Trump administration to pay $6.5m to family of woman shot dead during US Capitol riot

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has agreed to pay nearly US$5 million (S$6.5 million) to the family of a woman shot dead by a police officer during the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, The Washington Post reported on May 19.

Ms Ashli Babbitt, 35, was shot as she tried to climb through a window leading to the House Speaker’s lobby during the assault on Congress by a mob of Trump supporters seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Ms Babbitt’s estate filed a wrongful death suit last year seeking US$30 million.

The case had been scheduled to go to trial, but the US Justice Department reversed course after President Donald Trump won the November 2024 election and entered into settlement talks.

The Post, citing two people familiar with the matter, said a settlement had been reached under which the government would pay nearly US$5 million to Ms Babbitt’s family.

The Capitol police officer who shot Ms Babbitt was cleared of any wrongdoing but Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed the shooting was unwarranted and she was an “innocent” woman.

Ms Babbitt has been cast as a “martyr” by Trump supporters and her estate was represented in the wrongful death suit by the conservative group Judicial Watch.

Mr Trump

signed pardons on his first day in office

for more than 1,500 participants in the attack on the Capitol by supporters seeking to block certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

The Capitol assault, which left more than 140 police officers injured, followed a fiery speech by then-president Trump to tens of thousands of his supporters near the White House in which he repeated his false claims that he won the 2020 race.

He then encouraged the crowd to march on Congress. AFP