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Erin Burnett Outfront
White House Reeling Over Trump Chief Of Staff's Bombshell Interview; FBI Releases New Video; Nick Reiner's Arrest. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired December 16, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:24]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Rocked. New reporting tonight, the White House is reeling after the chief of staff gave 11 stunning interviews to "Vanity Fair" magazine, interviews in which she repeatedly undermined the president, attacked his inner circle. Why did she do it?
Plus, the breaking news. Right now, officials are releasing a new video, another new video of the person of interest in the Brown University shooting, as questions are growing tonight over the FBI's handling of the investigation. Shooter is still unknown, at large. Where is the director? Kash Patel showing up tonight. We'll show you.
Also breaking, new pictures just in of Nick Reiner's arrest, tonight charged with his parent's murders. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, the bombshell interview rocking the White House. Sources telling CNN that it's all anyone is talking about inside the White House. Worries about what Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles jaw-droppingly candid interview was signaling about her future.
We have some new details this hour about the thinking inside the White House and the firestorm that Wiles comments to "Vanity Fair" ignited tonight, over 11 interviews to say that again, she gave over 11 interviews to the reporter "Vanity Fair" Chris Whipple.
Wiles offering up a blunt assessment of Trump and his inner circle. And here's the thing that is shocking about it. She repeatedly undermined several people close to Trump, including Trump himself. His policies as well as his team.
She even compared her boss's personality to that of an alcoholic while saying Trump has. And I quote from Chris Whipple's reporting, an alcoholic personality, he operates with a view that there's nothing he can't do. Nothing. Zero. Nothing. And then here is what she said of Trump's top deputies. She said Vice
President J.D. Vance had, quote, "been a conspiracy theorist for a decade" and changed his views for, quote/unquote, "political reasons in part".
She called Trump's budget director, Russell T. Vought, quote, "a right wing, absolute zealot." Not the highest compliment you can give somebody.
And she said, Elon Musk is, quote, "an avowed ketamine user and an odd, odd duck." Now, I doubt he'd disagree with the last of those things, but the rest of it, you get the point. And when it came to the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein investigation, Wiles blasted the attorney general, Pam Bondi. On Bondi, she said, quote, "I think she completely whiffed on appreciating that it was a very targeted group that cared about this."
And then, okay, it keeps going. On those DOJ charges against Trump's political enemies, right, we've all reported on, you know, Comey, Letitia James, here's one exchange in "Vanity Fair". Wiles says in some cases, it may look like retribution, and there may be an element of that from time to time. Who would blame him? Not me. The reporter, Chris Whipple, replies, so all of this talk about accusing Letitia James of mortgage fraud? Wiles replies, "Well, that might be the one retribution".
I mean, the president's chief of staff just said it. And then Wiles went on to talk about Jim Comey's case as well. Quote, "So tell me why the Comey prosecution doesn't just look like the fix is in?" Whipple asks. "I mean, people could think it does look." And she replies, "I mean, people could think it does look vindictive. I can't tell you why you shouldn't think that." Okay. Stunning as well.
I mean, it's important to pause here because while the entire interview does sort of drop one stunning revelation after another, those specific comments about the DOJ investigations could derail the Comey and James cases such that they even still exist.
Ryan Goodman are OUTFRONT legal analyst told us, quote, "Defense counsel will certainly seize on Wiles' astonishing admission that the president's efforts involve retribution and score settling. Wiles has significantly strengthened the hand of Letitia James and other defendants who want their cases dismissed on the basis that they are victims of a vindictive prosecution."
Now, tonight, after all of this firestorm, Wiles is pushing back. She writes, "The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me, and the finest president." But no one specifically saying that any of the things that we just read you in quotes weren't in quotes. So, it all does beg a crucial question, which is why did Wiles sit down for not one, not two, not three, but 11 interviews with Chris Whipple, including times when she apparently, according to the magazine, was at home folding laundry at night? When she took pride in almost never doing interviews except a few rare ones, including, you know, friendly ones, like with Trump's daughter in law. [19:05:04]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARA TRUMP, TRUMP'S DAUGHTER IN LAW: This is the is the first time I think you've ever sat down for an interview, so thank you for sitting down here with me.
SUSIE WILES, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: First and probably only.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I guess she changed her mind because then there were those 11 interviews with "Vanity Fair".
So, what is going on here?
Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT at the White House.
And, Kristen, that is the huge question here. When I started reading this this morning, I said, whoa, whoa, hit the paywall. Had to go past it. This one, I went past it.
I mean, just to read what was in there. I know you've been speaking to your sources inside the White House all night and all day, Kristen, to figure out what's happening here. What have you learned?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you this morning it was complete chaos. Everyone that I spoke to was trying to figure out how this happened, how Susie Wiles put this information out there on the record. One thing that everyone agreed on when I spoke to them is that Wiles is political. She is calculated she would not just go out there and put this information on the record.
But the other thing that almost all advisers and allies of the president also agreed on was that all the quotes sounded like something that Susie Wiles would say. Now, you quickly saw not only these cabinet officials like Pam Bondi, who again accused of whiffing when it came to the Epstein case, or Russell Vought coming to her defense. But perhaps most interestingly, you saw President Trump weighing in and not only just defending Susie, but embracing this idea that he has an alcoholics personality, saying that he does have a addictive personality.
I mean, that right there should tell you how President Trump views Susie Wiles somebody who he has said time and time again, is one of the only people who was loyal to him in the time after January 6th, when many Republicans had completely turned their back on him. But there are still questions inside of the White House as to how exactly this happened, and if Wiles was trying to send a signal.
As you said, Wiles herself has said that her comments were taken out of context. Again, she doesn't deny that she said them, but there was a lot that was left out of these interviews. But when you talk to people who know Susie Wiles, they keep bringing up this idea that she was sending a message, she on her way out the door, potentially. Was she trying to signal some kind of retribution? Was she caught in a situation where she was off -- she thought she was off the record?
These are all things people are speculating because Susie Wiles doesn't sit down. She doesn't make herself, you know, the biggest part of the story. And that is intentional. So, again, a lot of questions and a lot of rumors going around as to what happened here.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Kristen.
And my panel is here.
And I want to start with you, Stephanie Grisham, because you worked in a Trump White House. You were as press secretary in his first administration. So, when you see this and you see Susie Wiles giving 11 interviews to a "Vanity Fair" reporter, and then you see what's in them, and again, no one is disputing the veracity of the quotes. They're just saying that she said other things. It's not included as well.
What is happening, do you think tonight, behind the scenes?
STEPHANIE GRISHAM, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP: Well, I, like you, had to stop the breaks for a minute. You know, I don't know Susie Wiles well, but I've never heard anything bad about her. I've heard that she's very sharp, very political, So I don't think she would have made a gigantic mistake to have 11 interviews all thinking she could have been off the record.
My personal opinion is perhaps she didn't know this interview was going to come out this early. I think it's normal in political circles to, you know, at the midterms. Take a look and see if you want to maybe leave and move on. I think maybe she was thinking that, and this would be a good swan song for her.
But she had to know some of these things would be taken and put into headlines, which is clearly what's making them so upset. And so that part just -- I am confused because she's such a sharp individual. She really is.
BURNETT: Yeah. I mean, S.E., look, there was the one scene where she was folding laundry scene. I'm sorry, because it read like a telenovela. I'm sorry. You know?
Okay, so she's folding laundry, she's talking to him, and I'm thinking about, I presume this was a phone call. He's not sitting there while she's folding laundry.
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hopes not. Yeah.
BURNETT: But I'm thinking about a time when somebody took somebody to the gym. Okay, I know that person, which -- okay. And I'm just wondering. 11 interviews is a lot like. I mean, I know she's obviously such a savvy political figure, but -- but -- what happened?
CUPP: Well, I can tell you what happened. This is just my conjecture. But ego is what happened because anyone in Susie Wiles position would know that that is way too much access for any person to give to any publication. Pretend it's a friendly one. That is way too much access.
You sit -- every minute you sit with a reporter is another opportunity for you to step in it. I think she thought "Vanity Fair" wants to do a profile on me. They want to do a photo shoot. That's interesting. That's hard to say no to.
But she also thought, I can control this narrative. I can outsmart this reporter. No, you can't. Nobody can. Not even the smartest, most seasoned professional can for 11 interviews, be that disciplined.
[19:10:06]
And no reporter would keep interviewing you if you were that disciplined and didn't give them anything.
So, I think there was a lot of ego involved here. I don't read that this was like her burning the house down on her way out. I think the reporter got a real comfortable over 11 different interviews, which is what happens. And she dropped her guard and said things she should not have said, which again could happen to anyone. It should never happen to someone as inside as Susie Wiles is.
BURNETT: I mean, Xochitl. It's incredible. I'll just take the Russ Vought thing and Russ Vought right behind DOGE, behind the shutdown. But okay, but to come from Susie Wiles that he is a right-wing absolute zealot. That's pretty stunning.
XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, the whole thing is pretty stunning. And I completely agree with you. There was a comfort level and it's almost like a comfort level that some officials have when they leave the administration and they're potentially sitting down for a book or something like that.
You tend to find that that's when you get your sort of juiciest moments, when there's the end of the administration, like the Biden administration, that where we saw everybody wanted to talk, everybody wanted to say their side of the story. But this is -- she is currently sitting at the White House.
I'll also say this is a gift to Tish James. This is a gift to Comey. This is a gift to potentially Adam Schiff. If they want to go ahead and bring charges later --
CUPP: Yeah.
BURNETT: The way this is, point blank admitted that Letitia James one was retribution.
HINOJOSA: Yeah, retribution.
BURNETT: And although she said it's okay if it was, but yeah, absolutely.
HINOJOSA: And they're still trying to indict, this is a very much an active matter. The Justice Department is still trying to find a grand jury that will indict. And I will also note is that Donald Trump also made clear that he wants to indict Jack Smith. Jack Smith is testifying tomorrow before the House Judiciary Committee. Actually, there's a closed door deposition.
And my guess is the Justice Department is trying to find any reason to bring charges. And he will also use, I'm sure, his -- his lawyers, that argument that there is this retribution agenda, agenda that even Susie Wiles has talked about. Oh, and guess what? It's on audio.
CUPP: Oh, yeah.
HINOJOSA: There is definitely going to be an effort by these lawyers to get the audio to present it at evidence during a -- any sort of court proceeding. And that means the Trump administration is in trouble.
CUPP: So, Stephanie, what do you think Trump is or what's his -- what's his step by step in terms of processing this, right? Right now, he's coming out and going, it's cool to call me an alcoholic because that's right, I'm a rah-rah-rah, go-go, whatever. He's trying to -- he spins that one, is that that part about him was not bad.
But then, there's all the rest of this. You know, what are his stages of grief, for lack of a better word?
GIRSHAM: That's a great, great way to say it. You know, he's going to, of course, say, this is all fine. Karoline's going to go or they're going to blame the reporter. It was out of context.
But the point is, there is a recording. I hope that does get released. So -- but he's going to behind the scenes? He's going to -- the more those headlines are out there, the more attention she's getting.
Let's not forget, there's one star in this White House, one. He did not like it if anybody got too much attention. And now they're sitting down for these kind of bizarre photo shoots, he's not going to like that. He's going to hate the headlines.
I know they say there's no backbiting in this White House, but I guarantee people that aren't happy with her are going to keep sliding this in front of him. She is not going to be forgetting this. I can tell you that.
He's going to throw it at her every time he gets. But in front of you guys, in front of the cameras, in front of the fake news, everything's fine. This is a reporter's fault. And that is exactly how it will go.
BURNETT: Well, it's hard to imagine any situation that knives would not come out --
CUPP: Yeah.
BURNETT: -- when you said J.D. Vance has been a conspiracy theorist for, whatever, 10 or 15 years, she said. And that, you know, he switched politically. There's, you know, a switch, had political motivations. And Russ Vought is an absolute zealot. And, Elon Musk, maybe, maybe nobody's going to care to defend Elon Musk. But there's no -- those people don't forget that.
CUPP: No. And those are -- I mean, those are salacious details. There's other stuff in here, like what she says about tariffs and how this was kind of like his idea. He didn't really consult with people. A lot of people disagreed with it. That's bad.
What he has said about the drug boats and the way he is framing it internally, according to her, is different than what Pete Hegseth is saying publicly. This is all very bad as they're heading toward a midterm election.
I think Stephanie is probably right that he's going to -- he seems fine now. He also admitted he didn't read it all. Give him a minute to really dig into this, and I think he's going to be pissed and take it out on people.
BURNETT: Xochitl, what would be the motivation for doing this? And for her talking about? I mean, I know everyone says she's so politically savvy, but you don't actually need to be politically savvy to know that saying these things or, going, you know, calling him out for his tariff policy is not a good thing within the White House.
[19:15:03]
HINOJOSA: Yeah, I think that either she was trying to solidify her role within the Trump circle or she was potentially wanting this beautiful, splashy piece in case she wants to do something in the future. I think that the reality is, as we all know, that in order to stay in Trump's inner --
BURNETT: Wink, wink, nod, nod, the people who aren't diehards.
HINOJOSA: Yes. So it's also -- but it's very clear that in order to stay within Trump's orbit, you have to go on the plane with him. You always have to be with him. This is why you're constantly seeing cabinet secretaries with him.
And you have to ensure that you are around him enough to make your case and to be part of his of his inner circle. It will be interesting to see whether or not that sticks over the next few months because of the bad headlines, whether this stays for more than 24 hours. And I will say, she also kind of gave a wink and a nod that Pam Bondi is sort of in trouble as well.
BURNETT: Oh yeah.
HINOJOSA: They -- on the Epstein files. She said -- she said she whiffed. And also, we kind of knew that because the White House took over the messaging on the Epstein files. But this is a week where the Justice Department has to release the Epstein files, or at least hand them over to congress by Friday. And now you're already seeing a White House that doesn't have confidence in Pam Bondi just by that interview.
BURNETT: It is -- it is all just really stunning to imagine, to imagine the why it may be whether we'll know it or not.
All right. Thank you all very much. And next, we have breaking news. I mentioned that video and we've got it. It's new video and its actually enhanced of the person that authorities say they're searching for. After the mass shooting at Brown University.
But it has been four days on the run. I mean, it's incredible that it's been this long. And the question is whether the trail really has gone cold.
Plus, breaking news, new pictures just in of Nick Reiner being arrested. CNN speaking tonight with a source who was at Conan O'Brien's party, where Rob Reiner and his son were seen arguing this weekend. So, what was happening right before Reiner and his wife were so brutally murdered?
And Trump's DOJ up against the clock. The Epstein files Xochitl just mentioned just days now until the deadline. A top Democrat says he's expecting that the DOJ will not comply.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:21:37]
BURNETT: All right. The breaking news right now. We've got this new enhanced video. It's just been released of the person of interest in the Brown University shooting video that officials say show the person casing the area. Those are the words they're using just hours before the shooting. Nearby residents also being asked to turn over security camera footage.
The manhunt, now entering its fourth day as the director of the FBI, Kash Patel is facing a mountain of criticism of the FBI handling of the case, including just hours ago when the FBI published a timeline video that had to be pulled down because it revealed sensitive information, including addresses. Patel, of course, himself just days ago had announced a person of interest had been detained. But then that person was released.
Patel has already been under scrutiny on several fronts, including facing congressional scrutiny into whether he had taxpayers pay the bill so he could fly to see his girlfriend's concert. So tonight, it is fair to ask why he is showing up on a friendly podcast with his girlfriend. That podcast was actually just released moments ago.
I will note the interview was taped before the Brown University shooting. The podcast also notes that, but it is moments like this from the podcast you're talking about a sitting director of the FBI doing this interview that raises serious questions about someone in his position's priorities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATIE MILLER, PODCAST HOST: I'm sure you get this a lot. Where's her ring?
(LAUGHTER)
KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: It's definitely coming, so I wouldn't worry about it. And the beautiful thing about us is it doesn't matter. There's no, like, timeline.
MILLER: Who's the queen of country music?
PATEL: She is.
ALEXIS WILKINS, PATEL'S GIRLFRIEND: Very sweet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The release of the podcast, coming at a pivotal time in the Brown University shooting investigation.
And Danny Freeman is OUTFRONT to begin our coverage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHIEF OSCAR L. PEREZ, JR., PROVIDENCE POLICE DEPARTMENT: This intense video footage.
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The clearest pictures yet. Law enforcement releasing a new image and videos today, hoping this will lead to the capture of the Brown University shooter.
PEREZ: We're asking the public to look.
FREEMAN (voice-over): The images released by Providence police and the FBI appear to show the person of interest hours before the shooting, wandering just blocks away from the university. Newly enhanced video showing close up images of the individual police are looking to question. In one video, the FBI spotlights a person standing around before darting back in a different direction.
Another shows the man running down a different street nearly two hours before the shooting.
PEREZ: We're asking the public to ensure that they can see them. They can see here that you want to focus on the body movements, the way the person moves their arms.
FREEMAN (voice-over): In some instances, the person appears to have a bag strapped to his body and is wearing gloves. In others. no gloves and no bag.
FREEMAN: Do you believe that this person that were looking at is your shooter? Is your shooting suspect?
PEREZ: Definitely. He's still a person of interest and were still investigating that to be able to get that answer. But we strongly believe definitely is that suspect in the incident and the person of interest.
FREEMAN (voice-over): Providence Police also releasing this new image of the person of interest. Stocky build, black mask, black hat and a two-toned jacket.
PEREZ: We believe that he was actually casing out this area to commit the crime.
FREEMAN (voice-over): Back on campus, FBI investigators moved in and out of the crime scene while trying to determine bullet trajectories.
PETER NERONHA (D), RHODE ISLAND ATTORNEY GENERAL: There are dozens of agents, detectives led by Providence police. Prosecutors from my office are working to put together.
[19:25:00]
And what you're seeing is just a portion of what they're working on.
FREEMAN (voice-over): These new leads come after the FBI director and local law enforcement announced the detention of a different person of interest, and then released that person back on Sunday night.
Rhode Island's attorney general, criticizing the messaging of that initial capture on OUTFRONT.
NERONHA: I think because people who aren't familiar and aren't experienced in investigations, got over their skis. I was very careful with my words. And the reason for that is you don't want to overpromise and under-deliver.
FREEMAN (voice-over): Local officials still acknowledging this investigation is complex.
MAJOR DAVID LAPATIN, PROVIDENCE POLICE DEPARTMENT: We're trying to do the best job we can, and some things we have to keep, you know, out of the public light until were ready to come out with everything.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: All right. That was Danny Freeman reporting. Obviously, you could see sorry. We had a little bit of a technical issue on the ground there at the end.
But Greg Ehrie is OUTFRONT with me now. He's the former FBI special agent in charge of the Newark field office.
So, you know, Greg, we've got this enhanced video now coming out. This is after they had -- you know, initially Trump had said they had detained a person. Then after that, they had a person of interest and all kinds of reporting came out about that person, and they said, nope, nope, that's not the person.
Now, we're looking at this person. You compared all of this to sort of throwing a Hail Mary pass. What does that mean?
GREG EHRIE, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, NEWARK FIELD OFFICE: It's a technique when you put the picture of some of the subject out in front of the public, it's certainly something that can help. But you save that for when you have nothing else. When the investigation is not developing, enough leads or enough clues or some evidence to go forward and find a subject.
So now, you're relying on the public, which is a good technique, but it also comes with a lot of detriments. In other words, they're going to be now inundated with tips and people who think they saw this person from the crazy tips all the way to somebody who might be important, but they have to sift through every one of those.
BURNETT: And I guess -- so. And now I know things are operating in a very unusual way, right? Because you don't usually have the president say someone's detained who isn't, and then the FBI director say, you just don't. That's not how it goes.
But, you know, you could put this video out because you already know who it is and know a lot of information about them, but you don't know where they are. Or you could put it out knowing absolutely nothing about them and needing both to know about them and who they are and where they are.
Do we even know which it is?
EHRIE: At this point, from what we've seen -- no, we're not too sure. There's no identity of this individual. There's no confirmation that he is involved in any way. They're being very careful. It's a person of interest, which could be anything from somebody who was seen around that area, which could be for a very benign reason to this is the actual person who conducted an attack. We have no idea at this point.
BURNETT: So this could be were running this whole thing down, and then it ends up again being, oops, sorry, let's move on?
EHRIE: Very easily. This is somebody. And they've stressed again the investigators, somebody we want to talk to. But they're staying away from subject from person who might have done something worse.
BURNETT: So, the FBI released this extensive timeline video today of the person of interest. And then they had to pull it down because it revealed addresses which, you know, could put people at risk. So that's obviously coming just after Kash Patel was announced, you know, so criticized for announcing a person of interest who ended up not being the person.
How bad does this start to look for the FBI? And what are FBI agents saying to you who are in the middle of this, who know what they're doing, who do manhunts, who are watching all of this sort of embarrassment at the top level?
EHRIE: Listen, first and foremost, there are hundreds of law enforcement professionals, FBI, state and local who are working this case and desperately trying to find this individual who's a threat to the public. But what you're seeing here, when I led these investigations in two FBI divisions, you can't rush the investigation. You have to let the investigators do what they're trained to do, what their experience teaches them. And you do that in private.
The job of leadership is to deal with the media, to deal with the pressure that's coming down. And it's unrelenting from politicians and the public who want to know what's happening. But there's a difference between what the public wants and what they need. The investigation has to take place with some degree of secrecy, so we can find those leads that they're looking for.
BURNETT: So just a final thing when people say, okay, if they don't, all the things that they don't know, then how can they say that there's no danger to the public?
EHRIE: It's a tough statement to make like that. We have somebody who killed people who conducted an active shooter, and that person is not in custody right now. Theres obviously a threat. We can't find that motivation, which is so critical to not only identify the individual, but to see if there's an increasing threat to the public.
BURNETT: Yeah. All right. Greg, well, thank you very much. I appreciate it.
And next we have breaking news. Weve got new pictures of Nick Reiner's arrest shortly after his parents were killed. As CNN speaks to someone who was at Conan O'Brien's Christmas Party, which appears to be crucial in this horrific story, nick and his father, Rob Reiner were seen arguing there.
Plus, the clock ticking on Trump's DOJ to release all of the Epstein files. The deadline now this week. But will the Justice Department comply? Democrats are sounding the alarm tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:34:02]
BURNETT: Breaking news, Nick Reiner the son of legendary filmmaker Rb Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder. If he's convicted, he could face the death penalty. Reiner is accused of fatally stabbing his parents in the early morning hours of December 14th, before -- 14th, before fleeing.
Now we've got these new images. This is the dramatic moment that Reiner was handcuffed and arrested. The LAPD gang and narcotics unit posted the since deleted photos. Now Reiner faces blurred out, but he can be seen being forced to the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back.
Nick Watt is OUTFRONT, beginning our coverage with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATHAN HOCHMAN, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: Our office will be filing charges against Nick Reiner, who is accused of killing his parents.
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With a knife in their homes, says the D.A., Nick Reiner had been living in the guest house, according to a source.
HOCHMAN: These charges will be two counts of first degree murder.
WATT (voice-over): LAPD photographs show officers and U.S. Marshals detaining Nick Reiner just after 9:00 p.m. Sunday on the street near USC, maybe 15 miles from the crime scene.
DEP. CHIEF ALAN HAMILTON, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: He was approached by the officers and he was arrested without incident. There was no indication that he was going to resist or anything like that.
WATT (voice-over): They won't say what he had on him if he confessed, if he was high, if they have a murder weapon, if a family member helped them ID Nick as a suspect or locate him.
If he is convicted for murdering his parents, the sentence?
HOCHMAN: Life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. No decision at this point has been made. Like any of these cases, we will take the thoughts and desires of the family into consideration in making our decision.
WATT (voice-over): Who is Nick Reiner?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Son of Rob Reiner, grandson of Carl Reiner. Total train wreck.
WATT (voice-over): That's how he was introed on the podcast "Dopey" in 2018.
NICK REINER, SON OF ROB REINER: About like a year ago, I guess. I got back, I got back on dope and other things and to make a really long story short, I wound up having a cocaine heart attack.
WATT (voice-over): He's yoyoed since age 15 between rehab, sobriety and deep, destructive relapses. Co-wrote a movie about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do have a disease. It's this place, okay? It makes you feel like a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) leper. And then when you get out, everyone's expecting you to (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up again. So, you start using.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, wait, are you taking their side.
WATT (voice-over): "Being Charlie", that movie is semi- autobiographical.
N. REINER: I was smart about it, and I just was like, you know what? I want to go home. And so, I just stayed sober long enough until I could go home. And then, yeah, I just. And then I went home and did it. I just wanted to get back to my old life of, like, smoking weed, kind of taking some pills, like doing whatever I wanted.
WATT (voice-over): Sitting next to Nick on AOL, Rob Reiner, who directed that movie, sounds like so many parents of addicts.
ROB REINER, FILMMAKER & ACTOR: I felt at a loss. So I would do anything that, as we say in the film, anybody with a desk and a diploma, I would listen to them. And the whole idea of tough love and you have to be a certain way, and I -- it's not my nature, you know? At the end of the day, I know my child better than an expert does, and I probably should have trusted my own instinct.
WATT (voice-over): Nick is the middle child. Older brother Jake, and younger sister Romy, both actors and writers. Romy once described Nick as her best friend. A source familiar with the incident says she was the one who found her parents Sunday afternoon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Nick, so I know you've been speaking with a source who attended what might be something very core to all of this horror, and that is the holiday party. It was hosted by Conan O'Brien. And Rob and Nick Reiner were both there.
So, a source told you he saw their interaction. What did you find out?
WATT: Well, so Michele Reiner was also there. So, the source tells me that what stood out like Nick Reiner, like, really stood out in a fancy party because of the way he was dressed. He was wearing a cap, a hoodie, jeans. She assumed he must be like some kind of hip young comedian that she just never heard of.
And he was standing when she first saw him, standing alone around the fire pit, smoking a cigarette and as I say, really kind of caught her eye. She saw him later and they locked eyes as he was walking through the house. He wasn't speaking to anybody. And she said his face was just a blank, zero emotion. And of course, this party is key because Rob and Nick Reiner apparently had an argument at that party and we do not know yet. The police would not confirm today the time of death. They say the coroner is still working on it.
So that party was Saturday night. Sunday afternoon, 3:40 p.m. is when the 911 call came in. So, his demeanor at that party -- aloof, no emotion, on his own, standing out -- Erin.
BURNETT: Just walking down that hall is just chilling to hear about that.
All right. Nick Watt, thank you very much.
And next, Jeffrey Epstein survivors speaking out tonight, telling our MJ Lee what they hope to see if the Epstein files are released this week as they're supposed to be.
Plus, this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: President Trump last week gave his economy a grade of A- plus-plus-plus-plus. What grade would you give the economy today?
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A-plus-plus-plus.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: Is that how Austan Goolsbee, voting member of the Fed, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, sees it? He's OUTFRONT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:44:22]
BURNETT: Tonight, new warnings that Trump's DOJ may not comply by releasing all of the Epstein files. Now, the deadline to do so is Friday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We fully expect Trump, Bondi and their minions to dodge, delay, or partially release these files. Trump, what the hell are you trying to hide?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Ro Khanna, Democratic congressman who sponsored the bill to release the Epstein files. Of course, you and Thomas Massie have done so much here.
Congressman, I just have to ask you. We're down to the wire.
[19:45:00]
Obviously, three days for the DOJ to hand all this over. Something that could have been done on the first day of Trump's administration or at any day on his at his word.
But the way that Senator Schumer is sort of a fait accompli, right, that the DOJ is not going to do it. Do you share that view?
REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Well, first of all, there are three federal judges who have cited the law. The Epstein Transparency Act, and ordered the release of documents. The documents have been ordered to be released from Jeffrey Epstein's criminal trial in Florida. His criminal trial in New York, and his criminal trial, and Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal trial as well.
And the Justice Department supported those decisions. So, at the very least, I expect those documents will be released and we are going to push for as much of a full release as possible.
BURNETT: I mean, do you think, you know, there's obviously, you know, many will say, well, the Justice Department will say these ongoing investigations are going on, so we can't put anything out or that at the least is what is forcing us to basically hand you, you know, sheet after sheet that's covered in black because of redactions. Do you think that's what it will be, and is there anything you can do if that's what they say?
KHANNA: Well, the federal judges required the release without those redactions, the law is clear that you have to have minimal redactions only to protect the identities of survivors. So that would be violating not only the law, but these three federal judges. Now, when you look at the documents in question on investigations, that's less than 5 percent. I want the full release.
But at the very least, let's get the 95 percent. Thomas Massie and I are talking about what we could do if there is not a good faith effort at compliance. And look, there's the power of inherent contempt. Congress can pass a resolution requiring the sergeant of arms to actually arrest the justice, the attorney general, and bring her before Congress to have a trial.
I hope we don't have to go there. I hope they're going to just apply the law and comply with the law. And the federal judges.
BURNETT: Yeah. Although I will say to you, and that's obviously a stunning step to imagine that you would have to get there. But obviously it does seem that if they wanted to do this, they could and didn't want to make it hard. They obviously could have done it with great alacrity a long time ago.
Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, actually has come out and publicly criticized, as you know, in "Vanity Fair" today, an interview criticizing the attorney general, Pam Bondi, specifically over her handling of the Epstein files. Wiles said that Bondi, quote, completely whiffed, giving, quote, "binders full of nothingness to right wing influencers".
And then she said, Congressman, Trump is in the file and we know he's in the file and he's not in the file doing anything awful. They were, you know, sort of young, single whatever. I know it's a sort of passe word, but sort of young single playboys together.
I guess there's a -- there's a lot there. What do you say to that? And do you think they're just setting it up, that Pam Bondi is the one to take the fall?
KHANNA: Well, look, Susie Wiles is a serious person. Donald Trump wouldn't have won the White House if it weren't for Susie Wiles. And she's basically acknowledging the reality, which is that Pam Bondi has messed this up.
She basically has misled the American people. They should have released the files. She's mishandled it. Susie Wiles knows politics. She knows that what Thomas Massie and I did split the MAGA coalition in a way that has never been split before. She knows it was the spark that has led to more Republicans now defying the president, and she's understandably frustrated that Pam Bondi has really led to the unraveling in part of the Trump presidency because she botched the release of the Epstein files.
In terms of the playboy -- look, this is not about people being playboys or being single. This is about the rape of underage girls. So, I just want to be clear about what we're talking about. No one is saying someone is a playboy. Someone is out womanizing. Someone is having affairs. We're talking about a rape island where underage girls were abused.
And this is not to be conflated with being a playboy. And so, I just think that that kind of language doesn't really do justice to the survivors who face extraordinary trauma.
BURNETT: Well, clearly and eloquently said. Thank you very much, Congressman.
KHANNA: Thank you.
BURNETT: Next, I'll speak to Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. So, as a vote on interest rates last week, right, there were two people in the room who voted to keep the interest rate unchanged, not to cut them. He was one. Why?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:54:07]
BURNETT: Breaking news, America's unemployment rate jumping to its highest level in more than four years. Job growth in the United States, now on track for its weakest year since 2020 and 2020, of course, was the height of COVID. And for those who have a job currently, wage growth is at its lowest level in more than four years.
Now, those two things combined obviously don't paint a good economic picture, but that is not how the White House sees it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: President Trump last week gave his economy a grade of A- plus-plus-plus-plus. What grade would you give the economy today?
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A-plus-plus-plus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. OUTFRONT now, Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
And I appreciate your time, Austan. I want to ask you about what the vice president said there in a moment. But first, the unemployment numbers that are coming out here, the highest level in more than four years, job growth, the weakest that we've seen since the height of COVID.
[19:55:06]
What do you see here?
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF CHICAGO: Well, we've seen some unsteadiness, let's call it in the jobs numbers. Not just today. It's been cooling at a modest pace. But overall, the unemployment rate, by historical standards, is still pretty low. And GDP growth has been a bit stronger than expected. And the main driver of the economy continues to be the consumer. We got to still pretty decent consumer spending numbers that came out.
We're dealing with simultaneously with a job market that's getting a little -- a little weaker, and the inflation side, which at the least isn't getting better. And that's put the Fed and put others into a little bit of a more uncomfortable position.
BURNETT: And I guess that's the -- that's the crux of the issue, with the uncertainty in the economy. I mean, you know, if you look over the -- you know, look over this time frame, since COVID, right, prices have surged, which usually leads to hiking interest rates to curb that, that price increase. Consumer sentiment, though, is hitting lows rarely seen since the 1950s, although obviously its important, as you note, that that spending has not fully followed suit.
But those consumer sentiment numbers would often lead to cutting interest rates, right? So last week, the Fed meets to vote. What to do with interest rates? Only you and one other person in the room, I understand, voted to keep rates steady instead of cutting them, ostensibly. They saw the economic fears as the bigger risk.
What did you see that almost no one else in that room did that led you to a different conclusion?
GOOLSBEE: Well, what I saw was -- it wasn't what I saw. It was what I did not see, which is we weren't getting data. And the last bit of data because there was a government shutdown. A lot of the official statistics simply turned off, and the last inflation numbers that we got before the lights went out were not comforting.
And I want just to be sure that we aren't going back to a period where inflation is out of control.
As I travel around the district here in the Chicago Feds district is kind of the heart of the Midwest, the business people I talked to, the consumers that I talked to, prices are absolutely on their mind. So I don't think we would have lost much to just wait a little bit to get these official information, like the jobs numbers today, later this week, were going to get some more readings about inflation.
And I think as we go into 2026, I'm still pretty optimistic that the economy will sustain at a stabilized rate that's pretty decent. And if it can do that and inflation go back headed down to something like 2 percent, I think rates can go down. I just -- I'm personally not that comfortable with front loading the rate cuts and just counting on everything working out because the Fed kind of did that coming out of COVID and it did not work well.
BURNETT: So when Vice President Vance says the economy is a plus-plus- plus, and the president of the United States said it's a plus-plus- plus-plus. And I guess Vance thought he was making a joke by eliminating one of the pluses. What do you say to that?
GOOLSBEE: Look, it's not my business to be in the -- in the grading. I used to be a professor, and now I work at the Fed, so I'm out of the grading business. I think that anybody characterizing the economy as strong, I think the
evidence mostly backs that up. The consumer sentiment and the difference between the hard numbers and the vibes, we've been living with for four or five years in a row now. And we still have to figure out why that's true.
But I'm optimistic as we go into 2026 that on growth, that growth continues to be pretty solid, that the hope and expectation is that we can stabilize the job market at something like full employment.
BURNETT: Yeah.
GOOLSBEE: I would just like anybody who thinks this is the beginning of recession, just be aware there's low hiring, but there's very low layoffs, too. And that's not what a recession normally looks like. That is what characterizes a period of high uncertainty.
And I do think we continue to face high uncertainty about policy and about other things. And that, to me, is the main reason why businesses are not letting go of their people, but they're not hiring new people either.
BURNETT: Well, in the context of what we hear so much of this day these days on the economy, I'll take all of that as a glass very much half full, if you can be very much half.
Thank you so much, Austan Goolsbee. I appreciate your time.
GOOLSBEE: Yeah. Great to see you again, Erin.
BURNETT: All right.
Thanks so much to Austan.
And thanks so much, of course, as always, to all of you being with us.
It's time now for "AC360" with Anderson Cooper. It starts now.
