Ron Adar/SOPA Images/Sipa USA via AP Images
Dan Abrams attending a film premiere last October in New York
Last week, news anchor Dan Abrams starred in an hour-long documentary streaming on Max about the lethal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Ahead of the premiere, campaigns cropped up across social media to boycott the documentary, with critics claiming that the trailer unfairly portrayed the actions of Thompson’s accused killer, Luigi Mangione.
On Friday, after Mangione’s appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court, his attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo read a statement excoriating Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny for appearing in the documentary and discussing evidence that had not yet been released to Mangione’s defense team. Agnifilo expressed shock in seeing “the Chief of Detectives and the New York City mayor, full hair and makeup … talking about the evidence in Luigi’s case, talking about police paperwork that we don’t have … it’s outrageous that they have time to go and prejudice Mr. Mangione’s ability to receive a fair trial and go out and make these statements but not give this to us.”
But this is not the first time a program starring Abrams, the legal analyst and CEO of Abrams Media, has come under fire over allegations that it not only documents but also influences outcomes in the criminal justice system.
In 2020, after stints at Court TV, ABC, A&E, and MSNBC, where he held down the 9 p.m. prime-time anchor slot before Rachel Maddow took over in 2008, Abrams had his A&E show Live PD canceled after crew members filmed the police killing of Javier Ambler.
According to a CNBC report, “Javier Ambler was stopped by police in Texas for failing to dim his headlights in March 2019 and was later held down and tasered four times while a crew from ‘Live PD’ filmed. Ambler died in custody.” The encounter never aired on the show, and the footage was destroyed before it could be used as evidence in the prosecution of law enforcement officers involved in the killing.
Before being taken off-air, Live PD’s broadcasts of police officers engaging in violent arrests boosted it to the top of the cable ratings. After news broke about the show capturing a police murder on film weeks after the killing of George Floyd, A&E canceled the series and released a statement: “This is a critical time in our nation’s history and we have made the decision to cease production on ‘Live PD’… Going forward, we will determine if there is a clear pathway to tell the stories of both the community and the police officers whose role it is to serve them. And with that, we will be meeting with community and civil rights leaders as well as police departments.”
Abrams quickly hit the media circuit to defend his show, telling USA Today that it was “troubling” that the post-Floyd environment was one in which police officers were forced to suffer for the “sins of a few.”
“That doesn’t mean we don’t have to have a discussion about the inequities in our society. And not just a discussion—action. There should be changes … but there’s also an overreaction going on. And I think that that’s what ‘Live PD’ suffered from,” Abrams added.
THE MANGIONE DOCUMENTARY, which leads with the disclaimer “All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law,” is populated mostly with file footage and a few interviews. The NYPD shared Mangione’s notebook with the filmmakers, and several excerpts are used.
For a film promising to answer the question “Who is Luigi Mangione?” there is little information about him that doesn’t come from Luigi’s own social media posts and writings. Two friends of the family talk generically about family philanthropic donations and biographical details that anyone could pick up in a newspaper article. Luigi’s yoga instructor says flat out, “I don’t know what would motivate someone to do something like that,” and his former roommate RJ Martin is similarly perplexed.
Cristina Matuozzi/SIPA USA via AP Images
UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect Luigi Mangione is seen entering Manhattan Criminal Court for arraignment, December 23, 2024, in New York.
By contrast, a New York criminologist, a spine surgeon, and the NYPD’s Kenny speculate wildly about Mangione’s back injury and personal motivations. There’s a random comparison between Mangione and the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski. A Substack writer who had one video call with Luigi is brought on to discuss it.
The health care activist Wendell Potter and a UnitedHealthcare patient do talk broadly about the company’s tendency to deny patient claims, and Thompson’s insider trading allegations are mentioned. But in general, the program is a quick-hit newsmagazine profile attempting to capitalize on a media sensation. And Abrams makes no secret of calling Mangione’s alleged crime “abhorrent” and expressing shock that anyone would defend him.
TWO YEARS AFTER LIVE PD WAS CANCELED, Abrams secured a new show, On Patrol, which follows the same theme as Live PD: filming police officers serving warrants, kicking down doors, and engaging in high-speed pursuits. But while Abrams has described Live PD as “pro-police,” reporting by NBC describes the show as accelerating unnecessary violence and recklessness by the police officers it filmed. One deputy told NBC News that “‘Live PD’ was a distraction allowing complete and utter destruction of standardized best practices in law enforcement.”
Another officer, Detective Jason Waldon, who responded to a call at the hospital where Javier Ambler was taken, felt convinced that Ambler wouldn’t have died were it not for the presence of the cameras from Live PD, telling NBC, “There is no way that pursuit would have been allowed to continue if they weren’t trying to make good TV.”
The same year Live PD was canceled, the Austin-American Statesman reported that during the 11 months that the A&E Network featured Williamson County officers on its show, high-speed pursuits increasingly became the norm. The analysis of pursuit reports found that deputies in Williamson County initiated 54 percent more pursuits from the previous year, reached speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour, and caused more than $17,000 in damages to public and private property.
Abrams is the owner of a $10.5 million condo housed inside a Neo-Georgian mansion in the Flatiron District, where Chelsea Clinton also owns a unit. He owns a winery on Long Island, and oversees a media company with properties including Mediaite and LawandCrime.com. According to a recent tweet, he is seeking to expand the law enforcement agencies his show follows: “To all those asking … Yes #OPLive has put in a request to follow @ICEgov as one of the law enforcement entities we follow on the show,” Abrams tweeted earlier this month.
Meanwhile, in the days before the documentary on the UnitedHealthcare CEO premiered, Mangione released his own statement from prison, telling the public: “I am overwhelmed by—and grateful for—everyone who has written me to share their stories and express their support. Powerfully, this support has transcended political, racial, and even class divisions … While it is impossible for me to reply to most letters, please know that I read every one that I receive. Thank you again to everyone who took the time to write. I look forward to hearing more in the future.”
Dan Abrams did not respond to the Prospect’s request for comment.
