On today’s show: ABC News reports new details on the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. CNN’s Clarissa Ward takes us inside a notorious Syrian prison where some of Bashar al-Assad’s critics disappeared. Sahil Kapur of NBC News details how younger Democrats are challenging elders in the House for powerful positions. Plus, a wildfire rips through Malibu, damaging homes and spurring mass evacuations. Why the federal government wants to protect monarch butterflies. And Caitlin Clark is Time’s 2024 Athlete of the Year. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Full Episode
Good morning. It's Wednesday, December 11th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, a dispatch from Syria on the initial days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the young lawmakers trying to fix Congress's seniority problem, and why 2024 was the year of Caitlin Clark.
But first, we're starting to get a clearer picture of the person charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. It's only been one week, and people across the country have been quick to project their thoughts, their assumptions, motivations onto this person. Now investigators are trying to piece together his story.
Police say Luigi Mangione was apprehended with several handwritten pages on him. In it, he expressed frustration with the health care system in America, calling health insurance companies parasitic. And he was critical of corporate greed, writing that he felt he was the, quote, first to face it with such brutal honesty.
Here's NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenney discussing the note on Good Morning America yesterday.
Specifically, he states how we are the number one most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet the life expectancy of an American is ranked 42 in the world. So he was writing a lot about his disdain for corporate America and in particular the healthcare industry.
Mangione faces second-degree murder, forgery, and three gun charges. And since his arrest, we've learned more about his background and interactions with the healthcare industry. Mangione grew up in Maryland, spent time in California, and most recently lived in Hawaii. He was valedictorian of his prestigious private high school in Baltimore in 2016.
He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020 and went on to work as a data engineer for a car company through late 2023. His manager told Reuters Mangione had to take two months off of work in the middle of last year for health issues related to his back. The company offers insurance through UnitedHealth and other providers.
It's not clear if Mangione was ever covered by UnitedHealth, but his social media presence paints a picture of someone who's navigated the health care system for a large part of their life.
On Reddit, a user believed to be Mangione talked about a series of chronic health issues he's experienced, including lifelong back pain, which he said got worse after an injury, eventually requiring spinal fusion surgery. An X-ray of Mangione's spine post-op was the banner image for his profile on X. A friend and former roommate told Good Morning America he got the surgery in 2023.
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