A settlement is in the works in the wrongful death lawsuit brought on behalf Ashli Babbitt, a San Diego woman who was shot and killed when ers of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol building more than four years ago, one of the plaintiffs said Friday.
“The settlement has been reached in principle, and we hope to have it finalized within the next few weeks,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, which sued the federal government last year on behalf of Babbitt’s husband and her estate.
“Any settlement would be a key development in of justice for Ashli Babbitt,” Fitton said Friday. He declined to comment on details of the proposal, which was first reported by the Washington Post following a hearing Friday in a Washington, D.C., federal courtroom. The complaint, filed in January 2024, sought $30 million.
Babbitt, 35 and a resident of Ocean Beach, was fatally shot by a Capitol police officer as she climbed through a broken window into the Speaker’s Lobby on Jan. 6, 2021, the day that Trump ers who believed that the 2020 presidential election had been “stolen” stormed the Capitol.
Shortly after taking office for his second term in January, Trump granted clemency to ers who were prosecuted for storming the government building. At least eight people from San Diego or with strong ties to the area benefited from the pardons.
The U.S. Department of Justice did not respond Friday to a request for comment regarding whether a settlement deal is in the works in the Babbitt case.
In court documents filed in February, attorneys for the plaintiffs filed a t statement noting that both sides “have agreed to work in good faith to narrow or resolve issues in this case.”
In a news release a few days later, on March 3, Judicial Watch said the “wording is the first to suggest settlement negotiations are underway” in the suit.
Babbitt was an Iraq war veteran who spent four years on active duty in the Air Force and another 10 in reserves. She made the cross-country trek to attend a rally at which Trump spoke the morning of the insurrection, then she ed fellow Trump ers as they walked to the Capitol Building.
“Ashli did not go to Washington as part of a group or for any unlawful or nefarious purpose. She was there to exercise what she believed were her God-given, American liberties and freedoms,” the complaint reads.
A status hearing in the Babbitt case is slated for Tuesday. Trial is scheduled for next summer if no settlement is reached before that time.
