Ashli Babbitt would not have died at the Capitol Riot if her husband was traveling by her side on the fateful cross-country trip ... at least that's how he feels about her death.
Ashli's husband, Aaron Babbitt, tells TMZ ... he did not accompany his late wife to Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, because he was back in Cali running their business, but if he had gone with her they would have never stepped foot inside the Capitol.
Aaron says he would have had Ashli's back at the insurrection, but says they would NOT have stormed the building if they were together ... and he was shocked to see her inside.
As you know, Ashli was shot by Capitol Police during the chaos, draped in a Trump flag as she jumped up on a windowpane and tried to charge through.
Video showed her falling backward onto the marble floor and blood flowing from her body. She later died in a hospital from her injuries.
The way Aaron explains it ... neither of them like crowds first of all, so they wouldn't have been in the thick of the mob if he was there.
Aaron also says he would have noticed something bad was potentially about to happen, calling himself a vigilant person, and explaining why there were red flags he thinks he would have picked up on if he were there.
It's interesting ... Aaron says Ashli made the decision to fly to D.C. when they were celebrating Christmas in Cabo, and he learned she was actually inside the Capitol from a friend who called to say he saw her on TV and it looked like she had been hurt.
Aaron was happy to see Ashli's name trending on social media on the first anniversary of the insurrection, because he wants to keep her name alive. However, since she passed he says he's gotten hate mail and death threats, but he's become desensitized.
Ashli's husband says he wishes he had been there, but it sounds like he doesn't want to beat himself up about it constantly ... and he's still waiting to see her again, keeping her remains in a box next to his bed.