'A disgrace!' Trump uses debate to hammer police officer who killed Jan. 6 rioter
At the ABC presidential debate, moderator David Muir asked former President Donald Trump whether he regretted how he handled the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump's response was to complain about the death of Ashli Babbitt, a rioter who was fatally shot trying to break into an area where lawmakers were — and then complain that migrants should be prosecuted as harshly as the January 6 defendants.
"I want to talk about the peaceful transfer of power, which of course we all know is a cornerstone of our democracy and the role of a president in a moment of crisis," said Muir. "Mr. President, on January 6th you told your supporters to march to the Capitol. You said you would be right there with them ... aides said you watched it unfold on television off the Oval Office. You did send out tweets, but it was more than two hours before you sent out that video message telling your supporters to go home. Is there anything you regret about what you did on that day?"
"You just said a thing that isn't covered," said Trump. "Peacefully and patriotically, I said during my speech. Not later on. Peacefully and patriotically. And nobody on the other side was killed. Ashli Babbitt was shot by an out-of-control police officer that should have never ever shot her. It's a disgrace."
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"But we didn't do this group of people that have been treated so badly," said Trump. "I ask, what about all the people that are pouring into our country and killing people, that she allowed to pour in. She was the border czar, remember that. She doesn't want to be called the border czar ... she said at the beginning I'm surprised you're not talking about the border yet.
"That's because she knows what a bad job they've done. What about those people. When are they going to be prosecuted? When do these people from all over the world, not just South America. They're coming in from all over the world, David. All over the world. Crime rates have gone down all over the world because of it."