UnitedHealthcare CEO killing latest: Luigi Mangione to waive extradition
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(PENNSYLVANIA) — Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, will waive extradition to New York when he appears in court in Pennsylvania on Thursday, his attorney said Wednesday.
The Pennsylvania judge must accept the waiver or go forward with a scheduled hearing Thursday morning immediately following a separate hearing on the local charges Mangione faces.
Assuming the extradition paperwork is in order, the NYPD would transport Mangione from Pennsylvania to New York. Mangione could be arraigned in New York as soon as Thursday.
“I’m ready to bring him back here and make sure justice is served,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday.
A special edition of “20/20” airing Dec. 19 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC looks at the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the manhunt that led to the arrest of Luigi Mangione, who went from the Ivy League to alleged killer.
Mangione, 26, is accused of gunning down Thompson outside a Hilton hotel on Dec. 4 as the CEO headed to an investors conference. Prosecutors alleged Mangione waited nearly an hour for Thompson to arrive.
A Manhattan grand jury has upgraded charges against Mangione to include first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
The slaying in the heart of Midtown Manhattan unfolded as tourists, commuters and residents were on the streets and was “intended to evoke terror,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.
In Pennsylvania, where Mangione was arrested on Dec. 9 after nearly one week on the run, he faces charges including allegedly possessing an untraceable ghost gun.
When Mangione was apprehended, he had a 9 mm handgun with a 3D-printed receiver, a homemade silencer, two ammunition magazines and live cartridges, prosecutors said.
Mangione is also charged in New York with: two counts of second-degree murder, one of which is charged as killing as an act of terrorism; two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree; four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree; one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree; and one count of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Mangione will waive extradition at Thursday’s hearing, according to his lawyer, but he has not yet waived extradition.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday declined to say if he’s been in touch with Russian President Vladimir Putin since he left the White House but said it would have been smart if he had.
“Well, I don’t comment on that, but I will tell you that if I did, it’s a smart thing,” Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg Editor-In-Chief John Micklethwait at the Chicago Economic Club. “If I’m friendly with people, if I have a relationship with people, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing.”
Trump’s interactions with Putin have been the source of speculation since journalist Bob Woodward’s book reported that the two have communicated multiple times since Trump left the presidency in early 2021.
Throughout his presidency, Trump praised Putin, including saying he believed Russian intelligence over the U.S. intelligence community with regard to Moscow’s efforts to meddle in the 2016 election.
Trump last week flatly denied during an interview with ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl that the two leaders had recently been in touch.
“So, you haven’t spoken to him since you left the White House? Karl asked Trump. “No, I have not. That’s false.”
Despite repeatedly touting his close relationship with Putin in the Tuesday interview, Trump insisted he was tough on him, again saying he terminated the Nord Stream II pipeline.
“I said I don’t comment on those things,” Trump said when Micklethwait repeatedly followed up.
Trump also insisted that the 2020 election ended with a peaceful transition of power despite the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a pro-Trump mob on the U.S. Capitol.
“People were angry,” Trump said of the reaction to the election results before noting that he traveled home to Florida the day President Joe Biden was inaugurated.
“And it was love and peace. And some people went to the Capitol and a lot of strange things happened there. A lot of strange things with people being waved into the Capitol by police, with people screaming, ‘Go in,'” Trump said.
Looking forward to a possible second Trump administration, the former president defended his plans to slap significant tariffs on many imports, which critics have said will amount to a sales tax on American consumers.
Micklethwait opened up the conversation with a critique from multiple economists — a concern that his proposals for tax cuts would raise the national debt by trillions. Trump reiterated his claim that a major growth from his proposals would make up for the cuts, saying the auto industry and other factories will come back to the United States.
“We’re all about growth. We’re going to bring companies back to our country,” Trump said. “And we’re going to bring the companies back. We’re going to lower taxes still further for companies that are going to make their product in the USA.”
Trump claimed that he’s not going to allow foreign companies to sell a single car in the United States, throwing out self-admittedly random numbers for tariffs like “100%, 200% or 2,000%.”
“The higher the tariff, the more likely it is that the company will come into the United States and build a factory in the United States so it doesn’t have to pay the tariff,” Trump said.
In this screen grab from a video, a drone is shown near Bedminster, New Jersey, on Dec. 3, 2024./Obtained by ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Since mid-November, what are believed by many to be large aerial drones have been spotted at night throughout central and northern New Jersey, causing concern for residents who have been posting videos of the aircraft on their social media accounts and prompting increasing demands from local and state officials for answers.
Lawmakers from New York and New Jersey this week sent a letter to the heads of the FBI, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), requesting that the agencies brief them on the issue.
“We write with urgent concern regarding the unmanned aerial system (UAS) activity that has affected communities across New York and New Jersey in recent days,” the letter from New York Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim stated. They asked to be briefed “as soon as possible on how your agencies are working with federal and local law enforcement to identify and address the source of these incursions.”
While lawmakers and citizens alike await answers, here’s what to know about the purported drone sightings.
Who’s operating the drones, and why?
According to a DHS handout, “it is unclear who is operating the drones,” but “the State of New Jersey and its agencies are not involved in the operation of these reported drones.” The statement noted that determining the operators is “an aspect of the ongoing federal investigation.”
Similarly, the DHS said there is as yet no “specific details about the drones,” such as their manufacturer or model, and that while “drones are generally required to have tracking capabilities … not all drones comply, and investigations are ongoing to identify the operators.”
Are the drones dangerous?
“At this time, according to the FBI, there are no known specific or credible threats related to these sightings,” the DHS handout states.
During a press briefing Thursday, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby echoed the DHS statement, and said there was “no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat.” He added that “upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully.”
Could the drones actually be something else?
It is possible that some people may be mistaking general aviation, commercial or military aircraft for drones. “Drone activity can sometimes be mistaken for general aviation aircraft, such as planes or smaller helicopters, due to several overlapping characteristics,” according to the DHS, including “advanced capabilities that allow them to mimic the flight patterns of helicopters or small planes, such as hovering or making rapid directional changes.”
During his briefing Thursday, Kirby also said that federal authorities and state and local law enforcement “have not been able to … corroborate any of the reported visual sightings. To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully.”
Mine Hill, New Jersey Mayor Sam Morris called Kirby’s claim “ridiculous,” telling ABC News it was “really insulting to all the people here who are living through this.”
“Come on out, Mr. Kirby. And let’s go out one night about 9:30, 10:00,” Morris said. “I’ll go out behind my town hall. And you can count them with me all night.”
Can someone shoot down, capture or disable the drones?
Drones generally can’t be shot down or captured, for both legal and safety reasons, according to the DHS: “Shooting down a drone can pose safety risks to people and property on the ground. Debris from a downed drone can cause injury or damage, especially in populated areas.
Additionally, the small size and maneuverability of drones make them difficult targets, even if there should be a reason to shoot them down. And while “non-kinetic methods such as jamming or hacking can be used” to disable drones, “they require sophisticated technology and expertise,” the DHS says.
It’s also not a good idea to shoot them down yourself. Doing so in New Jersey, for example, is illegal and violates federal law, since drones are regulated by the FAA. According to the DHS, any person who shoots down a drone could be fined up to $250,000 and sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
State and local authorities also have little to no say legally regarding drone activity, since drones are FAA regulated.
What should you do if you see a drone?
The DHS recommends that anyone who sees what they consider to be suspicious drone activity should report it to their local police. If you live in New Jersey, you can also report it to the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness Counter-Threat Watch Unit at 866-4-SAFE-NJ (1-866-472-3365) or tips@njohsp.gov.
(NEW YORK) –Luigi Mangione’s mother filed a missing persons report about her son in San Francisco on Nov. 18 — 16 days before he allegedly shot dead UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City — law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Mangione appeared in court in Pennsylvania on Monday, shortly after his arrest at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, following a five-day manhunt across multiple states. Mangione told a judge he was in touch with his family “until recently.”
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that Mangione’s mother spoke with a task force of FBI agents and New York Police Department detectives one day before her son’s arrest on Dec. 9.
That conversation followed a tip the FBI received from the police in San Francisco, where Mangione’s mother filed the missing persons report.
The tip from SFPD was based on physical appearance and Mangione’s mother, in her conversation with the Joint Violent Crimes Task Force last Sunday, indicated the person in the surveillance photos circulated by the NYPD could be her son, the sources said.
The task force was still working on the information the mother and San Francisco Police Department provided when Mangione, 26, was arrested in Altoona.
The Mangione family released a statement saying they were “shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest” and offered “our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved.”
Mangione is currently in custody at a Pennsylvania state prison after a judge denied bail on Tuesday. Mangione faces charges in Pennsylvania including allegedly possessing an untraceable ghost gun. In New York, he faces charges including second-degree murder.
Mangione’s new attorney
Mangione has now hired veteran former New York City prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo to defend him, according to a statement from her law firm Agnifilo Intrater LLP.
Friedman Agnifilo served as the second-in-command in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office from 2014 to 2021 under former District Attorney Cyrus Vance. A biography on her law firm website says she played a lead role in prosecuting “high-profile violent crime cases,” including those involving mental health and cold case homicides.
“Karen Friedman Agnifilo has a three-decade background in criminal justice, litigation and trials. Her practice focuses on criminal defense in state and federal courts, leveraging her extensive experience prosecuting serious violent crimes, including complex homicide cases, from accusation to investigation to arrest and trial,” the biography said.
“While serving in the Manhattan DA’s office, Ms. Friedman Agnifilo was also integral to creating the office’s Human Trafficking Unit, Hate Crimes Unit, Antiquities Trafficking Unit, Terrorism Unit, its Cybercrimes and Identity Theft Bureau, as well as working on the creation of Manhattan’s first Mental Health Court,” the biography continued.
Friedman Agnifilo is also a frequent television news guest and commentator and is a former legal analyst for CNN.
She is the co-host of a weekly podcast on the Meidas Touch Network where she discusses emerging legal issues and litigation strategy, and serves as a legal adviser for the television show “Law and Order.”
Writings analyzed
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that writings seized from the suspect indicate he developed a fixation and increasing malice toward UnitedHealthcare and allegedly talked about harming its leader for months.
Some entries in the notebook seized from Mangione upon his arrest were dated as far back as mid-2024, the sources said.
That fixation eventually evolved into the alleged plan to shoot executive Thompson, the sources said.
Some of the writings were diary-style, documenting how he felt and what he did that day. They also documented a desire to focus on his health and find his purpose, the sources said.
But as time went on — and as Mangione allegedly fell out of contact with friends and family and grew increasingly isolated — some writings indicated a deterioration in his state of mind, illustrating a gradual build towards the alleged plan to kill Thompson at what the writings described as UnitedHealthcare’s “annual parasitic bean-counter convention,” sources said.
Mangione’s writings, obtained by ABC News, claimed that the U.S. has the most expensive health care system in the world but ranks around 42nd in life expectancy.
He said UnitedHealthcare “has grown and grown, but as our life expectancy? No the reality is, these [indecipherable] have simply gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit.”
“I do apologize for any strife of traumas but it had to be done,” he allegedly wrote. “Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.”
Neither Mangione nor his parents received insurance through UnitedHealthcare, according to UnitedHealth Group.
