Trump DOJ said to pay $5M to family of Jan. 6 rioter
The US will pay a hefty sum to the family of Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot on January 6
What happened
The Trump administration has agreed to pay nearly $5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Ashli Babbitt, a 35-year-old woman fatally shot by a U.S. Capitol Police officer as she tried to breach an entrance to the House chamber during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, several news organizations said Monday. Babbitt's family had sought $30 million.
Who said what
The reported settlement reverses the Justice Department's "earlier opposition in the case" and averts a trial slated for July 2026, The Washington Post said. President Donald Trump returned to office "casting Babbitt as a martyr and seeking to rewrite the history of the assault on the Capitol as a heroic act of collective patriotism, not a violent effort to overturn an election" by his supporters. Four other people also died in and directly after the violence.
Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of all of the nearly 1,600 people charged with participating in the riot, including at least 379 charged with assaulting 140 police officers or reporters. "I am extremely disappointed and disagree with this settlement," which "sends a chilling message to law enforcement nationwide," U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said in a statement to Politico.
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What next?
The details of the settlement have not been made public, but U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ordered the government and the Babbitt family's lawyers to update the court on Thursday.
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