CNN reported on Monday that the suspected shooter of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson had two pages of writing with him upon arrest.
Luigi Mangione was taken into custody at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania. CNN quoted law enforcement sources as saying a document seized off of him reads, "These parasites had it coming."
Another comment in the document read, "I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done."
“We don’t think there’s any specific threats to other people mentioned in that document, but it does seem that he has some ill will towards corporate America,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said during a briefing, CNN reported.
He was also in possession of a ghost gun that may have been 3D printed, police also said.
Fox News hosts Sandra Smith and Jeanine Pirro criticized Republican state Delegate Nino Mangione of Maryland after his cousin, Luigi Mangione, was arrested for the murder of CEO executive Brian Thompson.
"Another twist in this story, this just into our newsroom, the suspect's cousin is a Maryland State Delegate," Smith reported Monday. "So this is now being confirmed, the suspect's cousin is a Maryland State Delegate, Antonio D. Mangione, goes by Nino."
"How was it possible there wasn't anyone, anywhere in the country who was saying, that person's in my family, I know that guy?" she said.
Former FBI investigator Bill Daly said it was "quite surprising that it took a McDonald's employee in Pennsylvania to identify this person."
"How does anybody who is related to this person not say, I know that guy, and call the police?" Smith asked Pirro.
"Well, that is certainly a very relevant question," Pirro agreed. "Once a guy at McDonald's can pick up the phone and a relative and someone who is in a particular job where he's working for the government, essentially, and for the people, can't, you know you've got a problem."
A man being held in connection to the Manhattan shooting of a health insurance executive reportedly had a manifesto claiming violence was the answer to problems with the health care industry.
The New York Times reported Monday that Luigi Mangione, 26, was being held in Pennsylvania in connection to the shooting of Brian Thompson.
Mangione was said to have a handwritten manifesto railing against the insurance industry for putting profits above health care.
According to former ATF special agent Jim Cavanaugh, any notion that the man who ambushed and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan on Wednesday morning was a professional killer should be put to rest.
Speaking with MSNBC host José Díaz-Balart, Cavanaugh said that, based on video of the shooting that has been released, the masked man who pulled the trigger and struggled when his gun jammed was a rank amateur.
"What does this tell you?" the host asked after showing video clips. "He certainly knew the weapon, but the weapon was jamming from the first shot."
"Right, he's sort of a doofus, really," Cavanaugh smirked. "He doesn't have the weapon in top functionality when he's going to commit his murder. A hired killer, someone with great firearms experience would not have his gun jam –– it would be clean."
"Second, his stance is natural, it's not really a weave or shooting stance he does have two hands up there," he added. "When he goes to clear the round, now the chief of detectives said he cleared the round so he's proficient with a firearm, he does have more proficiency than the average bear, Jose, but this is not the way any trained shooter would clear a round."
"The exercise to clear rounds are tap, rack, bang and that's drilled into you when you're an agent or officer," he elaborated. "Tap, rack, bang –– he doesn't do that. He racks the gun, the slide, and then he slaps the top of the gun, the top of the slide a couple of times. There's no trained shooter that would do that."
"That's the drill, that's beat into your head," he added. " So, he didn't do that, he just racked it and he started slapping the top of the gun. So I don't see this guy as a professional killer."
A member of Rep. Joe Morelle's (D-NY) staff was arrested Monday after he allegedly brought ammunition and a high-capacity magazine onto the Capitol grounds.
Fox News correspondent Chad Pergram reported that U.S. Capitol police arrested 38-year-old Michael Hopkins after an X-ray screening found what appeared to be ammunition as he was entering the Cannon House Office Building, the oldest office building in Congress.
"After a hand search of the bag, officers found four ammunition magazines and eleven rounds of ammunition," a statement from the Capitol Police said, according to Pergram. "The staffer told the officers that he forgot the ammunition was in the bag."
Hopkins was expected to be charged with unlawful possession of ammunition and possession of a high-capacity magazine.
Already scheduled for an appearance with MSNBC's Jen Psaki to talk about Tuesday's election, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was immediately asked to address Donald Trump's encouragement of shooters to aim at reporters during a Sunday morning speech.
At a rally in Pennsylvania, the former president pointed out the spots where he was protected by bulletproof glass before adding that reporters ––whom he referred to as the "fake news" –– were in the line of fire if an assassin took a shot at him.
He told his MAGA fans, "And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news, and I don't mind that so much. I don't mind, I don't mind that."
Moments after he made those comments, Pelosi made her MSNBC appearance and was asked by the host, "I just want to get your reaction to what he just said at the rally that we played for the audience."d
"I think what the ex-president just said is a further indication of his cognitive degeneration," she began. "You saw recently how he was talking about whether he'd choose electrocution or being eaten by sharks."
"Something is very wrong there and indicative also of diminishing the power of the press, which is the guardian of our freedom in our country," she continued. "So I think people who might be thinking about voting for him have to know that he can't last as president for four years with his brain deteriorating at the rate it is and it is clearly evident and they may be voting for J.D. Vance which would be a horrible thing for our country."
Businessman Tim Sheehy, who is vying for Montana Democrat Sen. Jon Tester's U.S. Senate seat, did not do his campaign any favors by appearing on conservative Megyn Kelly's podcast.
Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, has been under fire for claiming during his campaign he was shot in combat which has been disputed by a park ranger who recalled dealing with him and his wound after he accidentally shot himself during a family trip in Glacier National Park in 2015.
With the cloud of where, when and how he was shot hanging over his head, host Kelly gave him a chance to clear the air on Friday and he seemed unprepared with a straightforward answer.
"But were you wounded? In the park? Did you have a wound, Tim, in the park?" Kelly pressed her guest.
'No, no. Yes," he replied. "I fell and injured my arm when we were hiking. So that’s why I went, because, you know, I could feel the bullet get dislodged when I fell and fell on the arm, you could feel the bullet get dislodged, and then went to the ER to say, 'Hey, you know, look, you know, I’ve got internal bleeding going on here, I’ve injured my arm, can you take a look at this, make sure there’s nothing serious going on here.'"
Pressed further by a puzzled-looking Kelly who asked, "Are there medical records where the ER could say, “We did not treat a gunshot wound”? he replied, "Well, there, there isn’t, I mean that’s the point. You go in, you check on it, and you leave."
"There’s not an extensive medical record for any of this stuff. And unfortunately, that’s the crux of this, is there’s just not a whole lot to talk about. They’ve decided to take this one report from a park ranger, that I gave them that report, I stood in the parking lot and said 'Hey, this is what happened,' you know, and, five minutes, you know, we go on our way, and they’ve decided to make that the focal point of all this."
Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer Greg Bluestein reported Friday that Donald Trump's campaign had canceled his keynote address to the National Rifle Association in Georgia for a roundtable with Latino voters in Florida.
Critics filled his mentions with comments guessing that it was Trump's attempt to "clean up" from the town hall Trump did with Univision this week. One person even posted a screen capture of one of the men who asked Trump a question but didn't appear pleased with the answer.
"Trump cancelled an NRA event in GA to go to FL and pander to Latino voters (someone should tell him his Univision town hall didn’t go too well). Seems like someone is worried about FL and the Latino vote nationally," said former Florida gubernatorial candidate and Florida Democratic Party chairperson Nikki Fried.
Others questioned why Trump would be campaigning in a state where he didn't need the votes.
"WTF is he doing wasting time in Florida? If he wins this thing, it won't be because of 2016-like focus on repeated events in battlegrounds," asked national security lawyer Bradley P. Moss on X.
One individual responded, noting that Trump might be courting a huge Latino voting bloc in Miami. Moss still couldn't understand why Trump would do it, given that Florida is already a lock for him.
Kamala Harris' rapid response director, Ammar Moussa, was just as confused, posting the eyes-looking emoji, and writing on X, "Two weeks out from election day and Trump will be in ... Florida."
Past President of AILA and immigration attorney Allen Orr Jr. noted it could mean Trump believes "Florida is in play."
A Las Vegas man who was arrested last weekend with firearms outside a Donald Trump rally in southern California has sued a sheriff who accused him of being a would-be assassin.
Vem Miller, a 49-year-old dual U.S.-Canadian citizen and online conspiracy theorist, filed a defamation suit against Riverside County sheriff Chad Bianco alleging that he "intentionally, maliciously and with a blatant disregard for the truth, wanted to create a narrative so as to be viewed as a 'heroic' Sheriff," reported HuffPo and CBS News.
"Even after being notified by both United States Secret Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation that they did not believe Miller was a threat and declined to interview him," the complaint states. "Bianco, continued to make preposterous allegations."
Miller was taken into custody Saturday for having a loaded handgun, shotgun and a high-capacity magazine in the parking area of the former president's rally in Coachella, and the sheriff described him at a news conference the following day as a “lunatic” with “fringe” views and claimed the arrest may have prevented a third assassination attempt.
"Bianco’s acts of holding repeated press conferences perpetuating a false narrative against Miller continues to shock the conscience & exceed the bounds of decency," the suit alleges.
Trump's ear was bloodied in July after it was apparently grazed by a gunman's bullet at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and last month another suspected assassin was arrested while lurking around with a rifle outside his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, while the former president played a round.
Miller, who says he's an artist and runs a website called the America Happens Network, which features videos about 9/11 and Covid-19 conspiracy theories, told CBS News he's a Trump supporter who actively volunteered for his campaign in Nevada and attended the Republican National Convention in July.
He also claims that he's been in close proximity to Trump "at least 20 times" and has spoken in the past with Trump's sons.
The suit states that Bianco falsely alleged that Miller possessed a fake VIP pass and press credentials for the Coachella event, but the Trump campaign denied his claim that they issued those credentials.
Miller's attorney in this matter is Sigal Chattah, the national committeewoman for the Nevada GOP, but she and other state Republican officials told HuffPo they don't know where he got the credentials he was carrying.
The Trump campaign and Chattah have not yet commented on the defamation suit.
The new president of the National Rifle Association took part in the 'gruesome" torture of a cat while a student, according to legal documents unearthed by the Guardian.
The news outlet reported that Doug Hamlin was charged with animal cruelty and was ultimately forced to plead no contest while an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan.
According to the report, he and his fraternity brothers captured a pet cat and engaged in "gruesome" torture that involved cutting off the animal's paws before stringing it up and setting it on fire.
All of those involved were expelled from the fraternity, which Hamlin was the president of at the time.
District Court Judge S.J. Elden "singled Hamlin out for criticism, saying he could have prevented it from happening as the leader of the fraternity," the report stated.
“Heartlessness must be in the job description to run the NRA,” Nick Suplina of Everytown for Gun Safety told The Guardian.“This revelation shows that the NRA has failed to turn the page on its scandal-plagued leaders and its doom spiral continues with Hamlin at the helm.”
One of the former fraternity brothers came forward to speak about the event to The Guardian and describe his regret.
The student who reported the incident to the police, Shelagh Abbs Winter, is now an active member of Moms Demand Action, a gun safety group trying to stop school shootings. She said that at the time she remembered feeling threatened.
“Once a creep, always a creep,” she said of Hamlin.
Police assigned to patrol Donald Trump's rally in California on Saturday say they arrested a man outside of the event for illegal possession of firearms.
Trump faced one attempt on his life months ago in Pennsylvania, and a separate person was arrested for purportedly planning a second attack in Florida.
In this instance, the Riverside County Sheriff said they "contacted the driver of a black SUV at a checkpoint at the intersection of Avenue 52 and Celebration Drive."
"The male driver, identified as Vem Miller, a 49-year-old resident of Las Vegas, was found to be illegally in possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun, and a high-capacity magazine," police said. "Miller was taken into custody without incident and later booked at the John J. Benoit Detention Center for possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine."
The authorities added, "This incident did not impact the safety of former President Trump or attendees of the event."
Democratic strategist Donna Brazile clashed with former Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus after he defended Eric Trump's assertion that Democrats were to blame for assassination attempts on his father, former President Donald Trump.
During a panel discussion on ABC Sunday, host George Stephanopoulos asked Priebus if Eric Trump had been wrong to blame Democrats for assassination attempts on the former president's life.
"The fact of the matter is, if Donald Trump's head was one tiny twist the other direction, he would be dead right now," Priebus opined. "So yeah, when your dad almost gets killed and when he gets shot again, look, I'm not suggesting the Democrats are doing it, but the rhetoric that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy was a Democrat talking point."
"Look, I got to say something to you," Brazile told Priebus moments later. "I come out of the civil rights movement. Nonviolence was our touchstone."
"There's no, no, and I mean this, there's no place for violent rhetoric," she continued. "And when you threaten election workers, when you threaten to execute your quote unquote former Joint Chief of Staff, Mr. Milley, when you mock Nancy Pelosi's husband being beaten by a hammer, I don't want to be lectured by Eric Trump."
Brazile insisted that there was no place for violence.
"We need both political parties, both leaders," she asserted. "Do not go out there and blame Haitians. Do not go out there and blame immigrants and migrants. That is the rhetoric we hear every day."
"And if you cannot, you cannot say that Joe Biden won this election, Joe Biden won the election," she said. "It's a floodgate of lies."
Priebus interrupted: "And the fact of the matter is this is a former president and a son that number one came extremely close to losing his life and losing his father, okay? He's been called a threat to democracy from the very beginning."
"So don't sit here and act like holier than thou, that somehow you have a corner on this message because you don't," he added. "And that's why you're not winning. That's why Harris is behind. And that's why she's going to lose."
But Brazile insisted that people were not buying Priebus' "lies."
"Why can't you say, why can't you simply say that blaming Democrats for the associate... Just say it's wrong," she implored.
"I just said it, okay?" Priebus exclaimed. "But it's also wrong to paint the president of the United States, President Trump, as the threat to democracy that's going to end the United States of America."
"What does that do to people's heads when you do that?" he asked.
"The floodgate of lies must stop," Brazile remarked.
Sen. J.D. Vance on Saturday suggested at a Donald Trump rally that God saved the former president's life during an assassination attempt three months ago, but was hit with some criticism by those who say he's insulting the memory of the man who did die during that attack.
Vance, Trump's pick for vice presidential nominee, spoke at an event in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Right Side Broadcasting Network says the ex-president hopes "to hold a rally on the very same ground where he came within a quarter of an inch of losing his life less than three months ago." Vance's comments preceded those by Trump himself.
Vance's speech included one line that caught fire with critics.
"Now I believe as sure as I'm standing here today, that what happened was a true miracle," Vance said Saturday. "And on that day, America felt the truth of scripture, 'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me,' I truly believe that God saved President Trump's life that day."
Vance's claim that God saved Trump left many wondering about those who experienced serious injuries that day, including Corey Comperatore, the ex-firefighter who was fatally shot that day. Recently, Trump joked with donors about Comperatore's wife and her reaction to a check Trump handed her.
PatriotTakes, which says it is dedicated to "monitoring and exposing right-wing extremism and other threats to democracy," replied with, "Trump’s own followers died."
Democratic strategist Keith Edwards had a similar take, simply asking, "And the other people who died that day? What was god's opinion of them?"
Liberal influencer Spiro’s Ghost wrote, "Ahh yes. And god wanted the ex-firefighter’s head blown off."
Mrs. Betty Bowers, an account known widely for its comedic takes on politics and religion, wrote, "Oh honey . . . If you *truly* believed that God was saving Trump's life for greater things, you two wouldn't be standing behind Plexiglass today."
