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The Trump administration has reportedly agreed to pay $5 million to the family of Ashli Babbitt — a Jan. 6 rioter shot and killed by Capitol Police as she attempted to break into the House Speaker’s lobby — in order to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.
According to sources who spoke to The Washington Post, the Trump administration settled the $30 million wrongful death lawsuit filed last year by the right-wing activist group Judicial Watch on behalf of Babbitt’s husband. While the settlement was reached earlier this month, the final amount was previously undisclosed. According to the Post, about a third of the settlement will go to attorneys fees and compensation for the involved conservative groups, including Judicial Watch.
The move is a stark reversal from the Justice Department’s previous stance on the shooting, which they ruled to be justified after an investigation into Babbitt’s death during the Biden administration. In a statement to CBS News, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said he told staff he was “extremely disappointed, and I disagreed with the Department of Justice‘s decision to settle this lawsuit.”
According to a copy of the email obtained by the Post, Manger wrote that “In 2021, the DOJ said that there was no evidence to show that law enforcement broke the law. After a thorough investigation it was determined to be a justified shooting. This settlement sends a chilling message to law enforcement officers across our nation — especially those who have a protective mission like ours.”
Babbitt’s death became a flashpoint for the MAGA right as the president and his allies attempted to reframe the violent attack on the Capitol as a patriotic demonstration by concerned citizens, or — as former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and others claimed — a case of wrongful persecution against peaceful sightseers.
Upon his return to office, President Donald Trump made a point to reward the Jan. 6 rioters he propped up as martyrs of his political movement. In one of his first acts as president, Trump pardoned over 1,600 people convicted of offenses related to the Capitol attack, including violent offenders. Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who were both serving lengthy sentences for seditious conspiracy, were also let off the hook.
In a March interview with the right-wing television network Newsamax, Trump told host Greg Kelly that he would “look into” the wrongful death suit against the government, which was set to go to trial next year.
“I’m a big fan of Ashli Babbitt,” the president said. “Ashli Babbitt was a really good person who was a big MAGA fan, Trump fan. And she was innocently standing there; they even say trying to sort of hold back the crowd. And a man did something to her that was unthinkable when he shot her. And I think it’s a disgrace. I’m going to look into that. I did not know that.”
Videos taken on Jan. 6 show Babbitt and a group of rioters attempting to crawl into the Speaker’s Lobby through a shattered window. The Speaker’s Lobbyis adjacent to the House floor, from which law enforcement was attempting to evacuate lawmakers. Babbitt was shot in the neck by a Capitol Police officer after reportedly ignoring multiple orders from law enforcement to get back. She died after being transported to a nearby hospital.
An internal investigation cleared the officer, Lieutenant Michael Byrd, of any wrongdoing. “The actions of the officer in this case potentially saved members [of Congress] and staff from serious injury and possible death from a large crowd of rioters who forced their way into the U.S. Capitol and to the House Chamber where members and staff were steps away,” the Justice Department wrote in their 2021 announcement that they would not be pursuing charges against the involved officer.
