Doctor Who Tried to Save Ashli Babbitt Slapped With Felonies, Other Charges for Participation in Capitol Riot

A California doctor who treated mortally wounded Ashli Babbitt after she was shot inside the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, as she and others tried to gain access to the House Chamber, has been arrested by the FBI for his own alleged activity at the Capitol on that fateful day.

As reported by the Daily Beast, Dr. Austin Harris, a board-certified cardiothoracic anesthesiologist from Southern California is facing both federal felony and misdemeanor charges related to the riot, an alleged attempt to stop the Electoral College certification of the 2020 presidential election results.

Harris was arrested on Jan. 25 in Van Nuys, and charged in a federal criminal complaint with “knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without authority”, and “disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds” — both felonies with sentences of up to 10 years in prison — and two charges of “disorderly conduct, parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol building,” both misdemeanors.

As the Epoch Times reported:

Harris treated Babbitt’s gunshot wound for four minutes after U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd shot her at about 2:45 p.m. that day. When Babbitt fell from the window frame she was climbing into, Harris stepped forward from the hallway crowd to provide aid.

A video journalist with medic training also tended to Babbitt before police drove both men from the hallway outside of the Speaker’s Lobby.
Harris was on his knees checking Babbitt’s upper chest wound when a U.S. Capitol Police bicycle officer reached down and grabbed him by the shoulders. The officer wrestled Harris away from Babbitt, grabbed him by the jacket, and shoved him down the hallway.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice refused to file criminal charges against Lt. Byrd.

According to Daily Beast, Harris, who was wearing a “Lions Not Sheep” cap during the breach of the Capitol, was turned in by a “former friend,” who spotted a Facebook post of Harris at the scene and reported it to the FBI.

In a follow-up post to the events inside the Capitol, Harris wrote “Thank you all for your concerns,” while falsely claiming — as did others at the time — that the riot was a “false flag event” carried out by “Antifa dressed up like Trump supporters,” with a goal to bring about “even more oppression of conservatives.”

Here’s more, via the Epoch Times:

According to the statement of facts filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, Harris entered the Capitol at 2:15 p.m. through the Senate Wing Doors and headed for the Crypt, which is one level below the Rotunda.
“He attempted to bypass the line of officers and appeared to engage in a verbal confrontation with officers,” the charging document said.
A few minutes earlier, Harris was on the Lower West Terrace next to the inauguration platform. “He can be overheard comparing the officers to Nazis,” the statement read. The document did not include a direct quote or provide details on who heard the comment.

Harris said he was “sad for our country” and upset by “so much craving for absolute power by the swamp.”

According to Daily Beast, Harris didn’t have an attorney listed in court documents as of Thursday and couldn’t be reached for comment.

While it’s ironic that the doctor who tried to save Ashli Babbitt’s life has now been slapped with multiple federal charges for his own alleged participation, the “coincidence” isn’t relevant. What is relevant, along with multiple other Jan. 6 cases, is why it took more than two years to file those charges.