US to settle with family of woman killed during Capitol riot, reports say

The U.S. government has reached a settlement with the family of Ashli Babbitt, a supporter of President Donald Trump who was shot and killed by a police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to U.S. media reports.

The U.S. government has reached a settlement with the family of Ashli Babbitt, a supporter of President Donald Trump who was shot and killed by a police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to U.S. media reports. Attorneys for both the Justice Department and Babbitt's estate said during a court hearing on Friday that they had reached an agreement in principle to resolve the case, but no specifics were disclosed, reports said.

A Justice Department spokesperson and a lawyer for Babbitt's family did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A U.S. government settlement would mark the latest gesture of support from President Donald Trump's administration toward those who stormed the Capitol in 2021 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.

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