{"id":346384,"date":"2026-09-14T15:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T15:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/346384\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T15:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T15:18:12","slug":"nyc-council-takes-aim-at-mangionistas-with-press-pass-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/346384\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC council takes aim at &#8216;Mangionistas&#8217; with press pass crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/evros5tyderlgad5.jpg\" alt=\"Luigi Mangione: How does guilty plea shape state, federal cases moving forward?\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-892ef6a8=\"\"\/>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/evros5tyderlgad5.jpg\" alt=\"Luigi Mangione: How does guilty plea shape state, federal cases moving forward?\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"vod-poster-image vod-poster-image--embedded\" data-v-5173a8d8=\"\"\/>    <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">NEW YORK CITY &#8211; New York City officials are moving to close a loophole that allowed self-described &#8220;Mangionistas&#8221; to obtain and flaunt official city press credentials.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">In response to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox5ny.com\/tag\/crime-publicsafety\/luigi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Luigi Mangione<\/a>&#8216;s supporters accessing restricted areas and acting as advocates during the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox5ny.com\/news\/luigi-mangione-federal-court-hearing-guilty-plea-expected\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">murder suspect&#8217;s latest court appearance,<\/a> the City Council has introduced a bill designed to make it much easier to revoke abused press passes.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/gettyimages-2255405660.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" width=\"932\" height=\"524\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\">NEW YORK, NEW YORK &#8211; JANUARY 09: Supporters of Luigi Mangione gather outside of Manhattan Federal Court on January 09, 2026 in New York City. Lawyers for Mangione attorneys are in court for the 27-year-old accused killer to try to avoid the death pen <\/p>\n<p>   Revoking press passes <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WNYW\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What we know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Currently, taking away a press pass in New York City is a high-bar legal hurdle. Under existing rules, the Mayor\u2019s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) must prove by &#8220;clear and convincing evidence&#8221; at a hearing that revoking or suspending a credential is justified.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/legistar.council.nyc.gov\/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=8206999&amp;GUID=B541FC48-4442-4341-8A7C-D06D779F0A54&amp;Options=ID%7CText%7C&amp;Search=media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">new bill<\/a> seeks to change that by amending the administrative code to lower the burden of proof to a &#8220;preponderance of evidence.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">According to the bill&#8217;s sponsors, this change will ensure that while due process is maintained through the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, the city can more effectively address obvious abuses of the credentialing system.<\/p>\n<p>  \u2018Fangirls\u2019 at the courthouse <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WNYW\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">The backstory:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">The legislative push comes on the heels of national outrage over the behavior of several individuals holding city-issued press passes outside a New York State Supreme Court hearing in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">City Council Speaker Julie Menin stated that the new reforms aim to address &#8220;the problem of the Luigi Mangione fangirl&#8221; during an interview with FOX 5 NY.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">&#8220;These fangirls, who are not journalists, are showing up at the trial with press credentials that the City of New York is giving to them,&#8221; Menin said.<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6r9xmbk6upcyr4rx.jpg\" alt=\"NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin reflects on 9\/11 25 years later\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-892ef6a8=\"\"\/>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6r9xmbk6upcyr4rx.jpg\" alt=\"NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin reflects on 9\/11 25 years later\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"vod-poster-image vod-poster-image--embedded\" data-v-5173a8d8=\"\"\/>   <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">These individuals, including credentialed influencers Ashley Rojas and Lena Weissbrot, made incendiary statements to the press, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/new-york-city-council-pushes-bill-take-press-passes-away-mangionistas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">FOX News<\/a>. Rojas aggressively dismissed the victim and his mother, while Weissbrot attempted to justify the killing by comparing Thompson to Usama bin Laden.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Mayor Zohran Mamdani subsequently stated that these supporters never should have been issued press passes.<\/p>\n<p>  Overhaul of media rules <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WNYW\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">Dig deeper:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Beyond changing how passes are revoked, the new bill forces a hard look at how they are handed out in the first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">The legislation legally requires MOME to conduct a comprehensive review of its existing rules, including its application procedures, criteria to deny an application and specific criteria that justify suspending or revoking a press pass.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">If passed, the local law will take effect immediately. However, it will not apply to any revocation hearings that were already officially noticed prior to the law&#8217;s enactment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: Information from this article was sourced from a FOX 5 interview with City Council Speaker Julie Menin, City Council bill &#8220;Introduction Number 1024&#8221; and FOX News.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox5ny.com\/tag\/us\/ny\/nyc\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New York City<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox5ny.com\/tag\/crime-publicsafety\/luigi\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Luigi Mangione Trial<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK CITY &#8211; New York City officials are moving to close a loophole that allowed self-described &#8220;Mangionistas&#8221;&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[850,30801,9,11,10,49,51,50,12,56,63,618],"class_list":["post-346384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-luigi","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-news","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}