Daniel Penny will join Trump and Vance at Army-Navy football game

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hailed Penny as a "good samaritan" and used the case to attack Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who also successfully prosecuted Trump for his hush money scheme.

The big picture: "Daniel's a good guy, and New York's mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone," Vance wrote on X Friday, confirming Penny had accepted his invitation to the game.

• Both men will join Trump at his suite at the game, according to NOTUS, which first reported the news.
• Vance celebrated Penny's acquittal earlier this week, writing on X: "Thank God justice was done in this case. It was a scandal Penny was ever prosecuted in the first place."

Context: Penny, who is white and had held Neely in a chokehold on the train as he experienced what appeared to be a mental health episode, was initially charged with second-degree manslaughter over the incident.

• Penny, who had maintained he was trying to hold Neely until police arrived, was acquitted Monday on the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide after the murder charge was dismissed.

Zoom out: This is not the first time those in Trump's orbit embraced a vigilante.

• Trump met with Kyle Rittenhouse — who was acquitted in 2021 of fatally shooting two men and injuring a third during racial justice protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2020 — days after his not guilty verdict.
• Trump praised Rittenhouse and claimed his case had been one of "prosecutorial misconduct."

Go deeper: Daniel Penny found not guilty in chokehold death of Jordan Neely in NYC