Donald Trump wrongly claimed on Sunday that Ashli Babbitt, one of his supporters, was killed during the 6 January riots at the Capitol Hill by the "head of security" of a top Democrat, a senior law enforcement official said.
The senior official, who was not named, told NBC that Babbitt was not shot by a member of security of a Congressman, and rejected the claim made by the former president as false information.
The official said the officer who shot the Capitol rioter is yet to return to duty.
During an interview with Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo on Sunday, Mr Trump called Babbitt an “innocent, wonderful, incredible woman”.
“Who shot Ashli Babbitt? Why are they keeping that secret?” Mr Trump asked.
"I will tell you they know who shot Ashli Babbitt. They’re protecting that person," he replied. "I’ve heard also that it was the head of security for a certain high official — a Democrat — and we’ll see, because it’s going to come out. It’s going to come out," Mr Trump said.
The former president attempted to invoke Babbitt, a California-based Air Force veteran, as a martyr. “Who shot Ashli Babbitt?” has emerged as a rallying cry among some congressional Republicans.
The 35-year-old was shot in the shoulder after she "attempted to climb through one of the doors where glass was broken out,” the US Justice Department (DoJ) found in its investigation. She was among the mob of rioters that tried to gain access to the House of Representatives chamber.
The DoJ said in April that the officer who shot Babbitt would not be charged for criminal wrongdoing, adding that the action was necessary “in self-defence or in defence of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber.”
Babbitt was a conspiracy theorist and apparent follower of QAnon as she shared tweets of the group and used QAnon hashtags.
