Chris Cuomo took fellow journalists to the woodshed for openly celebrating the assassination of Brian Thompson, saying on his NewsNation show that their dunks on the shocking New York City shooting are “worse than what you oppose.”
The former CNN anchor kicked off Thursday night’s “Cuomo” with a long breakdown of the central mystery – who killed Thompson? The UnitedHealthcare CEO was gunned down Wednesday morning just outside the Hilton Midtown in what authorities are calling a targeted assassination.
The killer, a man dressed in dark, hooded clothing, fled on an e-bike and was still on the run as of Friday. Cuomo suggested that the assassination could be “only the beginning”: “We have an insider with some outsized concerns about what may happen next,” Cuomo said. “Why? Well, is this the fruit of the poisonous tree of all this talk about anti-establishment and anti-corporations? Maybe.”
Cuomo surmised that the killer, who arrived by bus, was not a New Yorker; said it was “key” to understand how he knew where Thompson would be staying; was “smart” to use a fake ID and cash at the hostel where he was staying; and noted that he wrote “Deny, Defend, Depose,” – a “well-known crisis management protocol” in insurance – on the three spent bullet casings.
“This is one of several unsavory aspects of that business,” Cuomo said. “Goes with common complaints about how insurance companies want you to pay them immediately, or they’ll come after your credit, but they delay anything out of their own pockets — slow-walking claims, dragging out litigation.”
You can watch the clip here.
Cuomo suggested the killer’s savvy moves and calm demeanor make it likely he was a “pro”: “His shooting acumen. The ability to handle the weapon. The ability to clear the weapon and continue calmly. The cool in his exit. His knowing where to go in the exit. His knowing where to go to find Thompson … He used a silencer or a suppressor. That’s sophisticated … Used a fake ID and cash at the hostel. That’s smart.”
But other clues – like the dropping of his mask to flirt with a hostel employee, interacting with people and a dropped water bottle and protein bar – suggest otherwise. “Rookie move,” Cuomo said.
Then Cuomo turned his attention to the public’s response on social media, especially a couple of fellow journalists.
“Now, what is the reaction to this? To me, it’s the biggest surprise,” he said. “I get not liking insurance companies. My family is sideways with one right now. But these tweets. These tweets that came out … even people who call themselves journalists — Ken Klippenstein and Taylor Lorenz — tweeting about how bad a man he was the day he died.”
Lorenz wrote a piece titled, “Yes, ‘We’ Want Insurance Executives Dead,” then doubled down on her take, re-posting dozens of X accounts who shared her view on Wednesday and Thursday.
Klippenstein, an independent journalist, also ranted on X about the injustices of health insurance claims and questioned the media’s favorable coverage of the slain CEO.
“But don’t these people understand?” Cuomo continued. “You are worse than what you oppose when you celebrate murder as a justifiable end for disagreement over policy. I mean, what the hell is going wrong here?”
Cuomo suggested a pushback campaign on non-anonymous accounts that celebrated the brazen murder: “Really crazy stuff. And the people whose names are actually theirs? If you follow them and don’t light them up, you’re not doing your job as a citizen.”
