(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The Trump-led DOJ has agreed to pay Ashli Babbitt’s estate nearly $5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit, Judicial Watch announced Friday.
The government will specifically pay $4.975 million after entering a settlement with Judicial Watch, the nonprofit representing Babbitt’s family, over Babbitt’s death at the hands of a D.C. police officer inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Despite initially seeking $30 million, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton called the outcome a “fair” and “necessary step” toward justice.
“Ashli should never have been killed, and this settlement destroys the evil, partisan narrative that justified her outrageous killing and protected her killer,” Fitton added. “Judicial Watch’s team spent years investigating, litigating, and exposing the truth about Ashli’s homicide.”
READ: https://t.co/8cEtreHtvm
Judicial Watch announced a $4.975 million settlement today in the wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. Government filed on behalf of the family of Ashli Babbitt, the U.S. Air Force veteran who was shot and killed inside the U.S. Capitol by… pic.twitter.com/K3U9psSJkT— Judicial Watch ⚖️ (@JudicialWatch) June 6, 2025
Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit on Jan. 5, 2024—three years after Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd fatally shot Babbitt as she attempted to climb through a broken door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby.
She was the only person killed inside the Capitol that day. The Biden administration cleared Byrd of wrongdoing and defended the use of deadly force.
Babbit, a beloved veteran and outspoken MAGA Republican, was at the Capitol to protest the certification of the 2020 presidential election. She served 12 years in the Air Force, with deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and later co-owned a pool business with her husband, Aaron.
Throughout the 2024 election, President Donald Trump repeatedly honored Babbitt’s memory and vowed to look into her death.
“They shot Ashli Babbitt, that officer—bad things should happen to him. He shot her, and she was totally defenseless. She was like an American patriot!” Trump said in an interview with Newsmax.
President Trump On The Murder Of Ashli Babbitt
“She was an American Patriot. They shot her and nothing happened to him.”pic.twitter.com/AUah6PpPod
— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) April 25, 2023
