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What’s next for alleged CEO shooter Luigi Mangione after he pleads not guilty

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What’s next for alleged CEO shooter Luigi Mangione after he pleads not guilty

Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has pleaded not guilty to all 11 charges in New York.

Mangione is accused of killing Thomspon outside a Manhattan hotel on December 4. Police arrested him on December 9 in Altoona, Pennsylvania after they received a tip he was eating a meal inside a McDonald’s.

Here’s what’s next for Mangione as he faces charges at the federal level and in two states:

Luigi Mangione is escorted to his New York arraignment on December 23. The 26-year-old pleaded not guilty to the 11 charges he faces in the state

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Luigi Mangione is escorted to his New York arraignment on December 23. The 26-year-old pleaded not guilty to the 11 charges he faces in the state (REUTERS)

Court appearances so far

Mangione’s first court appearance was an arraignment in Pennsylvania on December 10, one day after he was arrested in the town of Altoona. Police detained him after receiving a tip he was eating at a McDonald’s.

Mangione struggled with police and shouted to reporters standing nearby as he was escorted into his first hearing.

“It’s completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience,” he yelled.

Luigi Mangione arrives at Pennsylvania courthouse

Then, on December 19, Mangione was flown from Pennsylvania to New York after waiving his right to an extradition hearing. Several heavily armed NYPD officers, alongside New York City Mayor Eric Adams, escorted Mangione.

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Mangione appeared in the New York State Supreme Court on December 23 for an arraignment hearing, pleading not guilty to the 11 charges he faces in the state, including first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, second-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism and multiple weapons offenses.

Demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse in support of Mangione. Many held signs decrying the insurance industry, with phrases such as “Health over wealth”, and “UHC kills, death by denials.” Others supported Mangione with signs that read, “Free Luigi.”

A demonstrator holds a sign that reads, “Free Luigi” as Mangione is arraigned in New York City

A demonstrator holds a sign that reads, “Free Luigi” as Mangione is arraigned in New York City (REUTERS)

What has Mangione been charged with?

In New York, Mangione faces 11 charges. Prosecutors have hit him with first-degree murder, which they describe as an “act of terrorism”; second-degree murder as a crime of terrorism; second-degree murder; second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument; and several counts related to weapon possession.

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At the federal level, prosecutors charged Mangione with two counts of interstate stalking, one count of murder through use of a firearm and one count of using a firearm silencer during a violent crime. Prosecutors said the state and federal two cases will run on parallel tracks, and that the New York charges will likely go to trial first.

In response, Mangione’s attorney Karen Agnifilo condemned the federal charges.

“The federal government’s reported decision to pile on top of an already overcharged first-degree murder and state terror case is highly unusual and raises serious constitutional and statutory double jeopardy concerns,” she said in a statement. “We are ready to fight these charges in whatever court they are brought.”

However, the Supreme Court in 2019 upheld a longstanding constitutional rule that allows state and federal governments to prosecute someone for the same crime, according to the Associated Press.

While New York abolished the death penalty in 2007, Mangione could still face capital punishment in the federal case.

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In Pennsylvania, he faces charges related to officials’ alleged discovery of a 3D-printed gun and fake ID cards in his possession when he was arrested. Police also say they found a silencer, a 262-word manifesto and a spiral notebook containing a “to-do list”.

However, these charges likely won’t be addressed until after the New York case is resolved.

Luigi Mangione sits in a New York courtroom for an arraignment hearing on December 23

Luigi Mangione sits in a New York courtroom for an arraignment hearing on December 23 (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Where is Mangione being held?

Mangione is being held without bail in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. There, several other high-profile people are incarcerated, including former head of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried and Sean “Diddy” Combs, the rapper accused of sex trafficking and other crimes.

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Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were also once held at the prison.

The notorious Brooklyn facility, the only federal lockup in the city, has been variously described as “hell on earth” and an “ongoing tragedy” because of deplorable conditions, rampant violence, dysfunction and multiple deaths, according to the Associated Press.

The federal Bureau of Prisons has said it is increasing staffing to make up for staggering shortfalls, but conditions have been so stark at the jail, which houses about 1,100 inmates, that some judges have refused to send people there.

When is Mangione’s next court date?

Mangione is set to appear in federal court on January 18. He could return to court for a bail hearing or for a preliminary hearing if prosecutors don’t get a grand jury indictment by mid-January, the Associated Press reports.

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His next scheduled appearance in New York is set for February 21.

What prosecutors and Mangione’s attorneys have said

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg called Thompson’s murder “frightening” and “well planned.”

“This was a killing that was intended to evoke terror and we’ve seen that reaction,” Bragg said last week. “This was not an ordinary killing. Not to suggest that any killing is ordinary, but this was extraordinary.”

Acting US Attorney Edward Kim issued a statement claiming Thompson was killed in “cold blood” as the Justice Department announced the federal charges against Mangione.

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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference to announce the charges against Mangione

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference to announce the charges against Mangione (REUTERS)

“Brian Thompson was gunned down in cold blood as he walked down a street in midtown Manhattan,” Kim said. “Thompson was allegedly killed just because he held the position of chief executive officer of a health insurance company.”

“As alleged, Luigi Mangione traveled to New York to stalk and shoot Thompson in broad daylight in front of a Manhattan hotel, all in a grossly misguided attempt to broadcast Mangione’s views across the country,” he continued. “But this wasn’t a debate, it was murder, and Mangione now faces federal charges.”

Agnifilo told New York Judge Gregory Carro at the December 23 arraignment that she was concerned about getting her client a fair trial. She cited Adams’s presence among the several heavily armed officials who escorted Mangione as he was flown in from Pennsylvania.

NYPD officers and New York City Mayor Eric Adams escort Luigi Mangione

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NYPD officers and New York City Mayor Eric Adams escort Luigi Mangione (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

“They are literally treating him like he is some sort of political fodder, like some sort of spectacle,” Agnifilo said in court. “He was on display for everyone to see in the biggest stage perp walk I’ve ever seen in my career, it was absolutely unnecessary. He’s been cooperative with law enforcement…There was no reason for the NYPD and everybody to have these big assault rifles.”

“It was perfectly choreographed, and what was the New York City Mayor doing at this press conference, your honor? That just made it utterly political,” she continued.

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Trump Says Israel and Lebanon Agree to Extend Cease-Fire by Three Weeks

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Trump Says Israel and Lebanon Agree to Extend Cease-Fire by Three Weeks

President Trump announced a three-week extension of a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon that had been set to expire in a few days, after hosting a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese diplomats at the White House on Thursday.

Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group that has been attacking Israel from southern Lebanon, did not have representatives at the meeting and did not immediately comment on the announcement. The prime minister of Israel and the president of Lebanon also did not comment.

A successful peace agreement would hinge upon Hezbollah halting attacks, which Lebanon’s government has little power to enforce because it does not control the militia. Lebanon’s military has mostly stayed out of the fighting and is not at war with Israel.

The cease-fire, which was scheduled to end on April 26, would last until May 17 if it takes effect as Mr. Trump described it. Before the cease-fire was brokered last week, nearly 2,300 people were killed in Lebanon and 13 in Israel. Since then, the number of Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah attacks have been dramatically reduced, though the two sides have continued exchanging fire.

The Lebanese Ambassador to the United States, Nada Hamadeh, credited Mr. Trump for extending the cease-fire, saying that “with your help and support, we can make Lebanon great again.” Mr. Trump replied, “I like that phrase, it’s a good phrase.”

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Asked about the potential of a lasting peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon, Mr. Trump said that “I think there’s a great chance. They are friends about the same things and they are enemies on the same things.”

But Lebanon and Israel have periodically been at war since Israel’s founding in 1948. Israel has invaded Lebanon for the fifth time since 1978, incursions that have destabilized the country and the delicate balance of power between Muslim, Christian and Druze communities.

In the hours before the president’s announcement on social media, Israel and Hezbollah were trading attacks in southern Lebanon, testing the existing cease-fire.

Mr. Trump said the meeting at the White House had been attended by high-ranking U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the U.S. ambassadors to Israel and Lebanon.

Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli strike near the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh killed three people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Hezbollah claimed three separate attacks on Israeli troops who are occupying southern Lebanon, though none were wounded or killed.

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Hezbollah set off the latest round of fighting last month by attacking Israel soon after the start of the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran. Israel responded to Hezbollah’s attacks by launching airstrikes across Lebanon and widening a ground invasion of the country’s south.

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U.S. soldier charged with suspected Polymarket insider trading over Maduro raid

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U.S. soldier charged with suspected Polymarket insider trading over Maduro raid

Smoke rises from Port of La Guaira in Venezuela on Jan. 3, 2026 after U.S. forces seized the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

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Federal prosecutors on Thursday unsealed an indictment against a U.S. Army soldier, accusing him of using his insider knowledge of the clandestine military operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January to reap more than $400,000 in profits on the popular prediction market site Polymarket.

The Justice Department says Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, who was stationed at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, was part of the team that planned and carried out the predawn raid in Caracas earlier this year that resulted in the apprehension of Maduro.

The Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed the actions against Van Dyke, the first time U.S. officials have leveled criminal charges against someone over prediction market wagers.

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According to the indictment, Van Dyke now faces counts of wire fraud, commodities fraud, misusing non-public government information and other charges.

Trading under numerous usernames including “Burdensome-Mix,” Van Dyke allegedly traded about $32,000 on the arrest of Maduro, resulting in profits exceeding $400,000.

“Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York. “Those entrusted to safeguard our nation’s secrets have a duty to protect them and our armed service members, and not to use that information for personal financial gain.”

Van Dyke’s defense lawyer is not yet publicly known. Polymarket did not return a request for comment.

The charges against Van Dyke come at a sensitive time for the prediction market industry, which has been growing exponentially, despite calls in Washington and among state leaders for the sites to be reined in.

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Van Dyke is the first to be charged in the U.S. for suspected Polymarket insider trading, but Israeli authorities in February arrested several people and charged two on suspicion of using classified information to place bets about military operations in Iran on Polymarket.

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Senate Adopts GOP Budget, Laying the Groundwork to Fund ICE and Reopen DHS

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Senate Adopts GOP Budget, Laying the Groundwork to Fund ICE and Reopen DHS

The Senate early Thursday morning adopted a Republican budget blueprint that would pave the way for a $70 billion increase for immigration enforcement and the eventual reopening of the Department of Homeland Security.

Republicans pushed through the plan on a nearly party-line vote of 50 to 48. It came after an overnight marathon of rapid-fire votes, known as a vote-a-rama, in which the G.O.P. beat back a series of Democratic proposals aimed at addressing the high cost of health care, housing, food and energy. The debate put the two parties’ dueling messages on vivid display six months before the midterm elections.

Republicans, who are using the budget plan to lay the groundwork to eventually push through a filibuster-proof bill providing a multiyear funding stream for President Trump’s immigration crackdown, used the all-night session to highlight their hard-line stance on border security, seeking to portray Democrats as unwilling to safeguard the country.

Democrats tried and failed to add a series of changes aimed at addressing cost-of-living issues, seizing the opportunity to hammer Republicans as out of touch with and unwilling to act on the concerns of everyday Americans.

Here’s what to know about the budget plan and the nocturnal ritual senators engaged in before adopting it.

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The budget blueprint is a crucial piece of Republicans’ plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security and end a shutdown that has lasted for more than two months. After Democrats refused to fund immigration enforcement without new restrictions on agents’ tactics and conduct, the G.O.P. struck a deal with them to pass a spending bill that would fund everything but ICE and the Border Patrol. Republicans said they would fund those agencies through a special budget bill that Democrats could not block.

“We can fix this with Republican votes, and we will,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and the Budget Committee chairman. “Every Democrat has opposed money for the Border Patrol and ICE at a time of great peril.”

In resorting to a new budget blueprint, Republicans laid the groundwork to deny Democrats a chance to stop the immigration enforcement funding. But they also submitted themselves to a vote-a-rama, in which any senator can propose unlimited changes to such a measure before it is adopted.

The budget measure now goes to the House, which must adopt it before lawmakers in both chambers can draft the legislation funding immigration enforcement. That bill will provide yet another opportunity for a vote-a-rama even closer to the November election.

Democrats took to the floor to criticize Republicans for supercharging funding for federal immigration enforcement rather than moving legislation that would address Americans’ concerns over affordability.

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“This is what Republicans are fighting for,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the Democratic leader. “To maintain two unchecked rogue agencies that are dreaded in all corners of this country instead of reducing your health care costs, your housing costs, your grocery costs, your gas costs.”

Democrats offered a host of amendments along those lines, all of which were defeated by Republicans — and that was the point. The proposals were meant to put the G.O.P. in a tough political spot, showcasing their opposition to helping Americans afford high living costs. Fewer than a handful of G.O.P. senators crossed party lines to support them.

The G.O.P. thwarted an effort by Mr. Schumer to require that the budget measure lower out-of-pocket health care costs for Americans. Two Republicans who are up for re-election this year, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, voted with Democrats, but the proposal was still defeated.

Republicans also squelched a move by Senator Ben Ray Lujan, Democrat of New Mexico, to create a fund that would lower grocery costs and reverse cuts to food aid programs that Republicans enacted last year. Ms. Collins and Mr. Sullivan again joined Democrats.

Also defeated by the G.O.P.: a proposal by Senator John Hickenlooper, Democrat of Colorado, to address rising consumer prices brought on by Mr. Trump’s tariffs and the war in Iran; one by Senator Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, to require the budget measure to address rising electricity prices, and another by Mr. Markey to create a fund to bring down housing costs.

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Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat who is up for re-election in Georgia, also sought to add language requiring the budget plan to address health insurance companies denying or delaying access to care, but that, too was blocked by Republicans.

While Republicans had fewer proposals for changes to their own budget plan, they also sought to offer measures that would underscore their aggressive stance on immigration enforcement and dare Democrats to vote against them.

Mr. Graham offered an amendment to allocate funds toward a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to the apprehension and deportation of adult immigrants convicted of rape, murder, or sexual abuse of a minor after illegally entering the United States. It passed unanimously.

Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, sought to bar Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion and other services, and criticized the organization for providing transgender care to minors. Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, also attempted to tack on the G.O.P. voter identification bill, known as the SAVE America Act. Both proposals were blocked when Democrats, joined by a few Republicans, voted to strike them as unrelated to the budget plan.

The Republicans who crossed party lines to oppose their own party’s proposals for new voting requirements were Ms. Collins along with Senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

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Ms. Collins and Ms. Murkowski also opposed the effort to block payments to Planned Parenthood.

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