The claim: Biden can pardon Luigi Mangione

An Instagram post dated December 9 (direct link, archive link) has claimed that President Joe Biden might intervene in a notable criminal case.

The image states, “Biden has the chance to pardon luigi mangione and it would be the funniest thing ever,” which is a screenshot from a post on X.

This Instagram post garnered over 6,000 likes within just six days, and similar claims have appeared on Facebook and X.

Our rating: False

Presidents are only allowed to provide pardons for federal crimes. As of December 16, experts informed YSL News that Mangione does not qualify for a presidential pardon since he has been charged only with state crimes.

Clemency only for federal offenses according to the Constitution

Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was tragically shot and killed on December 4 outside a Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan. This incident sparked an extensive search that culminated in the arrest of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.

A warrant for Mangione’s arrest in New York outlines several charges against him, including second-degree murder and unlawful weapon possession. He has also been charged in Pennsylvania for offenses like possessing an unlicensed firearm and forgery, as reported by The Associated Press.

The suggestion that President Biden could pardon Mangione surfaced just days after he granted a pardon to his son, Hunter Biden, who faced federal charges related to gun and tax offenses earlier in the year. Although Biden had previously stated he would refrain from granting such pardons, his authority is not pertinent in Mangione’s matter as it pertains only to federal crimes, according to Columbia University law professor Philip Bobbitt. He explained, “The federal murder statute demands specific factual components.”

Bobbit also mentioned that federal murder cases typically involve scenarios like bank robbery, federal court trials, drug-related killings, sex crimes, murders for hire, mail crimes, incidents at sea, or crimes against federal employees. None of these apply to Mangione’s situation. Federal prosecutors could theoretically charge Mangione regarding his alleged interstate travel in relation to the incident, CNN reported.

The charges against Mangione were brought forth by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, meaning he could potentially receive a pardon from New York Governor Kathy Hochul, as stated by Fordham University law professor Cheryl Bader to YSL News.

However, there is no sign that Hochul is inclined to offer such clemency. She described Thompson’s murder as “horrific” and announced on December 10 that she was working with the district attorney to ensure Mangione is “tried and held accountable.”

Under U.S. Constitution, the prohibition on presidential clemency for state offenses clarifies why Biden could not issue a pardon to President-elect Donald Trump after he was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in a hush money trial in New York, as previously reported by Bader and YSL News.

Despite this, Biden has had the opportunity to commute sentences for nearly 1,500 individuals and granted pardons to 39 others on December 12, marking what YSL News described as the largest single-day clemency action in modern history. The X user who initiated the post later clarified that it was intended as a joke.

YSL News has investigated various claims surrounding Thompson’s shooting, including a satirical assertion that an image depicts Mangione’s fake identification and false allegations regarding different images purporting to show a new job listing for the UnitedHealthcare CEO and an Elon Musk post supporting insurance companies after the incident.

YSL News attempted to contact Mangione’s attorney and the user who shared the post for comments, but did not receive immediate replies.