January 6th in DC: "Be there, will be wild!" -- Trump

[keehah]

WaPo: D.C. medical examiner releases cause of death for four people who died during Capitol riot

April 7, 2021

Two civilians who died during the violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol died of natural causes [cardiovascular disease], and a third succumbed to amphetamine intoxication, according to the D.C. medical examiner’s office.

A fourth person, 35-year-old Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by a Capitol police officer inside the Capitol, was struck by a bullet to her front left shoulder, the medical examiner said in a statement.

The cause of death for a fifth person, Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, who collapsed after confronting rioters and died Jan. 7, remains pending...

The rulings in the four deaths that occurred as rioters stormed the Capitol seeking to overturn an election then-President Donald Trump had lost...

In Babbitt’s death, the medical examiner ruled that the police officer’s bullet killed her and that the manner was homicide. That does not mean the officer who fired can be held criminally liable for the death...

D.C. police, which investigate all deaths in the District, led the inquiry into Babbitt’s shooting. A department spokesman said the investigation has been turned over to the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C., which will decide whether the officer who fired should face criminal charges...

Video clips show that as Babbitt — who had expressed support for Trump and repeated conspiracy theories and false claims of voter fraud — climbed up toward a broken section of the unguarded door, a Capitol officer on the other side fired, striking her.

Boyland also appeared to be an ardent supporter of Trump.

A Facebook page belonging to a Rosanne Boyland in Kennesaw features several pro-Trump posts and includes a false assertion that D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) ordered hotels and other businesses to close in advance of the Jan. 6 rally.

WaPo: Why my D.C. hotel rented rooms to Trump fans on Jan. 6 instead of closing

Then, over the next few weeks, rooms started filling up on an unexpected date: the middle of the first week of January. I realized that people were coming to town for President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally...

all my staff oppose Trump. Most are people of color who emigrated from Asia, Africa and Central America. Yet when I asked each of them if they wanted to temporarily close rather than rent to Trump supporters, they thought I was joking. For them, there was no choice. We had to stay open out of financial necessity.

I warned them that the rallygoers would be avid Trump fans and might have extremely anti-immigrant beliefs. They told me that they couldn’t care less about what the guests believed...

But the next morning, my front office staff was greeted by angry callers berating us for not closing the hotel. Our phones rang all day with belligerent calls, some from people in our neighborhood, saying we were endorsing racism and xenophobia by renting rooms to the rallygoers. I told my staff, who were confused by the vitriol, not to argue with the callers. Rather they should let the callers know that in the future, we’d be happy to turn down patronage from any potentially offensive guests, on one condition: The callers had to cover the forfeited income and lost wages. There were no offers. “That’s not the point,” one huffed, before hanging up...

If there’s even a faint silver lining to this situation, it’s that my employees might be more politically engaged in the future. One of my housekeepers asked why her stimulus check was delayed; a former employee asked why his unemployment compensation had decreased.