Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) shared conflicting thoughts on the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson Thursday afternoon, saying people view denied insurance claims as “violence,” yet insisting she was not justifying the purported assassination of the executive.
“I think that this collective American experience… all of that pain that people have experienced, is being concentrated on this event,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.
“And it’s really important that we take a step back. This is not to comment, and this is not to say that an act of violence is justified,” she continued before explaining that people may be viewing the murder in different ways.
“But I think for anyone who is confused or shocked or appalled, they need to understand that people interpret and feel and experience denied claims as an act of violence against them,” the congresswoman said.
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“People go homeless over the financial devastation of a diagnosis that doesn’t get addressed, or you know, the amount that they’re going to have to cover with a surprise bill and things like that. And we kind of talk about how systems are violent in this country in this passive way,” she said, blasting the privatized health care system and concluding that it is “like that for a huge amount of Americans.”
“I mean, I did not have, I did not have health insurance until I got elected to Congress,” she continued.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) also commented on the murder, describing it as an “atrocity.” However, like Ocasio-Cortez, he said the anger at the healthcare system is palpable.
“Murder is murder, and it is totally unacceptable, but I think the outpouring that we have seen indicates that frustration and anger at a healthcare industry which rejects claims that people desperately need,” he said.
“And I think people understand that our current healthcare system is broken. We need to do whatever we have a major country on earth does and guarantee health care to all people as a human right,” he added.
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The remarks all come just over a week after Thompson was gunned down on December 4 outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. As Breitbart News reported, the murder came amid reports that “top executives at his company have reportedly been under investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for alleged insider trading and a monopoly.”
Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the fatal shooting, has been arrested.
“When Mangione was taken into custody in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Monday he allegedly had a handwritten letter in his possession which said, ‘These parasites had it coming,’” as Breitbart News reported.
The left-wing climate justice group The Sunrise Movement is among those that have appeared to justify the murder, asserting that young people have “grown up watching CEOs commit mass murder.”
The pro-Democrat Facebook page “The Other 98%” has also stirred the pot, sharing a photo mocking people “upset” that Mangione has been turned into a “folk hero” by some.
“To people upset about Luigi being made into a folk hero. Now you know how we felt when you made Kyle Rittenhouse into one,” the post read.
