The Trump administration will pay close to $5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the estate of Ashli Babbitt, the Air Force veteran who died after being shot by Capitol Police during the riot on Jan. 6, 2020.
Multiple outlets cite insiders with knowledge of the settlement, who provided information that hasn't yet been released in court filings.
“I am extremely disappointed and disagree with this settlement," United States Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said in a statement on Monday. "In 2021, the DOJ investigation determined no wrongdoing by police. This settlement sends a chilling message to law enforcement nationwide, especially to those with a protective mission like ours.”
The details of the total come after news early in May that the government had agreed to settle the case.
The lawsuit by Babbitt's estate, which originally sought $30 million, alleged that the officer who shot Babbitt failed to de-escalate the situation. It also alleged that the Capitol Police were negligent and should have expected that the officer who shot Babbitt was "prone to behave in a dangerous or otherwise incompetent manner."
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The officer shot Babbitt when she attempted to pass through a barricaded door inside the Capitol. The Department of Justice and the Capitol Police both cleared the officer of wrongdoing following the incident.
On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump pardoned or commuted sentences for more than 1,500 criminal defendants charged in association with Jan. 6 attack. He referred to those convicted as “hostages,” and had made it a campaign promise to pardon their sentences.
