Writer Gurwinder Bhogal revealed on CNN during an interview that he spoke with Luigi Mangione for two hours months prior to the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, saying Mangione alluded to frustrations with the U.S. health care system.
CNN’s Erin Burnett asked Bhogal about a video call he had with Mangione in May. Burnett said the timing was important because it was right before Mangione “went off the grid” in July.
Mangione was arrested in connection with Thompson’s murder at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania. Thompson was shot and killed outside a hotel in Manhattan.
“I mean, there are a few things that make a little more sense now. But I mean, I can’t say that I would have really predicted his behavior based on that, from that video call. Um, you know, he alluded to his frustrations about the American healthcare system. There was a brief conversation where he compared, you know, he said the American healthcare system was very expensive,” Bhogal said.
Gurwinder Bhogal joined CNN’s Erin Burnett on Tuesday to discuss a conversation he had with Luigi Mangione months prior to the murder. (Screenshot/CNN)
WHO IS LUIGI MANGIONE, SUSPECT OF MURDER OF UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO?
‘I told him about the NHS, because we have a free healthcare system here in Britain. And he seemed to glorify the British healthcare system a bit. And I told him it wasn’t that simple, because even though it was great, I’m a big fan of universal healthcare. I said it’s not that simple because in the UK we have large waiting lists, so there’s a bit of a trade-off. But I did say that Britain’s system was better than the American one, and he agreed,” Bhogal added.
Bhogal also discussed some other things he remembered from their conversation about Mangione.
“He was really concerned about things like online porn, like he believed that a lot of men weren’t going out to meet women because they were addicted to porn. He was really concerned about video games. He believed that people weren’t achieving. They weren’t achieving things in the real world because they were getting kind of dopamine hits from video games,” Bhogal said.
(OLD) Luigi Mangione pictured in a mugshot in Pennsylvania following his arrest in connection with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
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Bhogal said Mangione was concerned about the effect social media was having on people.
‘And he was afraid that this would happen to him too. And one of the topics of the conversation, I mean, was about the fact that he wanted advice from me on how to regain some kind of agency,” he said.
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Several on the the left celebrated Thompson’s death and have hailed Mangione as a hero.
Former Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz told Piers Morgan what she felt during an interview “joy” in response until Thompson’s death. She returned to the conversation later, but said she felt no empathy for his murder.
