President Donald Trump told Newsmax on Tuesday that he's going to look into the lawsuit filed by the family of Ashli Babbitt as well as the Capitol Hill Police officer who shot and killed her on Jan. 6, 2021.
In an interview with "Greg Kelly Reports" in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Trump said he wasn't aware that the Department of Justice, as Kelly asserted, was averse to settling the lawsuit. A judge set a 2026 trial date in the $30 million suit.
"Well, I'll look into that. I mean, you're just telling me that for the first time, I haven't heard that," Trump told Newsmax host Greg Kelly. "I'm a big fan of Ashli Babbitt. And Ashli 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. And a man did something to her that was unthinkable when he shot her. And I think it's a disgrace. I'm going to look into that. I did not know that."
Trump also said "it's a disgrace" that the Capitol Hill Police officer who shot Babbitt, Lt. Michael Byrd, was cleared of wrongdoing and is still with USCP and received a promotion in 2023.
"I'm going to take a look at it. I'm going to look at that, too. His reputation was ... I won't even say; let's find out about his reputation. We're going to find out," Trump said. "But I watched that and I saw that. And by the way, she was killed, but nobody else was killed."
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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