New York City Council members introduced legislation Thursday that would make it easier for the city to strip press credentials from people who obtain them without doing actual journalism — a direct response to supporters of Luigi Mangione showing up at his court hearings with official city-issued press passes.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin told FOX 5 New York’s “Good Day New York” that the bill is meant to close a loophole exposed by what she called “the Luigi Mangione fangirl” problem.
“We are introducing a bill today, sponsored by Councilmember Banks that will make reforms to press credentials to solve the problem of the Luigi Mangione fangirl, if you will. These fangirls, who are not journalists, are showing up at the trial with press credentials that the City of New York is giving to them.”
The push follows a May incident in which three Mangione supporters showed off city press passes to the New York Post outside the courthouse during one of his hearings. One of the women, identified as Ashley Rojas, told the paper: “F— Brian Thompson. That’s all I want to say. F— Brian Thompson. F— his mom.” Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO, was killed by Mangione in December 2024. Another woman in the group, Lena Weissbrot, claimed Thompson “was responsible for more deaths than Usama bin Laden,” the Al Qaeda leader behind the September 11 attacks.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani later told reporters that “those three individuals should not have received press passes.”
The bill, introduced Thursday and co-sponsored by council members Chris Banks, Carmen De La Rosa and Inna Vernikov, would hand the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) authority to suspend or revoke a press credential whenever a “preponderance of the evidence” supports doing so. That is a lower bar than the current standard, which requires “clear and convincing evidence” before a pass can be pulled.
Menin, who previously served as MOME’s commissioner, said the intent is to restore the credential to its actual purpose.
“We want them to reform their practices so it’s really journalists, legitimate journalists, who should be getting the press credentials.”
Mangione pleaded guilty to federal charges earlier this year. His legal team is now fighting to have separate New York state charges thrown out on double jeopardy grounds.
Mangione is accused of shooting Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two from Minnesota, on a Manhattan sidewalk on Dec. 5, 2024. Surveillance footage shows him approaching Thompson from behind and firing with a silenced handgun before fleeing on a bicycle. He was arrested days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after customers and staff recognized him from a wanted poster.
