A viral claim that anti-fascists or Antifa were responsible for the death of Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt during the violent U.S. Capitol siege has found to be fake. Several conservative news websites claimed that an "analysis" showed that Babbitt's death provoked by Antifa.
Articles published on WorldNetDaily and the Gateway Pundit cited the Epoch Times interview said of Japanese journalist Masako Ganaha who said Antifa's actions lead to the shooting of Babbitt, a 35-year-old supporter of President Donald Trump. In the interview, Ganaha pointed that one rioter with a yellow flag tied around like a cape handed a helmet to another rioter who used it smash the glass on the door to the Speaker's Lobby.
According to Ganaha, the handing of the helmet showed that the two men were Antifa and collaborated to provoke the crowd. The man who handed his helmet was seen running downstairs after Babbitt was shot. He, then put an item of clothing in a bag, the Japanese journalist said.
However, the claim was fact-checked by Agence France-Presse and PolitiFact with both outlets reporting that there was no involvement of Antifa in the Jan. 6 protests that left four others dead — including a police officer. Following AFP's fact check WorldNetDaily issued a correction and removed the word "Antifa." However, the report replaced it with "leftist agitators."
"The text of the story has been amended to remove the "Antifa" name. The original headline of 'Analysis concludes Antifa provoked shooting of Ashli Babbitt at Capitol' has been amended to: 'Video analysis suggests 'agitators' provoked shooting of Ashli Babbitt at Capitol,'" the correction read.
Babbitt was a 14-year veteran and served four tours with Air Force as a "high-level security official." According to her husband Aron, Babbitt was an ardent supporter of Trump and "a great patriot to all who knew her."
According to a report, Babbitt was in a "throuple" with her husband and a live-in girlfriend Kayla Joyce. Babbitt and her husband met Joyce about a year ago and decided to ask her to join in their open marriage, family sources reportedly said. Andrew Witthoeft, the deceased's 21-year-old brother, said Babbitt was raised to welcome people of all sexual orientations, colors or creeds, however, they had to be from "Team America."
