Nearly four and a half years after Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd shot and killed Ashli Babbitt at the U.S. Capitol, her husband on June 6 signed an agreement to settle his $30 million wrongful-death suit against the federal government.

The agreement includes a $4.975 million payout. Other terms were not immediately announced.

'She was alive and breathing after being shot.'

“This fair settlement is a historic and necessary step for justice for Ashli Babbitt’s family. Ashli should never have been killed, and this settlement destroys the evil, partisan narrative that justified her outrageous killing and protected her killer,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

Twenty-five percent of the lawsuit settlement will be held in a trust account against any possible award to Babbitt’s former attorney, Terrell N. Roberts III. Roberts asked to intervene in the lawsuit earlier this year, claiming he is owed 40% of any settlement amount.

Roberts terminated his relationship with Aaron Babbitt in early 2022. Babbitt’s D.C. attorney, Richard Driscoll, demanded that the issue be arbitrated by the Attorney/Client Arbitration Board of the District of Columbia Bar.

Despite repeated corporate media claims to the contrary, Judicial Watch handled the wrongful-death lawsuit pro bono.

Although the federal government admitted no liability in the settlement agreement, it is a tacit admission by the U.S. Department of Justice that Byrd was reckless and used excessive force when he slid from a hidden position in the House Speaker’s Lobby and fired one shot at Babbitt, who had climbed into a sidelight window just outside the entry doors.

The lawsuit complaint, filed on Jan. 5, 2024, alleged that Byrd was negligent in the handling and use of his Glock 22 sidearm and reckless in his decision to fire into the crowded hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby.

The suit also claimed the Capitol Police department was negligent in its supervision of Byrd, who has a long disciplinary history that includes firing his pistol into a fleeing vehicle near his home in 2004 and leaving his gun on a toilet tank in the Capitol Visitor Center.

Aaron Babbitt filed claims against the Capitol Police in June and September 2021 and augmented the claims in February 2022 and January 2023, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

RELATED: Capitol Police name permanent chief hours after union slams controversial interim pick

Ashli Babbitt was a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and the Air National Guard. Photos courtesy of Micki Witthoeft and Aaron Babbitt

The suit was brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act against the entire federal government, of which the Capitol Police department is a part.

According to the lawsuit, Byrd’s bullet struck Ashli Babbitt in the left anterior shoulder at 2:44 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021. The round “perforated her left brachial plexus, trachea, upper lobe of the right lung and second anterior rib, and came to rest in her right anterior shoulder.

“Video recordings show her alive and conscious, writhing uncontrollably immediately after the shooting,” the suit stated. “Ashli remained conscious for minutes or longer after being shot by Lt. Byrd. Ashli experienced extreme pain, suffering, mental anguish and intense fear before slipping into pre-terminal unconsciousness."

“Furthermore, nothing about the wound track described in the autopsy report would be expected to result in immediate death or instantaneous loss of consciousness,” the suit said, “and Ashli’s lungs contained blood, further confirming that she was alive and breathing after being shot.”

Babbitt was unarmed, hands raised

Although Byrd claimed that he feared for his life at the time he shot Babbitt, he “later confessed that he shot Ashli before seeing her hands or assessing her intentions or even identifying her as female,” the lawsuit said. “Ashli was unarmed. Her hands were up in the air, empty and in plain view of Lt. Byrd and officers in the lobby.

“Ashli posed no threat to the safety of anyone,” the suit said.

The killing became a polarizing event for Jan. 6 and drew vile responses from the left, with many claiming that Babbitt deserved to be shot because they believed her to be a rioter who was part of a mob. Death threats and harassment were directed at Aaron Babbitt. Immediately after the shooting, people would call the Babbitts' pool-cleaning business and ask, “Can Ashli come over and clean my pool?”

A self-described “anarchy princess” stomped on a birthday floral tribute to Babbitt on the steps of the Capitol in October 2022. The woman, Brianne Marie Chapman, often heckled Babbitt’s mother, Micki Witthoeft, at public events.

'Then-Lieutenant Byrd’s weapon was left unattended in a public restroom for approximately 55 minutes.'

Long investigations carried out by news media and Judicial Watch Inc. revealed that Ashli Babbitt tried to stop rioting that erupted in the Speaker’s Lobby hallway between 2:36 and 2:44 p.m. She shouted at rioters to stop and eventually threw a left hook to the face of rioter Zachary Alam to end his spree of vandalism and mayhem.

The suit was filed in San Diego, but the Biden DOJ immediately moved to have it transferred to the friendly confines of federal court in the District of Columbia. Judicial Watch was still fighting to move the case back to California when the “settlement in principle” was first announced May 2.

The DOJ declined to prosecute Byrd in 2021, stating there was not enough evidence that the officer willfully used excessive force in killing the 14-year U.S. Air Force veteran. The shooting-justification report was loaded with errors and did not use the proper U.S. Supreme Court litmus test for fatal use of force.

Byrd promoted, rewarded

A U.S. House subcommittee outlined how the Capitol Police covered up Byrd’s identity for eight months in 2021, paid more than $35,000 to house him in an admiral’s suite at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, provided $37,000 in unrestricted retention bonuses, and helped Byrd open a GoFundMe account that brought in more than $164,000.

Former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) made a $200 donation to Byrd's GoFundMe on Nov. 18, 2021. At the time, Kinzinger was a member of the now-defunct Jan. 6 Select Committee appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Kinzinger wrote on social media, “A worthy cause, as this man has faced quite an onslaught of misinformation and extreme threats.”

Capitol Police planned to use money from the Officers’ Memorial Fund for fallen officers to pay Byrd’s expenses, including overtime pay he lost by being off work following Jan. 6, the House report said. The plan was to submit Byrd’s proposal ahead of any other Memorial Fund payments, including those for 90 officers injured on Jan. 6.

The Capitol Police general counsel worked directly with Pelosi's staff to find ways to assist Byrd after the shooting. A police source who was in attendance at a Capitol meeting with Pelosi told Blaze News the speaker emerita declared that Byrd was not to be touched.

RELATED: Lawmaker who visited El Salvador to spring MS-13 gang member attacks Ashli Babbitt as a ‘domestic terrorist’

U.S. Capitol Police Officer Steven Robbs peers into the House Speaker’s Lobby after Lt. Michael Byrd shot Ashli Babbitt. A wrongful-death lawsuit filed against Byrd said tactical officers were in the hallway when Byrd aimed and fired at Babbitt at 2:44 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021. Photo by Tayler Hansen

Capitol Police assigned Byrd a dignitary protection detail and planned to provide him with a department-issued shotgun for personal protection. However, Byrd failed the FBI background check and the shotgun proficiency test, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) said.

Byrd was promoted to captain in 2023. Loudermilk said he was troubled by the promotion, asking then-Chief J. Thomas Manger to provide more information on the standards used for the promotion. Manger never responded, a Capitol Hill source told Blaze News.

Blaze News reached out to the USCP for comment.

Blaze News investigations exposed how Capitol Police have covered for Byrd for nearly 25 years. Byrd was recommended for termination in 2001 when an internal affairs investigation found he abandoned his post in the Speaker’s Office for a card game in a nearby cloakroom. When Byrd was confronted by a supervisor, he lied, defying video evidence to the contrary, the investigation found.

Byrd was suspended for a week after a 2015 incident in which he shouted at a Montgomery County police officer working security at a Maryland high school football game.

Byrd “became argumentative with the officer and began yelling profanities at the officer, calling him a ‘piece of sh**, a**hole, and racist,’” according to a report issued in 2024 by Rep. Loudermilk. Byrd accused the officer of “targeting the ‘black side’ of the field and then jumped the fence” to confront him.

In 2019, Byrd was again referred to the Office of Professional Responsibility for leaving his Glock pistol in a Capitol Visitor Center restroom.

“Then-Lieutenant Byrd’s weapon was left unattended in a public restroom for approximately 55 minutes before it was discovered by another officer,” Loudermilk wrote. Byrd was suspended without pay for 33 days.

Loudermilk disclosed that the records of three other OPR discipline cases against Byrd were somehow missing.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!