The Trump administration is set to pay out nearly $5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of Ashli Babbitt, a rioter fatally shot during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News on Monday.
The settlement will resolve a $30 million suit brought by Babbitt’s estate and the conservative group Judicial Watch alleging the Capitol Police officer who shot her as she attempted to breach a broken window of the House speaker’s lobby was negligent in his duties.
The Washington Post first reported news on the settlement amount.
The Justice Department in April 2021 announced it had cleared U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd of any criminal wrongdoing in the shooting, after an investigation revealed no evidence he “did not reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so in self-defense or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber.”
A separate investigation by the U.S. Capitol Police further found Byrd’s actions were “lawful and within Department policy” and that he would not face internal discipline.
“The actions of the officer in this case potentially saved Members 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,” USCP said in an August 2021 statement. “USCP Officers had barricaded the Speaker’s Lobby with furniture before a rioter shattered the glass door. If the doors were breached, the rioters would have immediate access to the House Chambers. The officer’s actions were consistent with the officer’s training and USCP policies and procedures.”
This driver’s license photo from the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA), provided to AP by the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, shows Ashli Babbitt.
Maryland MVA/Courtesy of the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office via AP
It was not immediately clear whether the settlement would require the Justice Department to amend its public stance on Babbitt’s shooting or admit fault on the part of Lt. Byrd or the Capitol Police. A DOJ spokesperson and attorneys for Babbitt’s estate did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said in a statement to ABC News that he is “extremely disappointed and disagree with this settlement.”
“In 2021, the DOJ investigation determined no wrongdoing by police. This settlement sends a chilling message to law enforcement nationwide, especially to those with a protective mission like ours,” he said.
Officials in recent weeks confirmed to a federal judge they had reached an agreement in principle to settle the lawsuit, which was filed during the Biden administration, though they did not disclose the terms of the pending settlement.
Trump has repeatedly cited Babbitt’s death as part of his broader vocal support for rioters who stormed the Capitol seeking to overturn his 2020 election loss. Trump pardoned nearly all of the approximately 1,500 individuals charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack as one of his first acts in office, in a proclamation that described the Justice Department’s investigation into the riot as “a grave national injustice.”
Following the pardons, Manger said in a memo to Capitol Police that the move “let violent criminals who attacked police officers off the hook” and that such criminals “should be met with consequences, condemnation and accountability.”
In March, Trump said in an interview with Newsmax that he wasn’t aware of the ongoing lawsuit brought by Babbitt’s family but promised he would “look into” it.
“I’m a big fan of Ashli Babbitt, okay, and 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,” Trump said. “And a man did something unthinkable to her when he shot her, and I think it’s a disgrace. I’m going to look into that; I did not know that.”