Donald Trump, the Republican presidential falsely claimed during the press conference that “nobody was killed on Jan. 6,” the date in 2021 when pro-Trump rioters breached the US Capitol amid Congress’ effort to certify Biden’s 2020 election victory after Trump refused to concede.
Ashli Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from San Diego was shot and killed by a police officer as she climbed through a broken part of a Capitol door during the violent riot that breached the building.
To be sure, Trump has often cited Babbitt’s death while lamenting the treatment of those who first attended a rally outside the White House that day, then marched to the Capitol, many of whom fought with police and entered the building.
“I think those people were treated very badly. When you compare it to other things that took place in this country where a lot of people were killed,” the Republican presidential nominee said Thursday.
He also falsely claimed more people attended his speech at a “Stop the Steal” rally before the riot than the famous March on Washington in 1963, the iconic event at which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.
The Republican presidential nominee was asked about Biden’s comments in a CBS interview that he was “not confident” there would be a peaceful transfer of power if Trump were to lose.
“He should have brought this up at the debate if he had a problem. Of course there’ll be a peaceful transfer, and there was last time.”
While Biden was inaugurated on schedule, Washington was on lockdown that day, with the streets patrolled by military personnel and domestic police two weeks after Trump’s supporters had attacked the Capitol.
