“I was receiving death threats for seeking the death penalty,” Trump’s attorney general said on Fox.
Luigi Mangione to face the death penalty in alleged murder of CEO
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has instructed the Justice Department to pursue the death penalty against Luigi Mangione.
WASHINGTON – Attorney General Pam Bondi said Sunday she has received death threats for instructing the federal government to pursue the death penalty against Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year.
Bondi ordered her agency last week to push for capital punishment in Mangione’s federal case. Authorities arrested Mangione in Pennsylvania last December, days after Thompson was fatally shot in New York City.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state murder and terrorism charges. At the federal level, he has also been charged with murder and stalking. His lead defense attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, has said those allegations were brought by a “lawless Justice Department” that is being guided by a “political” decision to pursue the death penalty.
One of Trump’s first executive orders in his second term in office directed the attorney general to make sure states have the necessary drugs to perform executions via lethal injection. He has also called for the death penalty against people convicted of human trafficking and illegal drug charges.
On “Fox News Sunday,” Bondi defended the administration’s approach to the Mangione case.
“If there was ever a death case, this is one,” she said.
She also condemned people who have sympathized with Mangione. Thompson’s death last year prompted months of national interest in Mangione driven by both his physical appearance and frustrations with the American health care system.
“I feel like these young people have lost their way,” she said. “I was receiving death threats for seeking the death penalty on someone who was charged with an execution of a CEO.”
Pretrial proceedings in Mangione’s federal case have been delayed until at least next Friday.