The Trump administration has reached a financial agreement in principle to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a rioter killed during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Lawyers for Ashli Babbitt‘s family and Justice Department attorneys confirmed the deal in court Friday—the size of the imminent payout has not yet been made public, according to Politico. Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran, was shot by a Capitol Police officer as she attempted to force her way through a barricaded window into the Speaker’s Lobby as members of Congress fled, fearing for their lives. Her death, captured on video, made her a martyr to MAGA supporters. Judicial Watch filed the suit on behalf of Babbitt’s husband in January 2024 under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The suit alleged that the officer who shot Babbitt failed to de-escalate the situation by first warning Babbitt and accused the U.S. Capitol Police and the Capitol Police Board of negligence. However, the officer who shot Babbitt has been cleared of any wrongdoing. A Capitol Police internal review even praised the officer for having “potentially saved Members and staff from serious injury and possible death.” In an interview in March, Trump promised to “look into” settling the Babbitt family’s lawsuit. “I’m a big fan of Ashli Babbitt,” he said at the time, adding that she was a “really good person who was a big MAGA fan, Trump fan, and she was innocently standing there.”
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