Latest news with #CapitolAttack
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Trump fires National Portrait Gallery director in latest conflict with arts
Donald Trump says he is firing the first female director of the National Portrait Gallery, which contained a caption that referenced the attack on the US Capitol that his supporters carried out in early 2021. The president announced the sacking Friday through a post on his social media platform that accused Sajet – born in Nigeria, raised in Australia and a citizen of the Netherlands – of being 'a strong supporter' of diversity initiatives that his administration opposes as well as 'highly partisan'. He cited no evidence for either claim. In its collection of portraits of American presidents, the gallery had this text about Trump: 'Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials. After losing to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mounted a historic comeback in the 2024 election. He is the only president aside from Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) to have won a nonconsecutive second term.' Sajet arrived in the US with her family in 1997, held positions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and was appointed director of the National Portrait Gallery in 2013, according to a Guardian profile of her. The National Portrait Gallery is an art museum in Washington DC that opened in 1968 and is part of the Smithsonian Institution. It boasts the only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House. After beginning his second presidency in January, Trump issued an executive order directing the removal of 'improper, divisive or anti-American ideology' from the institution's storied museums. Sajet had said the gallery under her leadership tried 'very hard to be even-handed when we talk about people and that's the key'. 'Everyone has an opinion about American presidents, good, bad and indifferent,' Sajet said. 'We hear it all, but generally I think we've done pretty well.'
Washington Post
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
GOP won't install Jan. 6 plaque honoring law enforcement, Democrats say
More than three years after its installation was approved by Congress, a plaque honoring law enforcement personnel for defending the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is instead sitting in a Capitol basement utility room surrounded by tools and maintenance equipment. The cast bronze memorial to the officers, which declares that 'their heroism will never be forgotten,' was required by law to be installed by March 2023 near the west front of the building. That was the scene of some of the most intense battles between police and supporters of President Donald Trump who attacked the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election of Joe Biden as president.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump officials reportedly reach $5m settlement in January 6 wrongful death suit
The Trump administration has reportedly reached an agreement to pay nearly $5m to the family of the woman who was fatally shot by police while participating in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol carried out by the president's supporters. Citing multiple sources, the Washington Post reported on Monday that the Trump administration had agreed to pay the family of Ashli Babbitt to settle the wrongful death lawsuit they filed after the attack. Babbitt was attempting to force her way into the lobby of the US House speaker at the time, Nancy Pelosi, when the Trump supporter was shot dead by a Capitol police officer. The payment of about $5m at the center of the settlement is meant to resolve the litigation from Babbitt's estate, which initially sought $30m in damages. Attorneys for both Babbitt's family and the federal government each informed a judge earlier in May that they had agreed to settle the case in principle. The case was scheduled to be tried in July 2026. Related: January 6 officer calls Trump 'petty' for Republican refusal to hang Capitol plaque Although a binding agreement had not yet been signed and details of the settlement were not revealed during a court hearing on 2 May,Judge Ana Reyes of the US district court in Washington DC instructed both parties to provide an update by Thursday. Sources with knowledge of the agreement told the Post that Trump's justice department would pay just less than $5m, with approximately one-third allocated to the family's legal team, which includes Judicial Watch, a politically conservative organization, and attorney Richard Driscoll of Alexandria, Virginia. These sources requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the ongoing case, the Post reported. Democratic House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, reacted to the news of the settlement by calling it a 'slap in the face' to the American people. Jeffries said that the settlement was 'totally done without any communication to the chief of the Capitol police or his lawyers, and appears solely the result of a political determination that Donald Trump and Republicans are going to try to whitewash what happened on January 6. 'This settlement is just an extension of what they've previously done, which is to pardon violent felons who violently attacked the Capitol on January 6, including police officers, and now have all been pardoned and sent back to communities across the country where in some cases they're re-engaging in criminal activity,' he added. 'Donald Trump and the extreme Maga Republicans are not going to be able to erase what happened on January 6, no matter how hard they try.' The January 6 Capitol attack that Babbitt chose to partake in was a desperate attempt by a pro-Trump mob to keep him in the White House despite his first presidency ending in defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. The attack has been linked to at least eight other deaths, including the suicides of police officers who were left traumatized having defended the Capitol that day. Babbitt's social media activity showed that she was deeply engaged for months with a conspiracy theory that painted Democratic lawmakers as evil pedophiles with whom Trump was locked in mortal combat. And she also believed lies from Trump and his allies that electoral fraudsters had handed Biden the 2020 election. For weeks before she joined the mob in DC, Babbitt had been retweeting those false claims from Trump himself, as well as the pro-Trump lawyers Lin Wood and Sidney Powell, alleging massive voter fraud before his decisive electoral loss to Biden. Trump then clinched a second presidency after defeating Kamala Harris in November's election.
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump officials reportedly reach $5m settlement in January 6 wrongful death suit
The Trump administration has reportedly reached an agreement to pay nearly $5m to the family of the woman who was fatally shot by law enforcement while participating in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol carried out by the president's supporters. Citing multiple sources, the Washington Post reported on Monday that the Trump administration had agreed to pay the family of Ashli Babbitt to settle the wrongful death lawsuit they filed after the attack. Babbitt was attempting to force her way into the lobby of the US House speaker at the time, Nancy Pelosi, when the Trump supporter was shot dead by a Capitol police officer. The payment of about $5m at the center of the settlement is meant to resolve the litigation from Babbitt's estate, which initially sought $30m in damages. Attorneys for both Babbitt's family and the federal government each informed a judge earlier in May that they had agreed to settle the case in principle. The case was scheduled to be tried in July 2026. Although a binding agreement had not yet been signed and details of the settlement were not revealed during a court hearing on 2 May,Judge Ana Reyes of the US district court in Washington DC instructed both parties to provide an update by Thursday. Sources with knowledge of the agreement told the Post that Trump's justice department would pay just less than $5m, with approximately one-third allocated to the family's legal team, which includes Judicial Watch, a politically conservative organization, and attorney Richard Driscoll of Alexandria, Virginia. These sources requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the ongoing case, the Post reported. The January 6 Capitol attack that Babbitt chose to partake in was a desperate attempt by a pro-Trump mob to keep in the White House despite his first presidency ending in defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. The attack has been linked to at least eight other deaths, including the suicides of police officers who were left traumatized having defended the Capitol that day. Babbitt's social media activity showed that she was deeply engaged for months with a conspiracy theory that painted Democratic lawmakers as evil pedophiles with whom Trump was locked in mortal combat. And she also believed lies from Trump and his allies that electoral fraudsters had handed Biden the 2020 election. For weeks before she joined the mob in DC, Babbitt had been retweeting those false claims from Trump himself, as well as the pro-Trump lawyers Lin Wood and Sidney Powell, alleging massive voter fraud prior to his decisive electoral loss to Biden. Trump then clinched a second presidency after defeating Kamala Harris in November's election.
Washington Post
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
U.S. to pay nearly $5 million to family of Jan. 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt
President Donald Trump's administration has agreed to pay nearly $5 million to the family of Ashli Babbitt to settle a lawsuit brought by the estate of the Trump supporter who was fatally shot by police when she tried to storm the House Speaker's lobby during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, according to two people familiar with the matter.
