Judge scolds Justice Department over public statements in
UnitedHealthcare CEO murder case
[September 25, 2025]
By LARRY NEUMEISTER and MICHAEL R. SISAK
NEW YORK (AP) — At least two senior Justice Department officials likely
broke court rules governing the conduct of prosecutors by reposting
comments President Donald Trump made about Luigi Mangione, the man
accused of assassinating the CEO at UnitedHealthcare, a federal judge
said Wednesday.
Judge Margaret M. Garnett said in an order that the officials probably
violated a local rule limiting what prosecutors can say publicly about
the guilt or innocence of a defendant before a trial.
On Sept. 18, Trump went on Fox News and called Mangione “a pure
assassin.”
“He shot someone in the back as clear as you’re looking at me,” Trump
said. “He shot him right in the middle of the back, instantly dead.”
A video clip of Trump’s remarks was then posted on the social platform X
by the White House, and then reposted by Chad Gilmartin, a Justice
Department spokesperson, who added the comment, “@POTUS is absolutely
right.” Gilmartin’s post, which was later deleted, was then reposted by
Brian Nieves, an associate deputy attorney general.
The judge asked the department to explain how the violations occurred
and what steps are being taken to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
“Future violations may result in sanctions, which could include personal
financial penalties, contempt of court findings, or relief specific to
the prosecution of this matter,” the judge wrote.
In an email, a Justice Department spokesperson said there would be no
comment.
Earlier this month, defense lawyers for Mangione had asked that his
federal charges be dismissed and the death penalty be taken off the
table as a result of public comments by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges in the
fatal shooting of Thompson on Dec. 4 as he arrived at a Manhattan hotel
for his company's annual investor conference.
In the federal case, Mangione is charged with murder through use of a
firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty, as well as
stalking and gun offenses.
Defense lawyers argued in a written submission to Garnett earlier this
month that Justice Department officials poisoned the case when Bondi
declared prior to his April indictment that capital punishment is
warranted for a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked
America.” Bondi announced in April that she was directing Manhattan
federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Mangione.
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Luigi Mangione, accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO
Brian Thompson, appears in Manhattan state court in New York,
Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP)
His lawyers argued that Bondi’s statements and other official
actions — including a highly choreographed perp walk that saw
Mangione led up a Manhattan pier by armed officers, and the Trump
administration’s flouting of established death penalty procedures —
“have violated Mr. Mangione’s constitutional and statutory rights
and have fatally prejudiced this death penalty case.”
Defense lawyers sent Garnett a letter on Tuesday saying the
government was continuing to prejudice their client's right to a
fair trial with the re-postings on social media of Trump's comments.
They said Mangione was unjustly described by the White House press
secretary as a “left wing assassin” and by another White House
official as an “anti-facist” and had been referenced in a press
release Monday when Trump designated a decentralized movement known
as antifa as a terrorist organization.
“The Government has indelibly prejudiced Mr. Mangione by baselessly
linking him to unrelated violent events, and left-wing extremist
groups, despite there being no connection or affiliation,” the
lawyers wrote.
“The attempts to connect Mr. Mangione with these incidents and paint
him as a ‘left wing’ violent extremist are false, prejudicial, and
part of a greater political narrative that has no place in any
criminal case, especially one where the death penalty is at stake,”
they said. “Mr. Mangione in fact does not support these violent
actions, does not condone past or future political violence, nor is
he in any way aligned with the group mentioned in the White House
press release.”
The order from Garnett was not the first time a Manhattan federal
judge has scolded Justice Department officials for public statements
in a criminal case.
In April 2015, Judge Valerie Caproni accused then-U.S. Attorney
Preet Bharara of straying “so close to the edge of the rules
governing his own conduct” when he announced a corruption case
against former Democratic New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver
that it was not frivolous for Silver to claim that the “media blitz”
that accompanied his arrest was prejudicial.
Silver was eventually convicted on corruption charges and was
sentenced to over six years in prison. In January 2022, the federal
Bureau of Prisons announced that he had died in federal custody at
age 77.
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