by WorldTribune Staff, March 4, 2025 Real World News
The Department of Justice has signaled it supports a settlement in the Ashli Babbitt wrongful death lawsuit, a report said.
Babbitt, a 36-year-old Air Force veteran, was shot and killed by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The $30 million lawsuit was filed by Judicial Watch last January on behalf of Babbitt’s estate and her husband Aaron Babbitt.
“After months of fighting the suit brought by the husband of the retired Air Force veteran shot dead by a United States Capitol Police officer as she entered the Speaker’s Lobby off the House floor, Justice changed its tune last month,” the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard reported on Monday, citing a new court filing.
“The parties have agreed to work in good faith to narrow or resolve issues in this case,” said the latest filing agreed to by Justice Department lawyers and Judicial Watch.
Judge Ana C. Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had set a trial date in the lawsuit of July 20, 2026.
Related: Watchdog files $30 million wrongful death lawsuit against government on behalf of Ashli Babbitt’s family, January 5, 2024
The Judicial Watch complaint recounts:
The shooting occurred at the east entrance to the Speaker’s Lobby. After demonstrators filled the hallway outside the lobby, two individuals in the crowded, tightly packed hallway struck and dislodged the glass panels in the lobby doors and the right door sidelight. Lt. Byrd, who is a United States Capitol Police commander and was the incident commander for the House on January 6, 2021, shot Ashli on sight as she raised herself up into the opening of the right door sidelight. Lt. Byrd later confessed that he shot Ashli before seeing her hands or assessing her intentions or even identifying her as female. Ashli was unarmed. Her hands were up in the air, empty, and in plain view of Lt. Byrd and other officers in the lobby.
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The facts speak truth. Ashli was ambushed when she was shot by Lt. Byrd. Multiple witnesses at the scene yelled, “you just murdered her.”
Lt. Byrd was never charged or otherwise punished or disciplined for Ashli’s homicide
While Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton would not discuss the talks, he told Bedard: “All we want is justice and we hope the Justice Department under President Trump would share that goal ultimately.”
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