Donald Trump Calls 'Appetite' for Embracing Luigi Mangione a 'Sickness'

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What's New

President-elect Donald Trump has said he does not understand the public's "appetite" for gunman Luigi Mangione, who has been charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, calling it a "sickness."

Why It Matters

A journalist asked Trump about his thoughts on the shooting. Mangione, 26, was arrested in Pennsylvania last week, following a manhunt for a gunman believed to have shot dead Thompson, 50, on December 4 in Manhattan.

"How people can like this guy, that's a sickness actually," Trump said at a press conference on Monday in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. "It seems like there's a certain appetite for him. I don't get it."

Newsweek reached out to Trump's transition team for additional comment.

What To Know

Thompson was shot outside the Hilton hotel where UnitedHealthcare was holding its investor conference. A hooded attacker who appeared to have been lying in wait fled on foot to a back alley and then took an ebike in the direction of Central Park.

An ambulance took Thompson to Mt. Sinai Hospital. He was in critical condition and was declared dead at the hospital just after 7 a.m.

"It was cold-blooded, just a cold-blooded, horrible killing," Trump said. "That's very, very bad, especially the way that it was done."

Mangione is being held without bail in Pennsylvania, where he is charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. The most serious of those charges, forgery, is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

In New York, Mangione is charged with second-degree murder as well as criminal possession of a forged instrument and several counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said Mangione's fingerprints appear to match those found near the site of the shooting. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference last week that the shell casings recovered at the site matched the 3D-printed gun that Mangione possessed when he was detained in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

A manifesto found with Mangione suggested his actions were fueled by anger toward the health insurance industry, describing executives as "parasites."

In an interview with NBC New York, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione may have singled out Thompson due to the size of UnitedHealthcare. The suspect has never been a client of UnitedHealthcare.

"I was happy to see that it was not specific to this gentleman that was killed, it's just an overall sickness as opposed to a specific sickness," Trump said.

What People Are Saying

Amazon Pharmacy chief medical officer Vin Gupta, at the Reuters NEXT conference: "Our health system needs to be better (...) There's a lot of things that should cause a lot of outrage. It's also true that that [killing] should not have happened. There cannot be this false moral equivalence in our discourse."

UnitedHealthcare Group's CEO Andrew Witty, in an op-ed for The New York Times: "He [Thompson] believed decisions about healthcare should start with the individual and championed plans in which consumers could see costs and coverage options up-front, so they could decide what's best for themselves and their families."

Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz, on X: "Leftism is a mental disease. The suspected murderer, an Ivy League graduate, 'subscribed to anti-capitalist and climate-change causes, according to law-enforcement.' And the murderer has been widely celebrated by leftists online. Tragic & sick."

What Happens Next

Mangione's first lawyer said his now former client will fight his extradition to New York.

According to legal experts, the extradition process could take months, though there is considerable pressure from New York prosecutors to expedite it.

The most serious charge he faces there—second-degree murder—is punishable by at least 15 years in prison, or up to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. However, prosecutors have said that the charge could be upgraded to first-degree murder if there is evidence to warrant it.

Mangione pleaded not guilty to the Pennsylvania charges and has been fighting extradition to New York since being detained. A court proceeding may take place on Tuesday, December 17, for Mangione to waive his indictments in Pennsylvania so that he can be extradited to New York.

Mangione is scheduled to appear before a judge on December 23, according to court documents issued on December 12.

A crowdfunding effort for Mangione's legal fees has exceeded its initial goal of $50,000, stretching the overall total to $200,000.

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