Mangione, 26, accused of carrying out ‘premeditated assassination’ of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson

Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against the man accused of fatally shooting the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, outside a Manhattan hotel on 4 December, the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, said on Tuesday.

Bondi said in a press release that she had “directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty” for Luigi Mangione, 26, because he allegedly committed “a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America”. The move, Bondi notes, was in an effort to “carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again”.

Democrats had hoped to flip seats vacated by Mike Waltz, now US national security adviser, and Matt Gaetz

US voters are headed to the polls on Tuesday in Wisconsin and Florida in elections that some see as a test of Donald Trump’s popularity and the political clout of his billionaire ally Elon Musk.

The most closely watched contest is a battle for a seat on Wisconsin’s seven-member supreme court. Conservatives are trying to flip ideological control of the court, which currently has a 4-3 liberal majority. The contest, which features liberal judge Susan Crawford facing off against conservative Brad Schimel, will have huge consequences in the state.