Luigi Mangione’s attorney made light of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ legal troubles while slamming him over the “perp walk” photo op from last week.

Mangione is accused of shooting United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4. The shooting took place outside the New York Hilton Midtown hotel as Thompson was due to attend an investors’ meeting. Mangione was arrested five days later at an Altoona, Pennsylvania McDonald’s, and extradited to New York City.

Mangione appeared in court Monday morning, entering a plea of not guilty to 11 charges, including murder and an act of terrorism, according to NBC News. Last Thursday, he was flown via helicopter from Long Island’s MacArthur Airport into New York City. Armed NYPD officers, accompanied by Mayor Adams, walked Mangione from the helicopter to the van taking him to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Karen Friedman Agnifilo, his lawyer, heavily criticized the photo opportunity as “the biggest staged perp walk I’ve ever seen in my career,” according to The Hill. She that it may sabotage Mangione’s right to a fair trial, saying that he had fully cooperated with law enforcement following his arrest.

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“There was no reason for the NYPD and everybody to have these big assault rifles that, frankly, I had no idea was in their arsenal. And to have all of this press there, the media there, it was perfectly choreographed. And what was the New York City mayor doing at this press conference? That just made it utterly political. The mayor should know more than anyone of the presumption of innocence that he too is afforded when dealing with his own issues,” Friedman Agnifilo said.

At the time of the perp walk, Adams shared images to social media, and declared that he was “leading from the front,” according to the New York Times.

“I wanted to look him in the eye and say you carried out this terroristic act in my city — the city that the people of New York love, and I wanted to be there to show the symbolism of that,” Adams said.

Adams is currently facing federal charges of conspiracy to receive campaign contributions from foreign nationals, wire fraud and accepting a bribe.

“As alleged, Mayor Adams abused his position as this City’s highest elected official, and before that as Brooklyn Borough President, to take bribes and solicit illegal campaign contributions.  By allegedly taking improper and illegal benefits from foreign nationals—including to allow a Manhattan skyscraper to open without a fire inspection—Adams put the interests of his benefactors, including a foreign official, above those of his constituents,” U.S. attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.

Adams is not the only one in the mayor’s office to be under investigation. Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Adams’ chief advisor, resigned on December 15. Nine other members of his administration, including NYPD commissioner Edward Caban, resigned in September and October, according to City and State NY.

Image by Marc A. Hermann / Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York, used under a Creative Commons license.

Incoming President Donald Trump is back on his quixotic plan to buy Greenland for the United States. But that’s not the first time the United States has expressed interest in buying the vast expanse of ice and tundra.

Trump’s most recent attempt to get the Denmark-owned self-governing territory is wrapped up in his announcement of Ken Howery as ambassador to Denmark. In 2019, Howery was named Trump’s ambassador to Sweden.

“For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump said.

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Trump’s interest in Greenland started during his first term, when billionaire and former Estée Lauder chairman Ronald Lauder suggested the president buy the territory. In August 2018, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) met with Danish ambassador Lars Gert Lose on Trump’s behalf to float the proposal. At the time Cotton said that Greenland was “vital to our national security,” according to TalkBusiness.

Denmark refused offers, with Denmark’s foreign policy chair calling it a “terrible and grotesque thought,” according to the New York Times. Indeed, the proposal was first reported on as one of Trump’s jokes.

The most recent attempt is just as unpopular with the Danes and the Greenlandic people.

“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom,” Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede told Reuters.

As strange as it may seem, Trump is not the only president to try to get Greenland. Nor is the idea quite as baffling as it initially sounds. Though the territory is mostly covered in ice—with areas of pure ice—it has lots of mineral resources, including stores of uranium, coal, gold and rare earth metals, not to mention oil and gas.

Greenland is also well positioned politically. There are a number of American military bases in the territory, and it boasts frequent visits from diplomats and military officials. It was even called “the most strategic location in the Arctic and perhaps the world” by Walter Berbrick of the U.S. Naval War College, who has urged the United States to increase ties to Greenland—and even called the purchase of the territory a “strategic option” that “deserves serious consideration.”

The first time the U.S. thought about buying Greenland was in 1867 when Secretary of State William Seward, under President Andrew Johnson, proposed buying it and Iceland from Denmark for $5.5 million in gold, or about $117.2 million in today’s money. The offer was never made to Denmark however. That same year, Seward negotiated the Alaska Purchase from Russia for $7.2 million ($129 million today).

In 1946, President Harry Truman’s Secretary of State Owen Brewster tried again. He offered $100 million (or about $1 billion in today’s money) in gold bullion. While the offer was popular in the American government, Denmark balked. The main reason cited was that Danes saw Greenland as part of Denmark’s cultural identity and a connection to the country’s history as Vikings, according to The Conversation.

That refusal appeared to settle things. America was happy to merely work with Denmark and Greenland without actually owning it until Trump stepped in. It remains unlikely that Denmark will ever sell—in fact, Greenlandic independence appears to be a surer bet. But one can only assume that Trump won’t stop trying.

Image via Shutterstock

Former Representative Matt Gaetz suggested that he could “go after” his “former colleagues in Congress” the day before the House Ethics Committee report came out.

Gaetz made his comments Sunday afternoon at Turning Point USA’s “AmericaFest” event in Arizona, according to The Hill.

“My fellow Floridians have asked me to eye the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee, maybe [be appointed as] special counsel to go after the insider trading for my former colleagues in Congress. It seems I may not have had enough support [to be confirmed as Attorney General] in the United States Senate. Maybe I’ll just run for Marco Rubio’s vacant seat in the United States Senate and join some of those folks,” Gaetz said.

READ MORE: Gaetz Rages at Secret Vote to Release Ethics Report, Insists He Was ‘Fully Exonerated’

This is not the first time Gaetz has suggested he might retaliate against the House. Last week, he suggested on X (formerly Twitter) that since he was elected to the new Congress—despite resigning the position when incoming President Donald Trump initially named him as his pick for Attorney General—he could participate in the vote for House Speaker.

“Someone suggested the following plan to me: 1. Show up 1/3/2025 to congress 2. Participate in Speaker election (I was elected to the 119th Congress, after all…) 3. Take the oath 4. File a privileged motion to expose every ‘me too’ settlement paid using public funds (even of former members) 5. Resign and start my @OANN program at 9pm EST on January 6, 2025,” he wrote, alongside a “thinking” emoji. 

Someone suggested the following plan to me:

1. Show up 1/3/2025 to congress
2. Participate in Speaker election (I was elected to the 119th Congress, after all…)
3. Take the oath
4. File a privileged motion to expose every “me too” settlement paid using public funds (even of…

— Former Congressman Matt Gaetz (@FmrRepMattGaetz) December 18, 2024

There are reports other Republican representatives are working to make Gaetz’ threat a reality, according to Politico. Though Politico did not name which representatives were involved, one potential Gaetz ally is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who backed his threat on X, according to Newsweek.

“If Congress is going to release one ethics report, they should release them all. I want to see the Epstein list. I want to see the details of the slush fund for sexual misconduct by members of Congress and Senators. I want to see it all,” she wrote.

The House Ethics Committee report released Monday found that while the claims that Gaetz violated sex trafficking laws were unsubstantiated, other accusations against him were supported by evidence. The report says the committee found evidence that Gaetz paid thousands of dollars for sex; violated Florida’s statutory rape law; used cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana illegally; violated the rule on accepting gifts from lobbyists; gave friends special privileges and favors; and tried to obstruct the committee’s investigation.

Gaetz sued in an attempt to block the release of the report, claiming the committee no longer had jurisdiction.  Gaetz denied the allegations.

“Once released, the damage to Plaintiff’s reputation and professional standing would be immediate, severe and irreversible, particularly because: a. The Committee’s findings would carry the imprimatur of official Congressional action; b. Media coverage would be immediate and widespread; c. The allegations would permanently remain in the public record,” Gaetz’ attorneys wrote in the suit, according to Deadline.

The committee said that a majority of its members had voted that the release of the report was still in the public interest despite Gaetz’ resignation from Congress.

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