Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale blamed the former president for the death of one of his followers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to text messages shown at Tuesday’s public hearing of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
In text messages with Katrina Pierson, a former Trump campaign official, Parscale wrote that the riot was “about trump pushing for uncertainty in our country.” He added that a sitting president was “asking for civil war” and he felt “guilty for helping him win.”
“You did what you felt was right at the time and therefore it was right,” Pierson responded.
“Yeah. But a woman is dead,” Parscale responded, referring to Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt.
“You do realize this was going to happen,” Pierson replied.
“Yeah. If I was trump and knew my rhetoric killed someone,” Parscale said.
“It wasn’t the rhetoric,” Pierson told him.
“Katrina. Yes it was,” Parscale shot back.
Parscale left the Trump campaign before the 2020 election due to “overwhelming stress” on him and his family. He was involuntarily detained by police after his wife said he cocked a gun and was “ranting and raving.”
Babbitt was fatally shot during the riot on Jan. 6 as she attempted to climb through an opening in a barricaded door where a glass panel had broken out leading toward the House chamber.
