US to settle with family of woman killed during 2021 Capitol riot

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government has reached a settlement with the family of President Donald Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by a police officer during the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, an advocacy group representing the woman’s family said on Friday.

The Justice Department and Babbitt’s estate reached an agreement in principle to resolve the case. The details are expected to be finalized within the next few weeks, according to Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, a conservative legal advocacy organization that is representing Babbitt’s family in the case.

A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A U.S. government settlement would mark the latest gesture of support from Trump’s administration toward those who stormed the Capitol in a failed bid to block Congress from certifying Trump’s 2020 election loss.

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’s estate, through her husband Aaron, filed a $35 million wrongful death lawsuit last year in Washington federal court, alleging the officer who shot and killed her acted negligently.

Babbitt, 35, a U.S. Air Force veteran who lived in California, was fatally shot in the shoulder while she tried to enter a room near the floor of the House of the Representatives during the riot.

An internal investigation by the U.S. Capitol Police cleared the officer of wrongdoing in 2021 and said he would not face internal discipline.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward in Washington; Editing by David Gregorio and Matthew Lewis)