Gallego: “Ashli Babbitt was a traitor.”

Senator Gallego Presses Senate Colleagues to Block Ashli Babbitt from Military Funeral Honors

WASHINGTON - Today, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) spoke on the Senate floor on his resolution to block January 6 insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt from receiving military funeral honors.

READ MORE: Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego seeks to block Ashli Babbitt from military funeral honors

Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) objected and blocked the unanimous consent of the resolution.

Watch Senator Gallego's speech HERE.

Read the speech below:

M. President,

Ashli Babbitt was a traitor. She was a traitor to this country. She was part of a violent mob that tried to overthrow our democracy.

I was there on January 6, as so many of my colleagues in the House and Senate were.

I remember hearing the pounding on the doors of the House chamber, seeing my colleagues barricading the doors with furniture to stop the insurrectionists from breaking in and disturbing and stopping democracy's day. I remember looking around and thinking about my family, and seeing the mob and what they were willing to do.

Ashli was leading the pack.

She carried a ParaForce knife - a weapon - she pushed to the front of the crowd, ignored repeated orders from Capitol Police to stop, and she pushed through a locked door and a barricaded door, and she was part of the mob that smashed through the windows in the Speaker's lobby, and then she even tried to force her way in.

She didn't die protecting our country. She died trying to tear it down.

Military honors are sacred. They are reserved for the men and women who swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution and the rule of law, and actually lived up to it. To give them to Babbitt would be a spit in the face to all of them, and to every veteran who died defending this country.

I took that very same oath 25 years ago when I joined the United States Marines Corps. I saw what real service and dedication and sacrifice looked like in Iraq. I saw Marines dying holding the line so others may have a chance to live. And I buried brothers who gave everything to protect others, to protect this nation.

To pretend that Ashli Babbitt deserves the same honors is not only a betrayal of their service, of the oath that they had, but it is also a betrayal of all the oaths that we have all sworn, and it is a desecration of the sacrifices our fallen servicemembers have made.

Those who served are expected to uphold our oath and military standards even after we're done with our service. If you violate the law and betray that oath, you forfeit honors.

Ashli Babbitt knew what she was doing when she stormed the capitol, and she knew it was illegal. She wasn't a martyr, she was and is a traitor. She voluntarily broke into the Capitol armed with a weapon. That's a clear violation of the law and the oath she swore to uphold during and after service.

If we equate the January 6 insurrection with genuine sacrifice, then we cheapen everything our servicemembers have fought and died for. We tell people that trying to kill fellow Americans inside the Capitol is no different than dying on the battlefield protecting them. We erode the trust Americans have in our military, and we feed the lie that January 6th was anything more than an act of treason.

And that is why I am outraged that the Air Force plans to grant military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt, the traitor. She did not die protecting Americans, she died betraying the Constitution of the United States.

Her actions disqualify her from receiving military honors, and this Senate should go on record making that clear.

So let any Republican come down here and explain why someone who stormed the Capitol and tried to overturn our democracy deserves the same honors as those who fought and died to defend it.

Because I'll tell you the truth - she doesn't. She is a traitor, and we all know it.

9/10/25