The Trump administration reached a preliminary settlement with the family of Ashli Babbitt, one of the rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The attorneys for Babbitt’s family said they reached an agreement in principle on Friday, according to various reports. The settlement agreement was revealed during a hearing after a former attorney for Babbitt’s family said in a filing that he received a call Thursday from a journalist about claims a settlement was reached.
Details about the settlement in principle were not disclosed. Babbitt was shot and killed by Capitol Police during the riot after she allegedly tried to make her way through a smashed window in the building near the speaker’s lobby. Her family alleged she posed no threat and sued the government for $30 million.
“Lt. [Michael] Byrd, who is a [Capitol Police] commander and was the incident commander for the House on January 6, 2021, shot Ashli on sight as she raised herself up into the opening of the right door sidelight. Lt. Byrd later confessed that he shot Ashli before seeing her hands or assessing her intentions or even identifying her as female,” lawyers for Babbitt said in the initial lawsuit filing.
“Ashli was unarmed. Her hands were up in the air, empty, and in plain view of Lt. Byrd and other officers in the lobby. Ashli posed no threat to the safety of anyone,” the filing continued.
In a September 2024 filing, the Justice Department, under the Biden administration, argued that Babbitt was unlawfully present in the Capitol at the time.
“Ms. Babbitt unlawfully entered the Capitol. She made her way to the east doors of the Speaker’s Lobby situated immediately behind the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives, the site of Joint Sessions of Congress. Although officers had barricaded the Speaker’s Lobby doors with heavy furniture, demonstrators broke through the glass panels of the lobby doors and matching windows (called “sidelights”) on either side of the doors,” the filing said.
“Michael Byrd, a U.S. Capitol Police lieutenant, was positioned on the other side of the lobby doors. When Ms. Babbitt, wearing a backpack, tried to climb through a sidelight into the Speaker’s Lobby, Lt. Byrd fatally shot her,” the filing added.
CAPITOL POLICE CHIEF SLAMS JAN. 6 PARDONS, DEMORALIZING TO ALL ‘COPS’
The initial trial date was set for July 2026.
The riot, which occurred in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s first term, returned to the headlines early in his second term when he issued blanket pardons and commutations of criminal sentences to rioters.
