Mamdani reviews – New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is reviewing the city’s press credentialing process after three people tied to Luigi Mangione supporters received city-issued press passes and made inflammatory remarks while wearing them outside a Manhattan courthouse on May 18.
For the third straight day after the videos surfaced, the fight wasn’t only about what was said outside a Manhattan courthouse. It was also about who should have been allowed to stand there at all.
On May 18. three individuals affiliated with Luigi Mangione supporters—identified in a New York Press Club news release as Abril Rios. Ashley Rojas and Lena Weissbrot—appeared wearing city-issued press credentials while making remarks that quickly drew public backlash. New York Daily News reporter Molly Crane-Newman posted several videos taken outside the courthouse on May 18 that appeared to show Rojas directing an expletive at Brian Thompson. the UnitedHealthcare CEO Mangione is accused of fatally shooting in December 2024. In the videos, Weissbrot is shown saying Thompson’s children “are better off without him,” among other statements.
Rojas, at one point, said the trio called themselves “The Mangionistas,” advocating for Mangione “as an individual” as well as for greater youth involvement in social issues more broadly. The group has an online presence that includes Substack, Instagram and TikTok.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the trio “should not have received press passes” and announced that his office was reviewing its press credentialing process and standards. Speaking on May 19 at a news conference. Mamdani said. “And what I will say is there is a good-natured debate to be had about where a press pass should extend and where it shouldn’t. ” adding: “However. the three people that we are talking about don’t fall within that debate.”.
Mangione’s legal counsel condemned the “vile and irresponsible statements,” saying they “do not represent the views of Luigi, nor the tens of thousands who have shown their support from around the world,” as reported by the New York Times.
The credential question now lands squarely in First Amendment territory, with advocates arguing that government access can’t be conditioned on whether officials like—or dislike—what someone says.
Press freedom groups say the city may be crossing a constitutional line
The Freedom of the Press Foundation criticized ideas that restrict government access based on controversial speech. It said that would amount to viewpoint discrimination, which the government is barred from under the First Amendment.
In a May 18 X post. the organization wrote that journalistic objectivity is an “industry norm. ” not a prerequisite for constitutional rights. Seth Stern. the foundation’s chief of advocacy. said in an interview that people who disseminate information on matters of public importance should be eligible for a press pass.
But the New York Press Club president. David Cruz. argued the trio did not qualify as journalists eligible for a press pass. Cruz told a reporter that he saw “no indication” that the three met the standard. and he criticized what he described as a “lack of transparency” in the city’s credentialing process.
Cruz said, “The idea of getting a credential is so you can get access to a place you can’t normally go to in order to obtain information to share with the masses. … I have not seen that in any of their work.”
At the center of the dispute is what the city’s credentialing rules are meant to accomplish. The city’s website says press passes are required to cross barriers intended for members of the general public. including police and fire lines. as well as to attend city government events open to members of the press.
The website also says press pass holders must comply with guidelines. Those include rules prohibiting holders from refusing lawful orders from city officials and from engaging in conduct posing an “unreasonable risk” to individuals or the general public, according to the city’s website as of May 20.
Cruz said the credentialing system has swung too far in the other direction. The New York Police Department issued city press credentials for decades until the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment assumed the responsibility in 2022. A news release from the New York Press Club quoted Cruz saying. “press credentialing has become a pendulum in New York City.”.
He said: “Years ago. the police controlled the credentials and we ran into issues regarding freedom of the press. ” and that “Now that pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction.” The news release called on Mamdani’s office to consult with the organization as it reviews its press policy. Cruz said the New York Press Club was “in the early stages of speaking with the mayor’s office” about the matter.
The foundation’s Stern placed the fight in a broader national frame
Stern tied the controversy to past actions that some press freedom advocates say have been unconstitutional. He referenced President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in ways advocates have argued threaten press freedoms.
Stern pointed to Trump’s administration banning the Associated Press from certain White House events over its refusal to use “Gulf of America” instead of “Gulf of Mexico” following Trump’s executive order renaming the body of water. He also cited a Pentagon press policy that sought to bar news outlets from reporting information not officially sanctioned for release in October. which led to scores of journalists losing access to the building. Stern also referenced that the New York Times filed its second lawsuit over a press policy on May 18.
Stern said Mamdani’s pledge to review the policy is a “poorly thought-out reaction” to online outrage. while drawing a line between that and the more aggressive anti-press positioning that Trump and Hegseth have embraced. He said it was “different in the sense that Mamdani is not conditioning access on political loyalty but more so on whether someone holds views that he might find reprehensible. ” adding: “but constitutionally. it’s the same idea.”.
Mamdani’s office has not said how First Amendment protections will be weighed
Mamdani’s office did not respond to a request for further comment on how First Amendment protections were factoring into its press policy review.
The city’s announced change now sits in a tense spot: after inflammatory remarks were recorded while people wearing city press credentials stood outside a courthouse. officials are saying they will revisit standards for issuing those credentials. Press advocates are warning that if the review turns into punishment for unpopular speech. it could collide with constitutional protections for access and expression.
In the narrow space between public outrage and constitutional limits, this time the debate isn’t abstract. It began on May 18, with a trio wearing credentials, words captured on video, and a mayor who says the system should not have allowed it.
Zohran Mamdani press credentials First Amendment New York Press Club Freedom of the Press Foundation Seth Stern Luigi Mangione Brian Thompson UnitedHealthcare press pass policy