NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione is asking for a laptop in jail, but just for legal purposes — not for communicating with anyone — as he awaits trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO.
In a court filing made public late Monday, Mangione's lawyers proposed that he get a laptop configured solely to let him view a vast amount of documents, video and other material in the case surrounding the shooting of Brian Thompson. Similar limited-laptop provisions have been made for some other defendants in the federal lockup where Mangione is being held.
The Manhattan district attorney's office, which is prosecuting Mangione on a rare New York state charge of murder as an act of terrorism, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. According to Mangione's lawyers, prosecutors are frowning on the laptop request, saying that some witnesses have been threatened.
Defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo wrote that there's “no connection to Mr. Mangione for any of said alleged threats.”
Mangione, 26, is accused of gunning down Thompson in December outside a Manhattan hotel where UnitedHealthcare was about to hold an investor conference. Thompson, who was 50 and had two children in high school, worked for decades within UnitedHealthcare and its parent company.
Mangione, an Ivy League computer science graduate from a Maryland real estate family, has pleaded not guilty to the New York state charges. He also faces a parallel federal case that carries the possibility of the death penalty. He hasn't entered a plea to the federal charges or to state-level gun possession and other charges in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested days after Thompson's death.
Thompson's killing alarmed the corporate world, where some health insurers hastily switched to remote work or online shareholder meetings.
But at the same time, the case channeled some Americans’ frustrations with health insurance companies. Mangione's writings and words on bullets recovered from the scene reflected animus toward health insurers and corporate America, authorities have said.
Some people have lionized the accused killer, donated money to his defense and even flocked to his court appearances. Others, including elected officials, have deplored the praise for what they cast as ideological violence and vigilante justice.
Through his lawyers, Mangione has released a statement thanking supporters.
If he does get a laptop, it would be unable to connect to the internet, run video games or play movies or other entertainment, his lawyers said in Monday's filing. But it would let him examine, from his jail cell, more than 15,000 pages of documents and thousands of hours of video that prosecutors gathered and were required to turn over to his attorneys.
Otherwise, he can view the material when meeting with his lawyers. But they say there aren't enough visiting hours in the day for him to do that and properly help prepare his defense.
FILE - Luigi Mangione , accused of fatally shooting the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City and leading authorities on a five-day search is scheduled, appears in court for a hearing, Feb. 21, 2025, in New York. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump used a White House meeting to forcefully confront South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, accusing the country of failing to address Trump's baseless claim of widespread and targeted killing of white farmers.
Trump even dimmed the lights of the Oval Office to play a video of a far-left politician chanting a song that includes the lyrics “kill the farmer.” He also leafed through news articles to underscore his point, saying the country's white farmers have faced “death, death, death, horrible death.”
Trump had already cut all U.S. assistance to South Africa and welcomed several dozen white South African farmers to the U.S. as refugees as he pressed the case that a “genocide” is underway in the country.
The U.S. president has launched a series of accusations at South Africa’s Black-led government, claiming it is seizing land from white farmers, enforcing anti-white policies and pursuing an anti-American foreign policy.
Experts in South Africa say there is no evidence of whites being targeted, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country that suffers from a very high crime rate.
“People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety," Trump said. “Their land is being confiscated and in many cases they’re being killed.”
Ramaphosa pushed back against Trump’s accusation. The South African leader had sought to use the meeting to set the record straight and salvage his country’s relationship with the United States. The bilateral relationship is at its lowest point since South Africa enforced its apartheid system of racial segregation, which ended in 1994.
“We are completely opposed to that,” Ramaphosa said of the behavior alleged by Trump in their exchange. He added, “that is not government policy” and “our government policy is completely, completely against what he was saying.”
Trump was unmoved.
“When they take the land, they kill the white farmer,” he said.
“The president is a truly respected man in many, many circles,” Trump said of the South African president at the start of the Oval Office meeting. "And in some circles he’s considered a little controversial.”
Ramaphosa said it was time to “recalibrate” the relationship, and went out of his way to thank Trump for welcoming him to the White House for the talks.
“We are essentially here to reset the relationship between the United States and South Africa,” he said.
Trump issued an executive order in February cutting all funding to South Africa over some of its domestic and foreign policies. The order criticized the South African government on multiple fronts, saying it is pursuing anti-white policies at home and supporting “bad actors” in the world like the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran.
Trump has falsely accused the South African government of a rights violation against white Afrikaner farmers by seizing their land through a new expropriation law. No land has been seized and the South African government has pushed back, saying U.S. criticism is driven by misinformation.
The Trump administration’s references to the Afrikaner people — who are descendants of Dutch and other European settlers — have also elevated previous claims made by Trump’s South African-born adviser Elon Musk and some conservative U.S. commentators that the South African government is allowing attacks on white farmers in what amounts to a genocide.
That has been disputed by experts in South Africa, who say there is no evidence of whites being targeted, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country that suffers from a very high crime rate.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday said Trump remains ready to “reset” relations with South Africa, but noted that the administration's concerns about South African policies cut even deeper then the concerns about white farmers.
South Africa has also angered the Trump White House over its move to bring charges at the International Court of Justice accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Ramaphosa has also faced scrutiny in Washington for his past connections to MTN Group, Iran’s second-largest telecom provider. It owns nearly half of Irancell, a joint venture linked with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Ramaphosa served as board chair of MTN from 2002 to 2013.
“When one country is consistently unaligned with the United States on issue after issue after issue after issue, now you become -- you have to make conclusions about it,” Rubio told Senate Foreign Relation Committee members at a Tuesday hearing.
With the deep differences, Ramaphosa appeared to be taking steps to avoid the sort of contentious engagement that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy experienced during his late February Oval Office visit, when the Ukrainian leader found himself being berated by Trump and Vice President JD Vance. That disastrous meeting with White House officials asking Zelenskyy and his delegation to leave the White House grounds.
The South African president's delegation includes golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen in his delegation, a gesture to the golf obsessed U.S. president. Luxury goods tycoon and Afrikaner Johann Rupert was also included as part of the delegation to help ease Trump's concerns about land being seized from white farmers.
Musk also attended Wednesday's talks.
Musk has been at the forefront of the criticism of his homeland, casting its affirmative action laws as racist against whites.
Musk has said on social media that his Starlink satellite internet service isn’t able to get a license to operate in South Africa because he is not Black.
South African authorities say Starlink hasn’t formally applied. It can, but it would be bound by affirmative action laws in the communications sector that require foreign companies to allow 30% of their South African subsidiaries to be owned by shareholders who are Black or from other racial groups disadvantaged under apartheid.
The South African government says its long-standing affirmative action laws are a cornerstone of its efforts to right the injustices of the white minority rule of apartheid, which denied opportunities to Blacks and other racial groups.
Imray reported from Johannesburg. AP writers Seung Min Kim, Chris Megerian and Darlene Superville contributed reporting.
President Donald Trump meets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump meets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump greets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump greets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump greets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump greets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump greets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
