WATCH: CNN host likens accused assassin Luigi Mangione to Daniel Penny: ‘Tell me which vigilante action is okay’

CNN host Audie Cornish compared suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione to Daniel Penny, the former Marine sergeant acquitted of reckless homicide on Monday, saying both men took ‘vigilante action.’

By Meghan Blonder, The Washington Free Beacon

CNN host Audie Cornish compared suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione to Daniel Penny, the former Marine sergeant acquitted of reckless homicide on Monday, saying both men took “vigilante action.”

“You guys can tell me if I’m completely wrong,” Cornish said following a discussion about Mangione.

“Later in the night, we’re also going to talk about Penny and the verdict there. There you also have a victim who somebody determined did not deserve to continue living, right? Tell me which vigilante action is okay.”

“No, no, no, no,” New York trial attorney Arthur Aidala interjected. “One is being proactive. This kid executed someone, executed a guy walking away from him, shot him in the back, shot him for no reason whatsoever. Daniel Penny is a hero … I can’t find anyone who rides the subway who is unhappy about this verdict.”

Defense attorney Bernarda Villalona disagreed.

“It doesn’t give you a free pass to kill because you see someone mentally ill,” she said.

In May 2023, Penny restrained Jordan Neely with a chokehold after the mentally ill Michael Jackson impersonator pried open a subway car’s doors at a stop and began a threatening rant, according to witness testimony.

Police intervened at the next subway stop, and Neely was pronounced dead an hour later. Penny was charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, but the judge dropped the first charge and the veteran was found not guilty of the second.

Later on Monday, Mangione, an anti-capitalist Ivy League graduate, was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and charged with murder in connection with Thompson’s assassination.

The father and husband was shot from behind outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel just before 7 a.m. Wednesday in a “brazen targeted attack.”

The casings from the bullets used to kill Thompson appeared to have the words “deny,” “depose,” and “defend” written on them—a message that mirrors the title of a book that criticizes the health insurance industry.

Online sympathizers have celebrated the suspect for lashing out against the health care system.

Cornish pointed to a nurse’s Reddit post that said, “when you’ve spent so much time and made so much money by increasing the suffering of the humanity around you, it’s hard for me to summon empathy that you died.”

Mangione also admired Ted Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber, and considered him a “revolutionary,” Cornish noted.

“I want to bring in the politics of this because when I hear lawmakers hailing Penny as a hero, as a good Samaritan really being promoted,” Cornish said.

“Can you help me understand the thinking? We started at the top of the show talking about the killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO being hailed in similar terms.”

In response, CNN contributor Scott Jennings held up a hand-drawn chart with “good guy” and “bad guy” columns.

“Let me just help you understand. If you’re on the American left tonight, here’s my chart,” he said. “The good guys today: Daniel Penny. The bad guys: Luigi Mangione.”

Cornish interrupted Jennings to ask how he categorized the “victims,” Thompson and Neely.

“What’s the chart for victims? Which victim is good and which is bad?” Cornish said. “I’m asking you whether you think … that Daniel Penny should get the Congressional Gold Medal to recognize his heroism?”

“I think he ought to get a medal. I think they ought to build a statue of this guy in New York City,” Jennings said.

Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Solomon Jones suggested the jury was more friendly toward Penny since he’s white.

“I‘m going to say it, I‘m going to say the dreaded ‘r word.’ Race plays a role in this,” Jones said. “Statistics say that when people kill people who are white, they tend to get harsher sentences, especially if they’re people of color. That is what happens in our criminal justice system.”

Audie CornishDaniel PennyLuigi Mangione