Maria Bartiromo, Trump Bashed for Spreading ‘Reckless, Dishonest’ Info About Ashli Babbit’s Death
Fox News Channel’s Maria Bartiromo and Donald Trump pushed baseless theories on her Sunday show about the shooting death of Ashli Babbit, the insurrectionist who was killed breaking into the U.S. Capitol – and online observers immediately took her to task with one person saying, “Maria has gone full cuckoo.”
On this week’s “Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo,” she and Trump’s conversation about Babbit and what lead up to her being shot by Capitol police on Jan. 6 provoked a wave of backlash with their inaccurate account of the events and conspiracy theories at the center.
In particular, viewers took issue with how the two whitewashed Babbit’s participation in the riot — Trump called Babbit a “wonderful, innocent woman,” and both he and Bartiromo called the Capitol riot that injured 140 officers and left Babbit and four other people dead a “peaceful protest” multiple times.
“‘This wonderful woman, young woman… who went to a peaceful protest.’ ‘Peaceful protest’? Sorry, Maria Bartiromo is a disgrace to journalism and Fox is not a news organization. This is reckless, dishonest, inflammatory stuff,” MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan noted on Twitter Sunday.
Trump and Bartiromo agreed they think that a high-level Democratic operative was somehow involved in Babbit’s killing. Bartiromo went further, saying that her team at Fox has targeted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who’s been an outspoken advocate for establishing a commission to investigate the cause of the riot.
“I want you to know that my team reached out to Senator Chuck Schumer’s office to check on what he may know about who shot Ashli Babbitt. We have not heard back from Chuck Schumer’s office,” Bartiromo told Trump.
Political reporter Andrew Solender pointed out that it wouldn’t really make sense for Schumer’s detail to be on the House side of the Capitol, since he’s a Senator, but that logic evidently flew over both Bartiromo and Trump’s heads.
Why would a member of Chuck Schumer’s detail be on the House side? https://t.co/Dloo1j2xLg
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) July 11, 2021
Bartiromo went on to describe Babbit as “a wonderful woman fatally shot on January 6, as she tried to climb out of a broken window,” and added Babbit’s family “want answers as far as why this wonderful woman young woman who went to peaceful protest was shot.”
The Fox Business host repeatedly asked Trump if he had any information on the killing, and said, “There is speculation that this was a security detail in a leading member of Congress’s security detail a Democrat, what can you tell us in terms of who shot Ashli Babbit?”
“I will tell you they know who shot Ashley Babbitt, they’re protecting that person,” Trump replied. “I’ve heard also that it was the head of security for a certain high official, a Democrat, and we’ll see because it’s going to come out. It’s going to come out.”
Ironically, the establishment of a bipartisan commission to examine the violent events on Jan. 6 would likely help solve the mystery of how Babbit died… but it would also almost certainly point a finger of blame at Trump and his supporters.
Check out the clips of some of Trump and Bartiromo’s interview below.
"There was such love at that rally … the love in the air, I've never seen anything like it" — Trump has completely rewritten the history of the deadly January 6 insurrection he instigated pic.twitter.com/wpX4fvXaqT
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 11, 2021
Trump on who shot Ashli Babbitt: "I've heard also that it was the head of security for a certain high official. A Democrat. It's gonna come out." pic.twitter.com/n8WZaN0haC
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 11, 2021
Maria Bartiromo strongly hints that someone associated with Chuck Schumer shot Ashli Babbitt. Completely irresponsible stuff. pic.twitter.com/CDEvkpK64N
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 11, 2021
And the comments flowed in:
Maria has gone full cuckoo.
— Captain B (@3_Hour_Tours) July 11, 2021
"This wonderful woman, young woman… who went to a peaceful protest."
"Peaceful protest"? Sorry, Maria Bartiromo is a disgrace to journalism and Fox is not a news organization. This is reckless, dishonest, inflammatory stuff. https://t.co/hkup3ie0SE
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) July 11, 2021
Imagine how many lives would be saved if people listened more to Fauci instead of so-called journalists like Maria Bartiromo.
— David Weissman (@davidmweissman) July 11, 2021
When the hell does this become "hate speech that incites violence"?
— Jamie Schler (@lifesafeast) July 11, 2021
Wow the twisted narrative is unbelievable. They're trying to make her a martyr
— Notso Tired (@stillsotired) July 11, 2021
This is how a Fox News host speaks of a domestic terrorist. "Wonderful" and other superlatives.
Of course, she's speaking *to* a domestic terrorist, on a network that fomented domestic terrorism with systematic disinformation, so I guess nothing here is actually very surprising. https://t.co/xnPtQM0j9W
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) July 11, 2021
The insurrection is being recast as a patriotic uprising; the rioters are being transformed into heroes and martyrs. This sends a clear signal to groups like the Proud Boys about the future: Stand by to fight again — because there might be a next time. https://t.co/7vv2JFTZlb
— Charlie Sykes (@SykesCharlie) July 11, 2021