Trump’s DOJ May Have Violated Luigi Mangione’s Right to a Fair Trial
A judge found the issue could go as high as Attorney General Pam Bondi.
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Justice Department officials may have violated a criminal rule and a court order by making biased statements about Luigi Mangione, 27, accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
District Judge Margaret Garnett issued the order in response to a letter from Mangione’s lawyers, saying several Justice Department employees appeared to have violated a New York state criminal rule prohibiting attorneys from making public statements that could jeopardize a criminal case.
Judge Garnett added that the employees also violated an April court order “specifically outlining the provisions of this rule for attorneys and directing the Justice Department team to ensure that the highest levels of the Justice Department, including Attorney General Bondi, are informed of this rule and understand how they are complying with it.”
On Tuesday, Mangione’s lawyers submitted a letter detailing public statements by Justice Department employees and White House officials, which they said violated his right to a fair trial. Mangione’s lawyers argued that federal officials had “caused serious harm” to their client by linking him to other unrelated acts of violence, including Ryan Roth’s attempted assassination of Donald Trump and the recent killing of far-right activist Charlie Kirk.
On September 19, Chad Gilmartin, deputy director of the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs, posted on Twitter that Trump was “absolutely correct” when he claimed Mangione “shot someone in the back” during a Fox News interview. Brad Nieves, chief of staff and deputy attorney general, then shared Gilmartin’s post, which was later deleted.
The letter also cited unfair statements made by the White House against Mangione. Spokeswoman Carolyn Levitt described Mangione as a “left-wing assassin who shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in the back in New York City.” Earlier this week, the White House included Mangione’s name in a press release accompanying Trump’s illegal designation of Antifa as a terrorist organization. During an interview on Fox News earlier this week, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller referred to Mangione, complaining about what he called an “organized domestic terror campaign” waged by the left.
Miller, who reposted a video of himself making these remarks on X, said that CEO Brian Thompson was “brutally murdered by another self-proclaimed antifascist, and then celebrated by other self-proclaimed antifascists—meaning, of course, genuine communist revolutionaries.”
Mangione’s lawyers argued in their letter that “the government knows full well this claim is false, as they have access to his extensive and allegedly inflammatory journalism, in which the author never mentions being anti-fascist (or pro-fascist).”
The letter added: “Attempts to link Mr. Mangione to these incidents and portray him as a violent left-wing extremist are false, biased, and part of a broader political narrative that has no place in any criminal case, especially one involving the death penalty.” In fact, Mr. Mangione does not support these acts of violence, does not condone past or future political violence, and in no way supports the group mentioned in the White House press release.
Garnett gave the government until October 3 to explain the circumstances of the violations and what steps it intends to take to prevent further violations. She specifically warned the deputy attorney general that any further violations could result in penalties, such as personal fines or contempt of court rulings.
