18 MAY 26 SITREP

• Judge Gregory Carroll issued a written ruling suppressing certain items found in Luigi Mangione’s backpack during a search at a McDonald’s, determining that the warrantless search inside the restaurant was unconstitutional, while allowing other evidence seized later at the police station to remain admissible in the state trial expected to begin in September.
• The federal court, hearing similar charges, ruled in January that all of the same evidence was admissible under federal law, finding that exigent circumstances justified the backpack search given the political nature of the shooting and the possibility that the bag could have contained an explosive device, creating a sharp divergence between the TWO proceedings.
• Judge Carroll had previously dismissed the terrorism charge in the state case, ruling that the New York anti-terrorism statute required proof of intent to intimidate a civilian population or government entity at large, and that targeting the healthcare industry did not meet that threshold, a decision that eliminated the possibility of the death penalty at the state level.
• The gun used to kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and Mangione’s written manifesto outlining his ideological motivations remain admissible in the state trial, but the magazine was suppressed, and concerns have mounted about the possibility of jury nullification given the emergence of a public movement celebrating Mangione, including a musical production set to open in New York City blocks from where Thompson was shot.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for an end to the country’s war with Russia after launching a massive counterattack over the weekend involving a large-scale drone offensive against Russian positions.
• Russia’s Ministry of Defense reported three people dead and claimed it shot down nearly 600 Ukrainian drones during the assault, characterizing the attack as a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict.
• Zelenskyy stated the strike came in direct response to a week of Russian attacks that killed at least 24 people in Kyiv, framing the counteroffensive as a necessary retaliatory measure following sustained bombardment of the Ukrainian capital.
• The weekend counterattack and simultaneous call for peace represented a dual strategy of military escalation paired with diplomatic signaling, as Zelenskyy positioned the drone offensive as both a demonstration of Ukrainian capability and leverage for ending the war on terms favorable to Ukraine.

• A federal jury dismissed Elon Musk’s claims that OpenAI and its executives violated the company’s commitment to remain a nonprofit, with the jury deliberating for less than two hours before finding that CEO Sam Altman and the company were not liable, and US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers stating she had been prepared to dismiss the case on the spot.
• Musk had sought to force OpenAI and Microsoft to surrender as much as $134 billion in what he called ill-gotten gains, remove Altman and President Greg Brockman from their roles, and roll back the company’s 2025 restructuring plan that enabled the growth of its for-profit division, with all funds to be returned to the OpenAI charity rather than to Musk himself.
• OpenAI’s lawyers argued that Musk’s approximately $38 million donation had not been restricted, that restructuring was the only way to compete against Google’s DeepMind, and presented evidence that Musk had once proposed a for-profit structure for OpenAI on the condition that he retain control and had also pushed for the company to be folded into Tesla.
• The ruling arrived as both companies race toward public offerings, with OpenAI having raised $122 billion at a valuation exceeding $850 billion in March, while Musk’s SpaceX, which now includes his xAI venture founded in 2023, filed for an IPO in April at a valuation of $1.25 trillion.