with such secrecy that even the former president doesn’t have any answers.