The husband of slain Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt insists she would still be alive today if he had attended the January 6 rally with her.
Ashli, 36, was fatally shot by Capitol police officer Michael Byrd during the Capitol riot as she tried to climb through a broken window into the Speaker's Lobby outside the House chamber while cloaked in a Trump flag.
Ashli's husband, Aaron, told TMZ that he believes his wife wouldn't have even stepped foot inside the Capitol building during the riot a year ago if he had flown to DC with her. He had stayed home in San Diego last January to run their pool maintenance company.
'Nobody's gonna watch over her or watch her back better than I could have.
'We never would have been in the Capitol for one...that never would have happened. I wouldn't have gone in there. That's not my scene,' Aaron said, explaining that he was 'shocked' when he found out about his wife's final moments because they both hate crowds.
Aaron Babbitt believes his wife, Ashli, would have prevented his wife from being killed at the Capitol riot last year as he reflects on the first anniversary of her death (Pictured: Aaron Babbitt, left, with his now-deceased wife Ashli, right)
Babbitt, 36, was fatally shot by Capitol police officer Michael Byrd during the Capitol riot as she tried to climb through a broken window into the Speaker's Lobby
Rioters are seen outside the Speaker's Lobby in the seconds after Babbitt was fatally shot
In footage filmed by one of the intruders, Ashli could be seen trying to get through a broken window into the Speaker's Lobby when she was shot
Aaron said Ashli decided to go to DC on January 6 while the two were celebrating Christmas in Cabo in 2020. He then discovered that his wife had entered the Capitol and been injured after a friend called to say she saw Ashli possibly hurt on TV.
Describing himself as a 'very vigilant person' he thinks that he would have noticed that 'something wrong was going on around there'' and picked up on signs that the situation was escalating.
'I'm pretty sure I would have been able to pick that up pretty quickly,' Aaron said.
The first anniversary of the Capitol riot passed this Thursday and Aaron said he was happy to see his Ashli's name trending on Twitter.
Although he has become accustomed to death threats and hate mail, Aaron wants to keep Ashli's memory alive.
Ashli's death has been a lightning rod in the debate over the Capitol riot, with Trump's loyalists painting her as a patriotic martyr, and his detractors dismissing her as a conspiracy-spouting extremist.
Ashli Babbitt flew to DC for the January 6 riot believing Donald Trump's claims that the election had been stolen from him. She died wearing a Trump flag
An Air Force veteran who served in Iraq and previously voted for Barack Obama, Babbitt died wrapped in a flag bearing Trump's name, convinced of his claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
Babbitt was among the first of hundreds of people to breach the Capitol building's security, as elected officials barricaded themselves in rooms, cowering from an angry mob.
In footage filmed by one of the intruders, she could be seen trying to get through a broken window into the Speaker's Lobby.
'Go! Come on!' she shouts, encouraging those behind her to hoist her in.
As her head appears through the window, a Capitol police officer fires his weapon, striking Babbitt in the shoulder. She would die from her injuries.
An investigation into Babbitt's death by the US Capitol Police and the United States Department of Justice determined that the shooting was 'lawful and within Department policy.'
But Ashli's mother, Micki Witthoeft, disagrees and said that her daughter was 'murdered' by Byrd, whom she called 'careless and reckless.'
Witthoeft appeared outside the Capitol with controversial Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Thursday, demanding Speaker Nancy Pelosi release surveillance footage from the shooting and calling for 'justice' for those arrested in the riot, whom she called political prisoners.
Ashli Babbitt's mother Micki Witthoeft (right) appeared outside the Capitol with controversial Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on the anniversary of her daughter's death
Ashli Babbitt's mother Micki Witthoeft along with others during a candlelight vigil on the anniversary of the January 6 Capitol riot
Michelle Witthoeft speaks at a vigil sponsored by Look Ahead America to protest the treatment of prisoners charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol
'I feel like the Capitol police need to change the way they do things, they operate with impunity, which I did not know until my daughter was publicly executed,' Witthoeft told reporters.
Witthoeft addressed Pelosi, telling the House speaker: 'This is not your playhouse or your private domain.'
'These surveillance cameras were put up to capture what happened that day, the American people have a right to see the 14,000 hours of footage,' she said.
She appeared to be referring to footage
