Joy Behar wonders if Trump DOJ seeking death penalty for Luigi Mangione will cause 'backlash' against GOP

"The View" co-host Joy Behar said Wednesday that there could be "backlash" against the Republican Party as the Trump Justice Department has ordered prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

"He's very popular, this guy, there could be a backlash," she said. "All I'm saying is, politically, it could be a backlash against Republicans to give him the death penalty."

Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Tuesday that Thompson's murder was "a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America."

"After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again," the statement continued.

AOC, OTHER PROGRESSIVES CONDEMN VIOLENCE BUT SUGGEST JUSTIFICATION FOR KILLING OF UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO

Joy Behar suggested Wednesday that there could be backlash against the GOP after the Trump admin asked prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)

Co-host Sunny Hostin suggested that Bondi's efforts were "an assault on the process." 

"It just seems like the attorney general is acting, really, against our institutional standards, which is what this administration is doing," Hostin added.

Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said she believed in the death penalty, but questioned the administration's push to apply it in this case.

"I was a little surprised this is where the Trump Justice Department started," she said, wondering if they should have focused on a drug cartel member or human trafficking cases. 

"I personally believe in the death penalty in the most extreme cases, terrorism, mass murder, with the most extensive appeals process in place so that mistakes are not made," Griffin continued, adding, "I personally, I think Luigi Mangione, if convicted, should spend his life in jail. I do not see him as a candidate for the death penalty. He’s a first-time offender. He is young, and he is somebody prison systems are meant to rehabilitate and to punish."

Co-host Sara Haines said serving time in a federal maximum security prison would be a greater punishment.

"I tend to think the greater punishment in what he did is to stay alive and live with that. I’m a big believer in people having to live with themselves and the choices they've made, and their surrounding neighbors in places like that," she said.

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Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for a status hearing in New York City on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. Mangione is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside of a Manhattan hotel last year. (Curtis Means/Pool)

Politico suggested on Tuesday that seeking the death penalty against Mangione, who is the only suspect in the case, could cause President Donald Trump to "lose Gen Z."

Politico Playbook placed the news under its "6 Things You Need to Know" banner beside a blurb reading "How Trump Loses Gen Z."

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Fox News' Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.