A former campaign manager for President Trump, Brad Parscale, blamed what he called Trump’s “civil war rhetoric” for the death of a woman killed when a mob stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, it was revealed during a hearing of the House committee investigating the insurrection on Tuesday.
Parscale said he felt guilty for helping Trump win election to the presidency.
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In a series of texts with former campaign spokesperson, Katrina Pierson, after the attack, Parscale wrote:
“This is about trump pushing for uncertainty in our country.”
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“A sitting president asking for civil war.”
“This week I feel guilty for helping him win.”
The texts were released by the House committee investigating the riot at the Capitol during Tuesday’s hearing. The hearing focused on violent extremist groups, including the the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, and their involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Pierson, who helped to plan the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally on the Ellipse, responded:
“You did what you felt right at the time and therefore it was right.”
Parscale responded, “Yeah. But a woman is dead,” apprently referring to Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran who was shot and killed by a Capitol police officer as she tried with others to forcefully gain access further into the House.
Pierson said, “You do realize this was going to happen.”
“Yeah,” Parscale said. “If I was trump and knew my rhetoric killed someone.”
She wrote back:
“It wasn’t the rhetoric.”
Parscale disagreed:
“Katrina.”
“Yes it was.”
The police officer who shot Babbitt, Lt. Michael Byrd, was cleared in the death of Babbitt, a Trump supporter.
Parscale worked on Trump’s presidential campaigns, in 2016 and in 2020. In the summer of 2020 he was replaced after complaints about how money was being spent and in the fall was hospitalized.
