Trump administration agrees to pay $5M to the family of Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt in wrongful death lawsuit
The Trump administration has agreed to pay $5 million (£3.7 million) to the family of Ashli Babbitt, a Capitol rioter, following a wrongful death lawsuit.
On 6 January 2021, an army of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building in support of Donald Trump, who at the time had just lost the 2020 election to Democrat candidate Joe Biden.
The terrifying attack disrupted a joint session of Congress, convened to certify the election results.
Instead, a mob of Trump supporters broke windows and vandalised offices, with five people killed in the riot, including a Capitol Police officer and Ashli Babbitt.
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Aged 35, Babbitt was unarmed when she was shot by an officer, Associated Press reports.
The lawsuit, filed by her family in 2024 seeking $30 million, claims that the officer did not give any warnings before opening fire.
She was reportedly climbing through the broken window of a door leading to the Speaker's Lobby when she was killed.
Although the officer who shot Babbitt was cleared of any wrongdoing - with the US Attorney's office concluding he acted in self-defense - the lawsuit claimed that the Capitol Police should have known that the officer was 'prone to behave in a dangerous or otherwise incompetent manner'.
“Ashli posed no threat to the safety of anyone,” the lawsuit said.
Earlier this month, a settlement was reached in principle.
While the terms of the agreement have not been made public, it is reported that the Trump administration have agreed to pay $5 million.
"This is extremely disappointing and I completely disagree with the Department of Justice's decision," Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said in a statement to staff, the Washington Post reported.
"This settlement sends a chilling message to law enforcement officers across our nation - especially those who have a protective mission like ours."
Trump has previously spoken about Babbitt, telling Newsmax that he's 'a big fan of Ashli Babbitt' and that she was 'innocently standing there' when she was shot.
"And a man did something unthinkable to her when he shot her, and I think it's a disgrace," he said.
After Trump was sworn in for his second term as president earlier this year, he signed a flurry of executive orders - legally-binding written documents to the federal government that do not require congressional approval.
One of which saw him sign pardons for around 1,500 defendants who took part in the US Capitol riots.
An executive order on The White House's website reads: "This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation."
The day after his inauguration on Tuesday (21 January), Trump said in a news conference at the White House: "These people have already served years in prison, and they've served them viciously.
"It's a disgusting prison. It's been horrible. It's inhumane. It's been a terrible, terrible thing."
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News, News
Lucy Devine