Mangione’s hearings have attracted large crowds of fervent followers
The New York City Mayor’s Office gave coveted press badges to a trio of “journalists” who celebrated the murder of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson outside a court hearing for his accused killer, Luigi Mangione, on Monday.
The women, sporting city-issued press badges, called Thompson a “murderer” and “terrorist” outside a hearing held ahead of Mangione’s upcoming trial. Mangione, who is accused of fatally shooting Thompson in New York City on Dec. 4, 2024, has become a cause célèbre of left-wing activists and journalists. Hasan Piker, the far-left podcast host who rubs shoulders with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D.), said in a recent New York Times interview that Thompson was guilty of “social murder.”
“F— Brian Thompson. I don’t give a flying f— he died,” Ashley Rojas, one of the credentialed journalists, said outside the court hearing. Rojas was joined by two other “Mangionistas,” Lena Weissbrot and Abril Rios. The trio do not appear to work for any publication.
“I’m saying fuck Brian Thompson. I don’t give a flying fuck he died,” says Ashley Rojas, wearing her press badge provided by @NYCMayorsOffice. Lena Weissbrot adds that Thompson’s teenage sons “are better off without him” and should “enjoy the blood money.” pic.twitter.com/uQnHIHoC0x
— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) May 18, 2026
“Brian Thompson was a terrorist,” said Weissbrot. “His children are better off without him. They need to learn to not be like their dad. And enjoy the blood money, kids.”
The future of journalism? Credentialed members of the NYC press corps came to Luigi Mangione’s hearing today to support the defendant they’re purportedly reporting on and to promote jury nullification “to the most cucked and submissive population in all of human history” pic.twitter.com/hmt7YOc2FX
— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) May 18, 2026
“He’s responsible for more deaths than Osama bin Laden, and I remember Americans celebrating when Osama bin Laden was killed. It’s not like we don’t understand heroic violence, or, like, when violence is good,” added Weissbrot, whose social media feed shows her wearing a Bernie Sanders T-shirt and reading the book Health Communism, which discusses “social murder,” the Marxist concept recently touted by Piker.
The Obama State Department awarded Weissbrot, who goes by the moniker Lena NW, a prestigious Fulbright scholarship in 2015 to “examine hip hop music in South Africa as a form of activism among feminist artists.”
The women have appeared at previous court events in the Mangione case, though this appears to be the first time they have been given press credentials.
It is unclear how or when the Mangione supporters obtained city-issued press passes. The mayor’s office instituted a program in 2021 to “strengthen New York City’s creative economy and make it accessible to all.” City Hall’s website says pass-holders are permitted to “cross police or fire lines, or other restrictions, limitations or barriers established by the City at an emergency, spot, or breaking news event or a non-emergency public event.”
The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment issues press credentials in the city. That office is led by Samer Nasser, who worked as a producer at CBS News and editor at Al Jazeera America.
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani’s (D.) office did not respond to a request for comment.