US settling suit over Trump supporter's death in Jan. 6 riot

Erik Larson, Bloomberg News on May 2, 2025

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The U.S. has reached a settlement in principle with the estate of Ashli Babbitt, the protester who was shot and killed by a police officer as she tried to force her way into the chambers of the House of Representatives during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department and Babbitt’s estate revealed the financial agreement during a hearing Friday in Washington without disclosing the amount of the payment. They said a final settlement is expected to be signed in the coming weeks.

The move is the latest effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to reverse course on the legal fallout from the assault on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. On his first day in office, Trump signed a clemency order for the more than 1,500 people charged in the Capitol attack, pardoning nearly everyone who was convicted and ordering pending cases dismissed.

Babbitt, a 35-year-old California native and Air Force Veteran, became a MAGA hero following her death. Video footage at the time showed Babbitt with an American flag tied around her neck, being shot as she climbed through a broken window of a door to the Speaker’s Lobby, which leads to the House floor. She later died at Washington Hospital Center.

Babbitt’s estate and her husband Aaron Babbitt filed the wrongful death suit in January 2024, alleging that Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd was negligent in firing a single shot at Babbitt without warning as she attempted to enter the restricted area through a broken window ahead of a mob.

“Any settlement would be a key development in getting justice for Ashli Babbitt, and we look forward to resolving the case,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a conservative activist group that represents the estate.

The settlement in principle was made public as part of a dispute between the Babbitt estate and its former lawyer, Maryland attorney Terrell Roberts III. The attorney said in a court filing that he was concerned he wouldn’t receive a share of the payment he says he’s owed under a contingency-fee agreement. He dropped out of the case “for cause,” though his reasons for doing so haven’t been made public.

The likely settlement follows a slew of moves by the Trump administration to protect individuals involved in the Jan. 6 attack and punish law enforcement officials who participated in one of the biggest federal probes in U.S. history. After Trump took office, the Justice Department fired more than a dozen officials who worked on the probes into Trump’s actions.

In November, as a direct result of Trump’s election victory, the Justice Department dropped criminal charges against the incoming president over his conduct around the 2020 election.

The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request to comment on the settlement.

Babbitt’s death was investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. The government announced in April 2021 that it wouldn’t bring charges against Byrd because there wasn’t evidence that his actions violated federal criminal law.