Prosecutors in the nation's capital have dropped charges filed earlier this month against Micki Witthoeft – mother of deceased pro-Trump Jan. 6 protester Ashli Babbitt – for blocking traffic and disobeying a police order during a commemorative demonstration, according to The Hill.

The decision was announced by Gabriel Shoglow-Rubenstein, spokesperson for the Office of the D.C. Attorney General, without further comment on the rationale behind the move, saying simply that the office examines each case and decides next steps based on the quality of available evidence and potential benefit to public safety.

Witthoeft arrested

As The Hill reported separately earlier this month, Witthoeft, 58, was arrested while participating in a protest that marked the second anniversary of the fatal shooting of her daughter by a Capitol Police officer during the unrest of Jan. 6, 2021.

According to a Capitol Police press release, Witthoeft was stopped by officers for “illegally blocking traffic on Independence Avenue, SW, near First Street, SW,” with the agency further indicating that the protesters lacked a permit to demonstrate on the grounds of the Capitol, and refused police orders when they were told to move out of the roadway and onto the sidewalk.

Based on the Capitol Police account of events, “a woman,” later identified as Witthoeft, “was given multiple warnings to get off of the road,” but rather than doing so, “the woman refused to leave, turned around with her hands behind her back, and asked to be arrested.”

“As is typical for this charge,” the Capitol Police communication continued, “Ms. Witthoeft was processed and released...after being given a citation to appear in court at a later date.”

Husband keeps fight alive

Continuing to grieve along with Witthoeft is Aaron Babbitt, Ashli Babbitt's widower, who appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight earlier this month to discuss his mother-in-law's arrest on the streets of D.C., as Fox News noted.

Asked for his reaction to the news that Witthoeft had been taken into custody in the midst of a Jan. 6 commemoration protest, Aaron Babbitt said, “She's been there every day living in that area – sitting outside the jail at night and protesting outside the Capitol.”

“So, I'm not going to say it's a coincidence she was finally arrested on January 6, but that doesn't really smell right,” he added.

When asked if Ashli's family had received much in the way of support from lawmakers in the years that have passed since her death, Mr. Babbitt remarked that former Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), and Republican Reps. Troy Nehls (TX), Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), Matt Gaetz (FL), and Paul Gosar (TX) had reached out, but “it's still that very small, very small percentage.” Even so, he added, he will remain in “full-force mode” fighting for justice on behalf of his wife.

Trump reacts

Also reacting to Witthoeft's arrest was former President Donald Trump, who touched on the topic during a speech at his Florida estate the following day.

“Ashli Babbitt's mother was arrested yesterday because she was protesting the death of her daughter being shot by a lunatic,” Trump began.

Sympathizing with Witthoeft's circumstance, the former president added, “So she loses her daughter and then on top of it she gets arrested and we are not going to let this go on.”

Referencing federal authorities who have arrested and aggressively prosecuted those who demonstrated in his name two years ago, Trump added, “These are horrible, horrible people. What they've done to protesters. These are protesters. They were protesting a dishonest election.”

“No insurrection in her heart”

Witthoeft, for her part, has maintained something of a public profile ever since the fateful day that claimed her daughter's life, attempting to secure answers and accountability for a death she believes never should have happened.

Back in January 2022, marking the first anniversary of her family's loss, Witthoeft spoke to the U.S. Sun and characterized her daughter as a “proud patriot” who was “publicly executed” at the age of 35.

“I love and miss my daughter,” Witthoeft said at the time, also expressing her strong conviction that Capitol Police officer Michael Byrd, who fired the gun that killed Babbitt, needed to face justice, despite the fact that authorities declined to prosecute him for his actions on that day.

Maintaining that Babbitt was simply “exercising her first amendment right” on the day she died, Witthoeft insisted that “[t]here was no insurrection in my daughter's heart or in the hearts of anyone there that day,” and judging from her willingness to face arrest just weeks ago, her family's quest for some kind of reckoning – in whatever form it might take – appears likely to continue.