As a longtime champion of domestic terrorist Ashli Babbitt — killed by a police officer during the Capitol riot — WorldNetDaily was quite excited about right-wing legal efforts on her behalf. For example, an April 2024 article by Bob Unruh complained that documents showed that “the federal government opened a criminal investigation” into Babbitt after her death, while not explaining why that’s any sort of deviation from standard procedure. As usual, Unruh tried to whitewash the riot:
That protest-turned-riot is what Democrats ever since have claimed was an “insurrection” against the government, during which rioters would be attempting to overthrow a government and take control of its military, economy, foreign policy and more.
There’s actually no evidence it was any more than a protest during which a few hundred people rioted.
WND also made sure to hype the wrongful-death lawsuit Babbitt’s family filed against the government:
- Feds sued over Capitol cop’s ‘murder’ of Ashli Babbitt on J6
- ‘Outrageous killing’: Feds ordered to answer $30 million lawsuit over shooting of Ashli Babbitt
- ‘They seek justice’: Ashli Babbitt case judge sets trial for $30 million wrongful death claim
Jack Cashill — who wrote a book on Babbitt and other riot participants — weighed in as well in a June 2024 column grousing that a trial on the lawsuit might be held in Washington, D.C.: “In a district in which Trump pulled only 5% of the vote, Trump-affiliated plaintiffs would have no chance of securing an impartial jury and little chance of getting an impartial judge.”
A Dec. 6 article by Unruh touting a union official’s claim of purported “special treatment” of the officer who shot and killed Babbitt, Michael Byrd, included more justification and whitewashing of the riot:
That was the day hundreds of people mostly walked into the Capitol and looked around in their protest of what they saw as Joe Biden’s illicit presidential race victory, a race that was under significant undue influences such as the FBI’s interference.
Among those protesters, a few rioted, vandalizing the building.
Unruh got excited in a March 4 article that the Department of Justice was looking to settle the lawsuit, and he once again tried to justify and whitewash the riot:
Byrd shot Babbitt as she was entering the House Speaker’s lobby off the House floor amid the protest, and some rioting that day, by those who held doubts about the legitimacy of the 2000 presidential election.
In fact, the course of that election was altered by several undue influences, including Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to hand out $400 million plus to leftist local elections officials who often used it to recruit Democrat voters, and the FBI’s decision to interfere in the vote by falsely claiming that details of Biden family scandals contained in Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop were Russian disinformation.
An anonymously written March 26 article hyped President Trump’s support of Babbitt:
In an interview Tuesday, President Trump vowed to look into the fact the U.S. Justice Department is still officially opposing the $30 million wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the Aaron Babbitt, the husband of Ashli Babbitt, the woman shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer Jan. 6, 2021.
Speaking to Greg Kelly of Newsmax, Trump said he also plans to look into Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, the man who gunned down Babbitt outside the House Speaker’s Lobby, and the government’s treatment and remuneration of the officer.
“I am a big fan of Ashli Babbitt, and Ashli Babbitt was a really good person,” Trump told Kelly. “She was innocently standing there … and a man did something to her that was unthinkable when he shot her, and I think it’s a disgrace. I am going to look into that.”
Trump’s revisionism ignores reporting showing that “Babbitt had become consumed by pro-Trump conspiracy theories and posted angry screeds on social media. She also had a history of making violent threats.”
Unruh again touted settlement talks in a May 2 article claiming that a “settlement ‘in principle’ has been reached.” When details of that apparent settlement were released, Unruh touted that too in a May 19 article:
A lawsuit against the government over the shooting by a Capitol police officer of an unarmed Ashli Babbitt, who was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to protest what many saw as an unfair election result, apparently has been settled.
Reports say the settlement to the family is for just about $5 million, with about one-third going to lawyers who advocated for her.
Unruh once again whitewashed the situation, insisting that “Byrd shot and killed Babbitt as she was part of a group of protesters who had entered the Capitol and ended up near the House chamber.”
Unruh and WND clearly can’t be trusted to report fairly about Babbitt — it’s still too busy trying to turn her into a martyr.