Trump expresses regret he didn't lower White House flag for slain MAGA rioter

Former president Donald Trump has been expressing regret in recent weeks that he didn't order the White House flag lowered to half-staff for slain U.S. Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt.

The Qanon adherent was fatally shot by a Capitol police officer Jan. 6 as she attempted to break into an area where lawmakers had fled the mob of Trump supporters, and the twice-impeached one-term president has recently told associates that she deserved the public honor due to her years of service in the U.S. Air Force, reported The Daily Beast.

"Nothing will stop us," Babbitt tweeted a day before the assault on the Capitol, which she compared to the long-promised "Storm" that Qanon cultists believe will punish Trump's enemies. "They can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours."

Trump and his allies have been trying to portray Babbitt as a martyr shot down by a rogue police officer, rather than a rioter seen on video climbing through a broken window to a secure area where lawmakers hid in fear for their lives, and they're fixated on learning the name of the officer who killed her.

"Who shot Ashli Babbitt? Why are they keeping that secret?" Trump asked Fox News. "Who was the person that shot an innocent, wonderful, incredible woman, a military woman?"

Trump did order the flag lowered at the White House and other federal buildings four days after the deadly riot, under pressure from lawmakers and other politicians, to honor the Capitol police officers who died after clashing with the president's supporters.