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Inside Politics

Son Nick Arrested On Unknown Felony Charge After Rob And Michele Reiner Found Dead In Their Home; Trump Mocks Rob Reiner After He And His Wife Brutally Murdered; Search On For Brown Univ. Killer After Initial Suspect Released; Australia Rushes To Tighten Gun Laws After Antisemitic Massacre. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired December 15, 2025 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Welcome to Inside Politics. I'm Dana Bash in Washington. And we are going to start with breaking news out of Brentwood, California. Nick Reiner, son of Hollywood icon Rob Reiner, has been taken into custody after both of his parents were found dead in their home last night.

CNN's Josh Campbell is in Los Angeles. Josh, I know you've been talking to sources. What are you learning about this arrest?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Dana, a significant development in this incident, as you mentioned there. We're told that the son of Rob and Michele Reiner is now in police custody that, according to jail records. Now he's being held on $4 million bail on a type of felony charge. However, the records do not indicate what that specific charge is, whether that's specifically in connection with this case. We're waiting to actually, you know, confirm that information.

I did hear from a law enforcement source last night, after we began reporting on these tragic deaths, said, police were conducting an interview with a family member at that time, authorities calling this an apparent homicide, which is important, because obviously in these types of death cases, authorities will try to assess whether a death was a suicide, whether it was an accident. LAPD saying last night they believed it was an apparent homicide.

Now we're still waiting for additional details about what comes next in this -- in this case, whether the son is actually cooperating and talking with police, but again, a significant development, their son now is in jail, Dana.

BASH: It just -- it could not get any more tragic. Josh, thank you so much for that reporting. I want to now bring in retired FBI special supervisory agent, Steve Moore. Steve, thanks for being here. What's your read on the situation?

STEVE MOORE, FBI SPECIAL SUPERVISORY AGENT: Well, I think, based on what I've -- what I've heard that family members are talking, nobody seems to be in the family seems to be wildly shocked about this. So, I think we're going to find out more and more.

There were indicators that there were problems in the relationship, problems with him, and, you know, I think LAPD is taking a very carefully. They're not treating it like a slam dunk. I see that they're getting a warrant, or they got a warrant to search the home of the victims, and so that, you know, you don't always do that. So, they are taking it extremely carefully.

BASH: As they should. I mean, this is beyond, you know, sensitive, not to mention horrific. And just the idea that he was taken into custody as relatively quickly as he was. What does that indicate to you?

MOORE: Again, that that likely once family members were contacted in situations that like this appears to be family members almost immediately say things like, oh, there's only one person who could have done it. There's no, you know, this family, these people were not hated by friends, family. They did not get into risky financial. I mean, there was -- there was no indication, no reason that there should be violence against them, except in the statistically significant area of family members and interpersonal relationships.

BASH: Yeah. Well, sadly, these days, there are reasons that people come up with. But it doesn't seem as though, at least initially, it is that kind of outside -- outside force which, you know, there's no good -- there's no good answer to this question.

Josh, I want to bring you back in here. You have been covered -- you obviously, are formal law enforcement officer yourself. You've been covering high profile cases at and inside the LAPD for some time. Walk us through how that kind of case takes place and takes hold inside the LAPD?

CAMPBELL: Yeah. This obviously, a department that is no stranger to high profile investigations and celebrity deaths for that matter. And as Steve was outlining there, I mean, they have to be very methodical, because if you have a suspected homicide, that means obviously a potential suspect out there and a potential prosecution.

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And we did hear last night that medics had originally arrived to the home, and were called after, you know, someone had found the couple. Police did a cursory investigation, but then they backed out because they knew that they needed to gather whatever evidence they could in order to build a potential case. We're told they got that search warrant to go through and process.

Now, there are a couple of big questions that we still have as far as where the investigation goes next, because we know if it does indeed turn out that the son here wasn't arrested in connection with the deaths.

Police would do an interview and try to gather as much information as they can, sometimes a suspect, if he indeed, eventually becomes known as a suspect, will confess, will provide information. Sometimes they don't, they'll lawyer up, as they say, in which case investigator -- investigators have to rely on other evidence.

We know finally that there's a significant forensic component here as well. They would have to go through and process that home from top to bottom, looking for any potential weapon, if that was indeed used here again, all to try to potentially build this case. The fact that we're talking about a $4 million bail is quite significant. Of course, we're being, you know, conservative and only reporting what we know as of this moment, but we're waiting, yeah--

BASH: And Josh, let me just interrupt you there, because I was just told as you were talking that the LAPD chief just confirmed that Nick Reiner, the son of Rob & Michele Reiner, was booked on murder charges.

CAMPBELL: Yeah. That's an important development because we know the chief was just speaking on a separate press conference underway in a domestic terrorism case. But that's the connection that we were waiting there, whether authorities would actually say this was a murder of that type of charge, obviously significant development, and tells you the direction that this investigation is going.

BASH: And Steve, do you want to add anything?

MOORE: Well, I'm just -- the one thing that strikes me is that they went to get a search warrant in the victim's home. Indicates to me that there might have been some kind of at least ply or plausible indication that Nick would have had an expectation of privacy in that home, which would indicate maybe he was residing there or residing there temporarily or occasionally.

BASH: All right, thanks to you both. Really appreciate you giving us the latest on this just horrific investigation. Speaking of horrific, I want to read how the president of the United States responded publicly to this news. Here is what he posted.

Quote, a very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling but once very talented movie director and comedy star has passed away together with his wife Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as Trump derangement syndrome, sometimes referred to as TDS.

He was known to have driven people crazy by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness. And with the golden age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace.

My panel is here now. The days of us expecting this president to be a consoler in chief, a uniter in chief, even anything close to that. Those are long gone. That ship has long sailed. So, the bar is low, like really low. And this is a statement that came in so far below that bar, it's hard to even put words to it.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: It's beyond the pale. You know, any five-year-old can see that statement and know that's not an appropriate thing to say. You know, you don't have something nice to say. You don't say it is like a rule that children are taught. But what it also shows me, and this again, this isn't new information about Donald Trump. He can't resist. He is so addicted to media culture and the Hollywood thing and b -- and being a part of that story and playing in that space that's irresistible to him.

So, his avenue of pursuit to swim in the stream of something that's already getting, again, a lot of attention, by the way, he's the president United States. He could get attention for anything he wants, and yet, he knows like this is a stream he could swim in that will cause attention on him in a way that he thinks scores him some sort of political point with his fans.

But it is -- it's just gross. I mean, it's just horrible to see that the leader of the free world wants to debase his position enough to just attack these two people who are just, you know, potentially murdered by their son.

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BASH: And look, Rob Reiner was very, very open about his politics, a huge advocate for causes -- for progressive causes, no question about that. And yet, when Charlie Kirk was murdered, he went on Piers Morgan. And I want you to hear what Rob Reiner said about the murder of Charlie Kirk.

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ROB REINER, FILM DIRECTOR: I don't care what your political beliefs are, that's not acceptable. That's not a solution to solving problems. And I felt like what his wife said at the service that the memorial they had was exactly right. And totally, I believe, you know, I'm Jewish, but I believe in the teachings of Jesus, and I believe in doing to others, and I believe in forgiveness. And what she said to me was beautiful. And absolutely, you know, she forgave his assassin. And I think that that is admirable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: You know how we are reminded of that comment that Rob Reiner made because Charlie Kirk's executive producer posted it after he learned that Rob Reiner and his wife were dead. And I just want to add that the president posted what I read on his own social media platforms, Truth Social.

As far as I could tell, and our team looked into it, most of the comments were not supportive of the president. The comments were -- many of the comments, I should say, not most. Many of the comments were saying, Mr. President, enough that tells you something?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. But also, should tell you something that the rapid response team and the White House reposted that seconds after President Trump did. I mean, it's not something that they're shying away from. And when you talk to Republicans, and of course, now we've heard at least two Republicans come out and slam his remarks. But those were two Republicans who were already slamming most of what he was doing these days-- BASH: Tom Massey and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

HOLMES: Tom Massey and Marjorie Taylor Greene. So, what usually happens in a situation like this is that everyone will ignore it, and Republicans will ignore it, and they'll say, oh, it's just Trump being Trump. And you'll go and, Manu, who will chase them down the hill and say, how can you explain away this horrible thing that he said about a man who was just murdered hours ago. And they'll say, you know, Trump has a lot of opinions about things and then it will all get swept under the rug.

BASH: And I just want to say, Manu, you just comment on this. But you know, there's so many things that we can comment on or report on or talk about that sometimes we do say, OK, that doesn't rise to the level because this is so repugnant in its content, and because Rob Reiner is such a high profile figure, and because he's president of the United States, and he wasn't answering a question, this is unsolicited. He just decided to post this. We thought it was extremely newsworthy.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And there's no defense for it, so it will be interesting to see if any Republicans can defend it. I've been still searching through social media. I have not seen anyone say really much anything other than the criticism we heard from some prominent Trump critics. Now, Marjorie Taylor Greene being one of them. But I can expect a lot of them will say, oh, I haven't seen it and I haven't read the post, and hope the news cycle moves on, like so many other things.

And just -- so there's so many things about that post. This is the inability to separate politics from a horrific murder, potential murder here, involving someone who really meant so much to so many people, regardless of his political views. Trump is so -- just cannot rise above the political moment. It just brings, you know, it's really, you know, in an era where we're not supposed to be shocked. It's shocking.

CHALIAN: Which he himself has admitted, by the way, the Erika Kirk moment that Rob Reiner refers to in that video, Donald Trump himself said, I couldn't do that. He immediately acknowledged at that time, that her grace, that she was providing for all of us, quite frankly, in that moment, that he was like, he had already acknowledged he's incapable.

HOLMES: And if you want to know just one thing quickly, you know, some of President Trump's, and I was surprised by this, some of President Trump's most rabid supporters, who are the trolls of social media were out there from last night into this morning saying, we didn't agree with anything that Reiner stood for politically but this is a horrible thing. And then you still had this response from the president.

BASH: Rob Reiner will be remembered for his enormous body of work, which we'll talk about at the end of this show. Coming up. The latest on the manhunt for a gunman responsible for an attack at Brown University. Stay with us.

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BASH: Now the hunt for the shooter in the Brown University attack is back to square one. That after investigators determined that the person of interest taken into custody Sunday was likely not the shooter. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley was on with my colleague John Berman this morning.

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BRETT SMILEY, (D) MAYOR OF PROVIDENCE: We don't have anything new to share this morning, other than to say that the investigation is fully underway. We certainly were focused on processing evidence for the person of interest who was detained. That didn't mean that the other pieces of the investigation were stopped or in any way paused. We have been continuing this investigation since the very beginning. We're running down tips that have come in, leads that have been developed, recanvassing the immediate area for additional video evidence, but the investigation is fully underway.

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BASH: And John is still in Providence. So, John, where is the investigation at this moment?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, it really is a stunning turn of events here in Providence between yesterday and today. Yesterday, when everyone thought there was a person of interest in custody and maybe the investigation was coming to a close. Until today, when clearly, the manhunt is shockingly, still very much under way.

You heard from the mayor there, who said, even though they did have a person yesterday, they were continuing all aspects of the investigation. It wasn't as if the investigation stopped. Mayor smiley did admit to me, though, that it was a bit demoralizing that people feel like they had to go back to Square One, reassess some of the leads they have, pour over some of the evidence that they had.

The mayor said to me, the one piece of concrete evidence that we have seen, which is the video taken shortly after the shooting on the street, which is Hope Street right behind me. And that is the building where the shooting took place, behind the police tape in the car right there that that video is the clearest picture they have of the person they believe who carried out this heinous act is the clearest picture. But he did make clear, it's not the only one. They have other evidence.

He was telling me that now they have to go over once again. It may not be perfect, it may not be as clear as the video that we have seen, but they have to reassess every piece of evidence that they do have. Our John Miller, and other law enforcement reporters and analysts say, they have to do very old school investigative work where they talk to people who are in that room. They talk to people who are in the community, in the surrounding blocks, to ask what they've seen, and also very high tech, new school investigative work as well.

Well, they'll look over whatever cell phone data they have and try to look at the forensics again from the shell casings to find whatever they can learn. But you get the sense that really, there is so much work to be done, and this community, which yesterday felt safe, I think feels a little bit less safe today, Dana.

BASH: Yeah. And John, on that -- we were on together yesterday, and we were talking about the sigh of relief that you could sort of feel -- I could feel it sort of virtually here in D.C., and you could quite literally feel it there in Providence. And you got that sense from the students you were talking to. Now what are they saying?

BERMAN: It's so different today, Dana. When I walked down the streets all morning, I was seeing so many kids with rolly bags who were planning to get out of town, but, man, they sped up their departure. And I spoke to one student this morning, Cole Francis, who told me about some of these feelings he's having. Listen?

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COLE FRANCIS, SENIOR AT BROWN UNIVERSITY: A lot of people found a lot of relief in knowing that the authorities had caught this person and recovered the weapons that this person may have used, and now to know that he may still be on the street is extremely scary.

BERMAN: Do you feel safe here right now?

FRANCIS: I don't feel safe here whatsoever.

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FRANCIS: Yeah. And I think those sentiments are shared by so many of the students here who really are making an effort to go home and be with their families during this really difficult time, Dana.

BASH: Yeah, no question. John, thank you so much for your outstanding reporting. Really appreciate it. And coming up, two shootings, two very different policy responses. Australia is now rushing to push new gun laws. Here in Washington, well, you probably know the answer. Stay with us.

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ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINSTER, AUSTRALIA: I want to conclude finally by saying that the government is prepared to take whatever action is necessary, included in that is the need for tougher gun laws.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Lawmakers in Australia are moving quickly, they say, to pass new gun legislation after an antisemitic attack in Bondi Beach. The country of Australia already has among the toughest gun laws in the world. Since enacting sweeping firearms restrictions in 1996, gun deaths have cratered in Australia.

Mass shootings are extremely rare there. Here in the United States, we know that it is the opposite. There have been 392 mass shootings just this year alone. That's according to the gun violence archive.

Manu Raju, this is one of those moments where you do have to, you know, you can compare and contrast on the policy of guns. And I just actually want to put up a little bit more about Australia's gun laws. They banned assault rifles, many semiautomatic rifles and shotguns, enhanced licensing rules, including safe storage, universal background checks, and they have mandatory gun buy destroying more than 1 million firearms.

So, you do hear from conservatives, and you know, you got to listen.