Jonathan Ernst | Reuters Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale blamed then-President Donald Trump’s rhetoric for the death of a woman who took part in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to evidence released Tuesday by a House committee investigating the rebellion. In text messages sent the evening of Jan. 6, longtime Trump supporter Parscale said the riot was about “Trump pushing for uncertainty in our country.” Text from former campaign manager Brad Parscale during a Jan. 6 investigative hearing on July 12, 2022. Text from former campaign manager Brad Parscale during a Jan. 6 investigative hearing on July 12, 2022. Courtesy: January 6 Select Committee “A sitting president is asking for civil war,” Parscale said in texts to Katrina Pierson, a former Trump campaign official who allegedly helped organize Trump’s rally before the riots. Glimpses of the texts emerged during the select committee’s final public hearing on Tuesday afternoon, which focused heavily on the involvement of domestic violent extremist groups in the January 6 insurgency. “This week I feel guilty for helping him win,” Parscale wrote. Pierson replied: “You did what you felt was right at the time and therefore it was right.” Parscale replied, “Yes. But a woman is dead,” adding with obvious shock, “Yes. If I was trump and I knew my rhetoric was killing someone.” Pearson told him, “It wasn’t the rhetoric.” But Parscale replied, “Katrina. Yes, it was.” Neither Parscale nor Pierson immediately responded to CNBC’s requests for comment on the texts. Parscale appeared to be referring to Ashli Babbitt, the pro-Trump rioter who was shot and killed by a U.S. Capitol police officer on Jan. 6 as she tried to crawl through a door leading to the House chamber. Lt. Michael Byrd, the officer who shot Babbitt, was cleared of wrongdoing. Parscale worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign and his 2020 re-election bid. He was demoted in the summer of 2020 as Trump’s polls trailed those of Biden, and he left the campaign in October of that year after being hospitalized.
