Mia Sato

Earlier this week, the judge overseeing the New York state case against Mangione said he would seal all exhibits, including police body camera footage of the arrest. Mangione’s defense argues releasing the exhibits could be prejudicial — but Judge Gregory Carro just told us that some exhibits will be released soon. Journalists made a push for releasing the exhibits earlier this week, with one reporter even getting removed from court.

In court Thursday during evidence suppression hearings, prosecutors showed a hand-written note that police say they found among Mangione’s possessions. It was only briefly shown and hard to make out, but one day’s tasks included buying USBs and a digital camera from Best Buy. Journalist Lorena O’Neil reports one section of the note may have referenced archiving social media pages, which were scrutinized by the public after Mangione’s arrest.

We’re listening to testimony from one of the responding officers who arrested Luigi Mangione in a Pennsylvania McDonalds. The officer testified that Mangione’s medical face mask made him stand out as the person who was reported as being suspicious.

We’re back in New York court this morning for pre-trial hearings on whether key evidence in the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting case will be barred from being shown to jurors — that includes items like a firearm and notebook recovered when Mangione was arrested. As I left the courthouse last night, some Mangione supporters were already “in line” to try to get inside on Tuesday. They camped out across the street in tents overnight.

A Department of Corrections officer at the Pennsylvania prison where Mangione was held after his arrest told the court that he and Mangione discussed how traditional media and social media was reacting to the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The corrections officer told Mangione that from his perspective, mainstream media focused on the crime, whereas social media users discussed the wrongdoings of the healthcare industry.

The state has called two witnesses today: the deputy commissioner of public information at the NYPD and an employee at a surveillance system company in Pennsylvania. It’s part of the vast surveillance network that led to Mangione’s arrest: NYPD releasing several photos and videos of the shooting suspect which were then published by countless news outlets, as well as the video surveillance system in the Pennsylvania McDonald’s where Mangione was arrested.

We’re more than an hour and a half behind the scheduled start time for the hearing in New York. Mangione was allowed to wear street clothes today, which elicited wall-to-wall news coverage last month. He’s wearing a gray suit and light dress shirt.

Hearings this week will focus on whether key evidence is admissible in the New York State case against Mangione, who’s accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. At each hearing, trucks have circled the courthouse with information about the case and stories of patients who have struggled to get healthcare claims approved.

Nearly a year ago, I wrote that impending tariff policies seemed poised to turn American consumerism upside down. In the months since, many people have said that Donald Trump’s tariffs — and the higher costs passed on to shoppers — could force people to buy less stuff they didn’t need in the first place. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, even sky high tariffs might not be enough to break the habit for good.