New York — NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors told a judge Wednesday that no harm was done to prospects for a fair trial after two U.S. Justice Department officials retweeted potentially inflammatory comments President Donald Trump made about Luigi Mangione after he was accused of assassinating the UnitedHealthcare CEO.
The two employees do not work on the case and did not know that the judge had warned the attorneys to be careful what they share publicly, they said in a written filing in Manhattan federal court. They said they have since been warned.
They said the distance between a trial date that has not yet been set makes it unlikely that anything said publicly will influence potential jurors who will be selected to hear the case.
“These individuals are not members of the prosecution team, trial counsel or employees supervised by the prosecution team, or employees of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Nor are they the law enforcement agents working on this prosecution,” prosecutors wrote.
“They operate entirely outside the scope of the prosecution team, have no operational role in the investigative or prosecutorial functions of the Mangione case, and are not ‘associated’ with this case,” they said.
Requests for comment were sent to Mangione’s defense attorney.
Judge Margaret M. Garnett said last month that officials may have violated court rules governing plaintiffs’ conduct by reposting Trump’s comments. It asked the administration to explain how the violations occurred and what steps were taken to prevent their recurrence.
On September 18, Trump was on Fox News when he called Mangione a “pure killer.”
“He shot somebody in the back like you look at me,” Trump said. “He shot him in the middle of the back, killing him instantly.”
A video of Trump’s remarks was then posted on the social media platform X by the White House.
Chad Gilmartin, a Justice Department spokesman, reposted the comment, adding that “@POTUS is absolutely right.” Gilmartin’s post, which was later deleted, was reposted by Brian Nieves, an assistant district attorney.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges in the Dec. 4 fatal shooting of Brian Thompson as he arrived at a Manhattan hotel for his company’s annual investor conference.
Earlier in September, Mangione’s defense attorneys He requested that the federal charges against him be dismissed and the death penalty vacated as a result of public comments made by U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi.
They later told the judge that the government was continuing to undermine their client’s right to a fair trial by reposting Trump’s comments on social media.
Bundy declared before his indictment in April that the death penalty was justified in the case of a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.” Bondi announced in April that she had directed federal prosecutors in Manhattan to seek the death penalty for Mangione.
In the federal case, Mangione was charged with murder with a firearm, which carries a potential death penalty, as well as stalking and firearms offenses.