Calling into MAGA-boosting Fox News host Maria Bartiromo’s Sunday morning show, former President Donald Trump repeatedly peddled baseless and false claims that the 2020 election was “rigged” and “stolen” while also wildly speculating about the identity of the police officer who shot Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt.
At the same time, Bartiromo appeared to egg on the twice impeached ex-president, irresponsibly suggesting the cop is part of a top Democrat’s security detail while also citing spurious evidence to assert that Trump may have actually won Georgia’s electoral votes.
Ahead of his appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas, Trump phoned into Sunday Futures with Maria Bartiromo to ostensibly talk about his class-action lawsuit against Big Tech giants over his social media bans. The conversation, however, quickly shifted to Trump promoting the “Big Lie” and the pair offering up revisionist history about the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
ADVERTISEMENT
After Trump claimed social media companies had a “big part in rigging” the 2020 presidential election that President Joe Biden decisively won, Bartiromo—who is currently being sued by a voting software firm for pushing debunked election fraud allegations—spurred the ex-president to expand more on his bogus stolen election rhetoric by citing a piece from a far-right website.
“I want to refer you to an article in The Federalist over the weekend and it says there is new evidence that indicates enough illegal votes in Georgia to tip the 2020 results, this is from The Federalist,” Bartiromo noted. “I want to get your thoughts on what’s taking place right now in Arizona and in Georgia with regard to that, as you continue to post and discuss election 2020.”
An excited Trump trumpeted the article’s dubious claims that 35,000 votes in Georgia may have been illegal, citing a data analyst who asserts that current data suggests tens of thousands of voters cast ballots in the wrong county. (The state, which Biden won by nearly 13,000 votes, has already conducted an audit and recount.)
Trump would go on and promote the highly criticized Republican-led election “audit” in Arizona, noting that conservatives are pushing for similar processes in other battleground states that Trump lost in 2020. Bartiromo, meanwhile, lamented that the Supreme Court wouldn’t take any of the Trump-basked election lawsuits up, prompting further complaints from the disgraced ex-president.
“We were very disappointed by the Supreme Court because they didn’t have the courage to take it up, they did not want anything to do with it, too controversial, the Supreme Court did not have the courage to take it up and they should be ashamed of themselves,” he fumed.
The conversation eventually shifted to the insurrection and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s formation of a select committee to investigate the events surrounding the Capitol riots. Despite the widespread violence and destruction from the mob incited by Trump to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s election, the former president looked back on that day as one of peace and happiness.
“There was such love at that rally, you had over a million people, they were there for one reason, the rigged election, they felt the election was rigged,” he declared. “That’s why they were there and they were peaceful people, these were great people, the crowd was unbelievable and I mentioned the word love, the love in the air I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Bartiromo then brought up Babbitt, who was shot and killed by a Capitol police officer while attempting to climb through a broken window of a barricaded door in the Speaker’s Lobby. In recent weeks, Trump has joined his supporters’ calls to identify the cop who shot Babbitt. (Investigators have said the officer will not face any charges as evidence shows his actions were necessary to defend lawmakers.)
“Who is the person who shot an innocent, wonderful, incredible woman?” Trump bellowed. “Who shot Ashli Babbitt? People want to know. And why?”
At that point, while joining Trump’s efforts to present Babbitt as a martyr, the Fox star began openly speculating about the identity of the officer, which has remained a secret due to potential threats against him.
“There is speculation that this was the security detail and a leading member of Congress security detail, a Democrat, what can you tell us in terms of who shot Ashli Babbitt, what do you know Mr. President?” Bartiromo wondered aloud, prompting Trump to say he’s also heard “it was the head of security for a certain high official.”
Bartiromo then took it a step further, outright suggesting the officer works for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, stating she has “reached out” to Schumer’s office to see what “he may know about who shot” Babbitt.
Trump, for his part, largely used that as an opportunity to grouse about the “double standard” that Capitol rioters have faced, complaining that leftists protesters from Black Lives Matter and antifa haven’t faced the same amount of scrutiny.
“They are real law and order people when it comes to a certain group but with another group they can do whatever they want,” he grumbled.
At the same time, Bartiromo did ask Trump about the phone call he had with House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy on Jan. 6 while the riots raged within the Capitol. It has been reported that McCarthy was “furious” with Trump during the call and asked him to call off the rioters, something that the select committee may for McCarthy to testify on.
“Do you want to tell us what took place on that phone call?” she asked.
“No, I don’t have to, because Kevin will speak and I’m sure Kevin will be very good from that standpoint,” Trump bluntly replied.
