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Luigi Mangione Pleads Guilty To Federal Stalking Charges; Data Centers Become Key Issue In Campaigns Nationwide; Iowa Democrats Seek To Flip Seats In Rural Rebound. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 14, 2026 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:30:00]

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- getting the state charges thrown out because of the nature of the crime. It was one victim, it was one act of shooting. And so under New York law, you can't be charged for the same crime twice with the same level of evil in it. And that, they believe, would encompass that.

That being said, the difference --

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, yes.

SCANNELL: -- between a stalking charge in federal charge and a murder charge in state court has never been decided by a judge. So this will be, in some ways, a case of first impression. So this is starting off today, his lawyers filing this motion arguing why they think the state case should be dismissed.

The prosecution will have a chance to respond in court. We've reached out to them today. They have not issued a public statement yet on the guilty plea, but that will be the next step as the state case is now up in the air.

PROKUPECZ: And the nuance -- there's a lot of nuance here, Dana, right? So there's, you know, we'll have to see how the judge, but I think everything that happened here today is very significant for the state case because those words from Luigi Mangione, he stood up in court and admitted to shooting and killing Brian Thompson.

Those words, if that case was to go to trial, that could be used against him potentially by prosecutors. It's a confession and it is something they can use. And also significantly, let's say that was to go to trial and he does get convicted, that could -- the judge there could just sentence him to consecutive time so that, look, the bottom line is he would just get additional time to whatever the judge here is going to sentence him.

Ultimately, if it does, if all that happens, he would likely spend the prison time in a federal prison --

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Guys, let me just hop in -- PROKUPECZ: -- over a state prison, so.

BASH: Let me hop in because we just got a statement from the Manhattan --

PROKUPECZ: Yes.

BASH: -- D.A.'s office, a spokesperson there. "Since December 2024, the Manhattan D.A.'s office has been tirelessly preparing to pursue a trial conviction in New York State Supreme Court for the alleged cold- blooded murder of Brian Thompson. We are encouraged that Mr. Thompson's family received a measure of accountability today. While federal sentencing is pending, we are prepared to litigate the defense motions. The Manhattan D.A.'s office remains committed to seeking justice for Mr. Thompson and his family."

So they're --

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes.

BASH: -- pushing back saying, no, we want to bite at this too.

WILLIAMS: Absolutely. So to be clear, Dana, double jeopardy questions aren't cut and dry. 236 years after the Constitution, we're still sorting some of these questions out. Constitution's pretty clear. It says that no person can be tried twice for the same offense.

New York State law goes even further than that and says that if two crimes are from the same criminal transaction, they can't be prosecuted. So where Luigi Mangione's attorneys do have a bit of a point is that one can say that the stalking and the homicide are themselves the same extended criminal act only because he is stalking Brian Thompson for the purpose of killing him.

You can't have one without the other. The feds say, no, wait a second. We are only charging him with stalking. It's a very limited act of following someone intending to kill him. That's going to be a legal fight.

BASH: And is that the reason that the feds didn't include in the plea agreement murder?

WILLIAMS: Perhaps. Now, there's some back and forth, and this has come out in court a little bit, that the state did all of the work, yet the feds then went ahead with their suit. And it happens all the time in litigation where these two entities, state courts -- state prosecutors and federal prosecutors are at odds about the charges they want to bring.

There might be some of that there. Why did the feds go first? But, ultimately, they got the murder charge out of the way and they just got the play on the stalking.

BASH: Let's go back to what Luigi Mangione said --

WILLIAMS: Yes. BASH: -- at this hearing today when he did plead guilty. He said, "After years of enduring pain from a broken back," which he has -- we've learned about publicly, but now he's actually saying this on the record, he learned that UnitedHealthcare would be holding its annual investor convergence in December 2024. "He said the public location was not posted, but he researched to learn the location and who would be there."

Then, in November of 2024, this is him speaking, "I traveled from outside of New York State to Manhattan. I then emailed UnitedHealthcare leadership, posing as an investor at a firm managing over $15 billion in asset and -- assets and requesting information about the conference. Unlike my previous interactions with insurers, I received an immediate response within an hour."

And this is the chilling statement that he made, the admission. "I shot Mr. Thompson, and he died. I knew what I was doing was illegal."

WILLIAMS: Yes, so a few things happening there. One, I traveled. Number two, outside New York State. And three, emailed. Those are all jurisdictional or factual hooks for the offense. You need to have traveled. You need to have crossed state lines or engaged in interstate commerce, which would be that email. So that gets that right there.

[12:35:00]

Now, "I knew what I was doing was illegal," is necessary for someone to say when they're pleading guilty to an offense, because he needs to know what he's actually pleading to. And a judge could actually throw the plea out if he could argue that the individual was coerced or forced into pleading.

So -- and I bet the judge at this -- at the hearing asked, do you know what you're pleading to? Do you understand the charges against you? Do you know what you're giving up? Do you know you could face life in prison? And if he answers yes to all of those things, he can ultimately -- you know, the plea stands.

So, yes, all of those things were very necessary legally to put in a guilty plea, and it's important that they did it.

BASH: What options will this federal judge have at the sentencing hearing in December?

WILLIAMS: Oh, federal judges have vast options at sentencing. Up to life in prison, that's what the statute allows. And the prosecutors have repeatedly said we are going for, we might go for, or have the ability to go for the highest sentence possible.

Now, they can hear from the public. They can certainly hear from the families. They can hear from Luigi Mangione's own statements here. As I mentioned a moment ago, Dana, all of the references to the back pain and all of his trouble are things they're trying to put into the record just to establish that he was suffering in some way, and defendants do that. That is their right. It's called mitigating circumstances for the crime. But the judge can really consider anything from the public, right? You could write a letter as a concerned citizen if you wanted, but anybody can, really. And the judge will consider that and ultimately issue a sentence up to life in prison.

BASH: Before we go, I do want to just hit on the moment that we're in in this country. It's not new, but it seems exacerbated with the affordability crisis, that health care is unnecessarily out of reach and that the insurance companies and everybody who is involved in the health care system, they are strained and what happens is the patients suffer.

And that is part of why Mangione has become this, as I said, cause celeb by a lot of people in this country. But the fact that the prosecutors, the NYPD commissioner, and others are trying to kind of put an end to that right now by saying there can be no celebrity in assassination.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

BASH: Yes, it's not maybe so much celebrity and this was an execution in broad daylight --

WILLIAMS: Yes.

BASH: -- but it doesn't take away from the very real frustration that people have out there, which is why one of the reasons why this has become such a touchstone moment.

WILLIAMS: Yes, this is relevant. You know, Dana, as you know, my book, "Five Bullets," the final pages of it, talk about this very case.

BASH: Yes.

WILLIAMS: And one of the things I talk about is that two things can be true. Number one, there's -- there can be an industry in a country that virtually everybody has a problem with in some way. Every viewer of this program has probably had some concern with how their health care was administered.

It can also be the case that homicide is not an appropriate remedy for dealing with what might be contractual relationships with your health care organization. And that came into play today. And so, yes, absolutely, this is an individual who was frustrated. But laws are laws.

BASH: Yes.

WILLIAMS: And homicide is homicide. And that's what we had here in an individual plead guilty to it today.

BASH: Yes. And I encourage people to get your book because it's very good.

WILLIAMS: Thank you, Dana. BASH: Thank you for being here. Thank you to Shimon and Kara.

Don't go anywhere. A lot more news. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:43:12]

BASH: Of all the issues driving voters this year, concern about data centers in their neighborhoods is a big bipartisan one. And candidates are trying to show they're listening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES TALARICO (D), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: We have to stop data centers from jacking up our utility bills. We have to stop data centers from using up all our water. We've got to stop data centers from getting sweetheart tax deals. And we've got to stop data centers from being built if they can't meet the demands of our communities.

ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: People really f-ing hate data centers.

SHERROD BROWN (OHIO), OHIO SENATE CANDIDATE: They're coming in gobbling up farmland. They're sucking up water. They're driving utility rates up.

DAN OSBORN (I), NEBRASKA SENATE CANDIDATE: They're tired of higher health care costs, of data centers that drive up their energy costs.

CROWD: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Controversy over data centers is also scrambling the traditional left-right split in the country. Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, for example, who's running for governor in Ohio, said he will only allow data centers if they protect the environment and pay electricity bills and property taxes for nearby homes.

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has gone from a data center backer to temporarily pausing them and calling for protections for the Texas energy grid. And questions about that is continuing -- are continuing there.

My panel is back. John, I know you've been traveling the country, and I'm sure you hear a lot about this, no matter where you go.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's the -- no matter where you go part. We saw this in the odd-numbered year last year, just about 30 miles west of here in suburban Virginia, more affluent communities. You see it when you travel in poorer, working-class rural communities or farm communities.

People are pissed about this. And a lot of it is because they think big-moneyed interests -- there's a theme across this, it's not just data centers, that the big money is rigged to get them.

[12:45:03]

And is that true in every case? You know, we could argue that forever, but that's what people feel, that these big, powerful companies, the tech companies and the utilities have bought the politicians, and they're just doing this without first coming to the community and asking them first.

So there is this pervasive, they're out to get me. And it's, again, you find this among inaffluent suburbs, and you find it in working- class rural America and in little small-town America as well. It's -- and it's bipartisan, to the point you're making, that this is not a Democrat versus Republican. This is like, they're out to get us and we're pissed about it.

BASH: Let's just put up on the screen a map of the states with the most data centers. Virginia, you mentioned that, Texas, California, Illinois, Georgia, and Ohio. Staying with Ohio, I mentioned Vivek Ramaswamy. In the Senate race, Sherrod Brown, who's trying to get his old seat back, has this ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Ohio's electric grid, big corporation treat it like a game, gobbling up energy to feed their data centers. No matter how much it raises our prices. It's the latest way they've rigged the system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, POLITICS REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: I mean, this is -- as John said, I feel like this is for voters, an us-versus- them situation. And people are having, as we talk so much about affordability in the country, this ties directly to that. We see throughout the country people talking about, they opened a data center in my community, and now my electric bill is higher, or now there's struggles with water. Or, you know, there's multiple actual tangible ways in which people are seeing it.

Now, of course, the people behind the data centers are pushing back on that and arguing that they're paying their fair share and such. And again, that could be -- that's going to be a debate for a long time coming.

BASH: Yes.

RODRIGUEZ: But when we have this conversation about affordability in this country, when we have a conversation about how tired people are of Washington, about how people feel the system is rigged, this is like a very tangible thing --

BASH: Yes.

RODRIGUEZ: -- that you can point to and say --

BASH: Yes. RODRIGUEZ: -- this is the example of it in 2026.

BASH: And Aaron, you did a great piece this week about data centers, specifically about the President. And I'll just put up on the screen the headline of your piece, "Trump Calls Them a Tremendous Thing, But Most Americans Hate Them."

AARON BLAKE, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: You know, one of the things that I think is really interesting about this issue is that it came on very fast, and it's a very populist issue. And what that does is it forces politicians to kind of on the fly come up with their position on this issue. And the position that the White House seems to be going increasingly with is, well, we're going to put some safeguards in.

So they've had this, you know, deal where they asked these companies to voluntarily make sure that energy costs in certain areas don't go up. But, otherwise, Trump has been very, very pro-data center. He not only says that they're good for the communities, he's talked about how beautiful these buildings are, which is not what most Americans think.

He's talked about how this could be bigger than oil for a state like Texas. He criticized the governor of Texas for this moratorium that they're talking about there. So the White House has really gone hard behind the idea that this is a very good thing for the country, very good thing for these communities. And that is just not where the American people are right now. In fact, quite the opposite.

ALEX GANGITANO, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: He's also minimized voters' concerns about it. When you -- the President has said, I think voters don't like them because they think that it's part of a Chinese influence campaign, and he'll talk to President Xi about it when he's with them this fall.

Just the fact that he's saying, you know, there are specific reasons why voters don't like it, rather than looking at the whole picture of we're bringing our energy costs up, or a -- but it's not actually doing much to help our communities. And so, I think it's been something that the White House has minimized. And like you said, it's such a sudden thing that has blown up so quickly. Can they keep doing this or will they actually have to answer for it?

BASH: OK. We have John at the table, so we're going to now turn to Iowa because the President won the state by more than 13 percentage points, carrying all but one county. The state has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in 11 years. Democrats are eyeing the Hawkeye state as an opportunity.

And John just came back from Iowa talking to rural voters in the latest edition of All Over the Map.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): The mighty Mississippi. Back to Iowa from the East. Davenport is Iowa's third-largest city. Scott County, a critical battleground within the battleground. KING: Just that Iowa's in play as we enter the stretch is a big deal in and of itself.

KING (voice-over): Iowa Democrats are upbeat about Rob Sand's odds for governor. Josh Turek is competitive in a Senate race that would be a huge midterm upset if the Democrats can win. Christina Bohannan running for Congress again in the 1st Congressional District. She lost by just 800 votes last time.

The 1st District spans 20 counties, most of them rural. For the past decade, Trump country. He won 19 of the 20 in 2024.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you are. Hello there.

[12:50:04]

KING (voice-over): Door-to-door in the sweltering summer heat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did we hit here?

KING (voice-over): Grueling enough. Now add in this.

MICHELE PEGG, CHAIR, LOUISA COUNTY DEMOCRATS: My name is Michele. I'm actually the Louisa County Democrats chair. This is Diana.

KING (voice-over): Seven in 10 Louisa County votes went to Trump last time.

PEGG: I think he's a Republican. Fine.

KING (voice-over): But Michele Pegg keeps walking, keeps knocking.

KING: Do you think this is actually a Democratic year in Iowa?

PEGG: I feel like the opportunity is there. And I feel like people want change. I think that people want to feel heard. I do not feel like they are actually feeling like they're heard with either party. So if you want that, that opportunity is absolutely there. 100 percent, come on down.

Thank you, sir.

KING (voice-over): So far, no takers beyond local candidates.

PEGG: We've been trying to get candidates to come walk with us, meet their constituents. That's been met with a little resistance.

KING: So why is that?

PEGG: You know, I think there's nervousness about coming out and knocking on doors and being met by people who don't necessarily agree with your views. And --

KING: So there's nervousness about democracy?

PEGG: You shut the front door. KING: The Democrats see opportunities even here in Iowa, speaks volumes about the 2026 midterm year and about President Trump's political standing. Donald Trump carried Iowa all three times he's led the Republican ticket. 52 percent in 2016, 53 percent in 2020, and 56 percent, just two years ago, in 2024.

Plus, Republicans hold all four of Iowa's House seats. Republicans hold both of Iowa's Senate seats. And Republicans have controlled the governor's office here for 15 years.

KING (voice-over): This is the Iowa Amateur Championship, Beaver Hills Country Club in Cedar Falls.

CHRIS MUDD, IOWA VOTER: I would probably just run a 9-iron up there.

KING (voice-over): Chris Mudd plays as often as he can.

MUDD: He's going to play it back in a stance and hit it low, and I'll bet he's up pretty good. Beautiful.

KING (voice-over): And he clearly knows this course.

MUDD: Everyone has their way. I'm not good enough to lead a way.

KING (voice-over): Loyal Republican, three-time Trump voter. Yes, has a few friends upset with Trump. Others, though, like him, more frustrated with Republicans in Congress.

He hears the summer buzz about a big Democratic year. Mudd's belief, though, is that Republicans will get things straight by November.

MUDD: I do think that Republicans will come out. I think we have to -- he is -- Trump is on the ballot, whether anybody likes it or not. I mean, if we want any of Trump's policies to move forward, we're going to have to do well in November.

KING (voice-over): Mudd's vote is not in question, but his take on the economy and the mood here helps you understand why Iowa is now in the middle of the midterm competition.

MUDD: Housing is expensive. The interest rates are expensive, and gas is expensive. People are upset. They're frustrated with the way things have gone on them. You know, I can't tell you that I'm 100 percent excited about everything that's happened, but I believe that there's some pain that we have to go through to get this thing fixed.

KING (voice-over): Ashley Hinson is the Republican congresswoman here. But she's running for Senate now, and the House seat is up for grabs. Iowa's 2nd congressional district leans Republican. Trump won 20 of its 22 counties just two years ago. But Republicans are suddenly a bit nervous, even here.

KING: The Democrats have a very simple message -- vote blue, hurt Trump. The Republicans are having a harder time motivating their base because a lot of their base is dealing with the cost of diesel, the cost of fertilizer, the cost of gas, and all that is from a war that they thought their President would not start.

KING (voice-over): These new homes are in West Des Moines, part of the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the Midwest. These changing suburbs a critical piece of Iowa's midterm math. The reading and public bookstore doesn't hide its politics.

LINZI MURRAY, IOWA VOTER: We're trying to say that, especially with literature, sharing your story is what cultivates more empathy in the world, and we are severely in a deficit of empathy in the world right now.

KING (voice-over): Linzi Murray was born in China, adopted by a family in Kansas City, went to college in Iowa, and returned three years ago to open the bookstore and start a family. She sees the chance for a big blue year, organizes the shelves with a purpose.

KING: Are Democrats dreaming, I guess, is the question.

MURRAY: I would -- I mean, doesn't anything start with a dream to begin with?

KING (voice-over): The bookstore is close to breaking even. Murray went to Washington to promote legislation to lower credit card fees, says Iowa's Republicans in Congress wouldn't help.

MURRAY: We're just going to keep pushing and pushing and pushing, and we just have no more -- I don't know, more diplomatic way to say we have no more Fs to give.

KING (voice-over): The third district includes Polk County, Des Moines, and its suburbs, but then a giant rural swath stretching to the Iowa-Missouri border. Trump won 20 of its 21 counties in 2024. Yet the third is a midterm toss-up, and another test of whether Democrats can manage at least a modest rural rebound.

[12:55:15]

More cows than people here.

SHANEN EBERSOLE, IOWA VOTER: She's going to snuggle you, because remember, Sarah's a --

KING: That's all right.

EBERSOLE: -- total pet.

KING: Just roll it right off?

KING (voice-over): Molasses and minerals in these 200-pound tubs.

EBERSOLE: You got it?

KING: I got it. Sorry, I didn't realize you get a double.

KING (voice-over): Giant salt cubes on top. These cows will deliver calves just before Election Day. EBERSOLE: Girls, be nice.

KING (voice-over): Shanen Ebersole is a rancher, a Republican, a three-time Trump voter, and a midterm wild card.

EBERSOLE: Our governor's race is ridiculous.

KING (voice-over): Not happy with the war.

EBERSOLE: First and foremost, we need to take care of our Americans. And that is one frustrating point of the Iran war, is because I voted to take care of us first.

KING (voice-over): And not happy with a Republican congressman, she sees as too willing to put the party line ahead of rural Iowa.

KING: Do you take a chance on a new Democrat and say that would send a message, right?

EBERSOLE: I am really still leaning that way.

KING: Leaning for change?

EBERSOLE: Yes. I believe that change is always a good thing.

KING (voice-over): Change would mean voting for Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott. And if Democrats win this seat, it's a safe bet they win the House majority. And that gives Ebersole pause, because she keeps hearing about the rise of Democratic socialists.

EBERSOLE: It's a really tricky time, because, in my opinion, we have to consider, like cows, the people that you hang out with, the friends that you have in life, are so important.

KING: So you want change, you're just kind of afraid of it?

EBERSOLE: I'm afraid of how the other people will change them.

KING: Right.

EBERSOLE: The friends that they hang around will change them. Because once they get together as a group, herd dynamics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: And John is here now. One of the big questions is whether Democrats can retake rural America.

KING: And so you just saw me there with Shanen. That's Ringgold County. Look at the numbers. 75 percent, right? You can go to the House race in 2024, her incumbent congressman there. Let me bring it back up.

Come on, there we go. You come over here, Zach Nunn gets in this district, he gets 52 percent in the district, but in the county, he gets 74 percent. The Democrats have been struggling in rural America for a long time, but in the decade of Trump, he has just put it on steroids.

You cannot be competitive statewide in Iowa, in Ohio, even in Michigan and Wisconsin, certainly in Texas, in North Carolina. You know, pick your state and overlap it with the battlegrounds this year, right? You cannot -- the other guy cannot get 74 percent. And so that is one of my defining questions this year.

Can the Democrats start to have at least a modest rebound in rural America?

BASH: What do you think right now?

KING: The opportunity is out there. You saw me on the other side of that state. When we were there, we were way over here in Louisa County over here. Let me come back to the presidential race. It's easier to do this. If you come here, you know, this is -- again, Trump got 70 percent, right? 70 percent.

You see those Democrats knocking on the door. What the chairwoman there says is the candidates need to show up. Her question is, will this be opportunity lost? Because the candidates don't want to go to a place where some of the voters are going to say, go away.

BASH: Absolutely fascinating. Such a terrific piece. Thank you so much. Thanks to all of you. Appreciate it.

Thanks for joining Inside Politics today. CNN News Central starts after a quick break.