The Trump administration has agreed to pay $5 million to the estate of U.S. Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt, according to a report from The Washington Post, giving a windfall to the family of a woman who tried to violently break onto the House floor and stop former President Joe Biden's electoral victory from being certified in 2021.
Babbitt was shot dead by a Capitol Police officer on Jan. 6, 2021, after she had illegally entered the Capitol to stop the transfer of power from President Donald Trump to Biden. Her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, seeking $30 million from the federal government.
The Biden administration planned to take the lawsuit to court, believing correctly that Babbitt had posed a threat to members of Congress and that the officer who shot her was justified.
Pro-Trump protesters break into the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.
"This officer and the officer's family have been the subject of numerous credible and specific threats for actions that were taken as part of the job of all our officers: defending the Congress, Members, staff and the democratic process," the U.S. Capitol Police wrote in an August 2021 press release, following an internal review of the incident. "The actions of the officer in this case potentially saved Members and staff from serious injury and possible death from a large crowd of rioters who forced their way into the U.S. Capitol and to the House Chamber where Members and staff were steps away."
But when Trump returned to office earlier this year, he freed all Jan. 6 insurrectionists from prison, including violent offenders, and pardoned hundreds of others who had both pleaded guilty to their crimes or been convicted in court.
He has also painted Babbitt as a martyr.
Trump called Babbitt, “an innocent, wonderful, incredible woman, a military woman,” and said during the 2024 campaign that Babbitt’s death was “a terrible thing” and that “there was no reason for it.”
In March, Trump made similar comments again about Babbitt.
“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 an interview on Newsmax in March. “And a man did something unthinkable to her when he shot her, and I think it’s a disgrace.”
Now the Trump administration will give Babbitt's family millions of taxpayer dollars while at the same time slashing spending on everything from weather forecasting, medical research, health care for low-income Americans, and food aid to the hungry.
After news of the settlement figure broke, CBS News reported that Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger told officers that he “was extremely disappointed, and I disagreed with the Department of Justice’s decision to settle."
"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,” Manger said, according to Fox News.
Ultimately, there is no bottom when it comes to Trump’s moral depravity.
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