The Trump administration has agreed to settle a lawsuit with the family of a January 6 rioter who was fatally shot by Capitol Police.
Ashli Babbitt, 35, was gunned down by then-Lieutenant Michael Byrd as she and thousands of others attempted to storm the Hill in 2021.
Byrd was cleared of any wrongdoing over the shooting which took place as 80 members of Congress were sheltering inside.
Babbitt’s husband, Aaron Babbitt, has filed a $30 million lawsuit against the government, alleging ‘wrongful death, assault and battery, and various negligence issues’.
But the Justice Department and Babbitt’s estate reached an agreement in principle to resolve the case.
According to Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, a conservative legal advocacy group representing Babbitt’s family, the details of the lawsuit are expected to be finalized in the coming weeks.
This settlement marks another instance of President Biden’s public support for Babbitt, whom he has previously defended, along with other individuals involved in the January 6 riot at the Capitol aimed at disrupting the certification of his electoral defeat in 2020.
Trump branded Babbitt’s death a ‘murder’ and demanded ‘justice’ for the Air Force veteran.
‘I’m a big fan of Ashli Babbitt, OK, 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 in March.
‘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.’
More than 1,500 people were criminally charged for participating in the riot.
Trump pardoned nearly all of them, and released those who had been imprisoned.
The Justice Department has moved to replace Trump as a defendant in lawsuits he faces over the violence at the Capitol.
Babbitt was a vocal Trump supporter and promoted conservative activists and QAnon conspiracy theory movement leaders.
On the day of the storming, she walked to the Capitol for about one-and-a-half miles.
Two undercover Metropolitan Police Department officers followed closely behind her as she climbed the stairs to the West Terrace and entered the Capitol on the Senate side.
She had reached the Speaker’s lobby when the shooting happened.
Court documents state that Byrd shot Ashli on sight as she raised herself into the opening of the right door sidelight.
He later confessed that he shot Ashli before seeing her hands, assessing her intentions, or even identifying her as female.
Video shows her on the floor after being shot in her shoulder and being surrounded by other witnesses.
After an internal investigation, Byrd was exonerated in August 2021.
He later defended his actions in an interview with NBC.
‘I know members of Congress, as well as my fellow officers and staff, were in jeopardy and in serious danger. And that’s my job,’ Lt. Byrd said.
‘I’m hearing about the breaches of different barricaded areas, officers being overrun, officers being down.’
Byrd said he had no idea if the person he shot was carrying a weapon.
‘I was taking a tactical stance. You’re ultimately hoping that your commands will be complied with, and ultimately they were not,’ Byrd said.
Babbitt’s family’s lawyer argued he never gave commands. He told Holt during the interview he yelled multiple times, ‘Stop. Get back.’
He said he fired a single fatal gunshot, striking Babbitt in the left shoulder, ‘as a last resort.’
‘You’re taught to aim for center mass the subject was sideways, and I could not see the full motion of her hands or anything so I guess her movement caused the discharge to fall where it did,’ Byrd said.
‘I tried to wait as long as I could. I hoped and prayed no one tried to enter through those doors.
‘But their failure to comply required me to take the appropriate action to save the lives of members of Congress and myself and my fellow officers.’
DailyMail.com has contacted the DOJ for comment.
