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Federal Government Launches Tech Force to Hire AI Talent; New Videos Released in Manhunt for Brown University Shooter; Nick Reiner Booked on Suspicion of Murder Following Parents' Death; Polls Say U.S. is Going in the Wrong Direction or Dissatisfied with Direction. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired December 16, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

CLARE DUFFY, CNN: ... $95,000 a year and OPM director Scott Cooper recognized that this is a competitive space.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right.

DUFFY: He said, This is an incredible race for talent in these areas. So part of what we want to do is be competitive on compensation. Members are going to learn a bunch. They're going to tackle really complex problems. And then they can ultimately go back to the private sector if that's what they want to do.

There are about 25 companies here that have signed on as partners of this program. Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, XAI. So folks will have access to people, executives from those companies.

So we'll see if this actually works to bring more folks in. But certainly an important effort, I think, to get more of this talent into the government.

BOLDUAN: It's a unique take. You know, come in, help us, and then you don't have to stay.

DUFFY: Yes.

BOLDUAN: And then you can head back out and actually make money. It's an interesting take and pretty self-aware for a federal government program, I would say. It's great to see you, Clare.

DUFFY: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you very much.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

All right, the breaking news. Take a look at this. New clues in the manhunt for the Brown University shooter. The FBI has a new description of the subject with pictures and video. And there's a new plea and ask that they're making for the public's help.

Plus, Hollywood heartbreak. And what we're learning about the hours leading up to the double homicide of legendary director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele. Their son, Nick, now stands accused of killing his parents and he could face charges as soon as today.

And a driver sends deputies on a 122-mile-per-hour chase in the Florida Keys. Authorities use every tactic they've got in the book to get that SUV under control and its driver to stop. Wow.

I'm Kate Bolduan. John Berman is on the ground in Providence, Rhode Island, for you. Sara Sidner is out today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning from Brown University right here in Providence, Rhode Island. A killer is on the loose this morning after the mass shooting in the building right behind me, the engineering building there. Two people killed, nine injured late on Saturday.

And we are now in day four of this manhunt. Late yesterday, authorities released new videos and photos of the person that police are now searching for. The FBI is asking for the public's help.

The individual, which you can see on camera here, they've described him as 5 feet 8 inches tall. And they noted he has a stocky build. You can also see in the photo there he's wearing a two-tone jacket, kind of a green and black jacket there.

And he seems to have a noticeable gait. Officials say he should be considered armed and dangerous. They don't know whether he's still in the area.

And the FBI is now offering a $50,000 reward in the case. Obviously, the campus and community are anxious. Most people on campus, the students at least, have left and gone home.

One of the things that happened, of course, to exacerbate all this is that on Sunday, police had detained someone they were calling a person of interest. People thought that might lead to the end of the investigation. It did not.

That person was cleared and released. Despite that, the attorney general here at Rhode Island says he is confident that an arrest will be made.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER NERONHA, RHODE ISLAND ATTORNEY GENERAL: Investigations like this, you know, where you don't have an image of the person right after a shooting, it takes time to build the kind of evidence picture you need to identify somebody and get them into custody. And that's what's happening now. But I'm confident we're going to get there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, with me here in Providence, Leigh Waldman, who's been here since Saturday night. Day four now of this man really entering a new phase with these new videos. LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. The attorney general, when we asked him at this press conference when they unveiled these new images, he says this could be the key in blowing this case wide open, saying the next 24 to 36 hours are vital in this investigation. We imagine today we're going to continue to see the increased law enforcement presence in the neighborhood that we're in around Brown University as they're knocking on doors, seeking more surveillance video, talking to people who might have seen something.

These videos are piecing together this suspect. You see him walking around there, piecing together those vital hours before the shooting and hopefully that vital hours after the shooting so it can kind of paint this full picture for law enforcement here. But we see this increased presence throughout this neighborhood.

We noted it. We've talked about it. But we are talking to people who live here and they feel that that sigh of relief that they initially had, thank goodness this person's off of the streets, that's been rubbed away.

They feel it's contradictory to say that there's no danger for this community because there's still a killer on the loose. Take a listen to what some people told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:05:00]

TIMO VOLLBRECHT, BROWN UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR: I am pretty spooked. We're pretty shaken up. I have students that I deeply care about at the school who I'm very worried about.

ALEX BROWN, MANAGER, CEREMONY TEA HOUSE: We have really just kind of nothing, nothing to go on. No, nothing to kind of give us any kind of a direction. I don't know if I, you know, should I worry about when I have to walk home tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN: Now, Alex, he said that they actually sheltered students in their coffee shop, not far from where we are right now, in a basement as the shooting was taking place. And we asked him -- the coffee shop normally filled with students during their finals week.

What is it like to have a sudden change? And these people are so heartbroken. They love the students who go here to have them suddenly gone.

And because of something like this, they're scared and they're upset. They're sad.

BERMAN: I'm glad you pointed out that some of the video that was released was from actually before the shooting. Some after there. So you get a sense of the totality of what's going on here.

And Leigh, just very quickly, tell people what we've seen here on these streets in the last few days in terms of law enforcement. You were telling me you were driving up Waterman Street, which is one of the streets where the killer was seen walking --suspect the killer was seen walking. And you just saw police going into yards.

WALDMAN: Absolutely. Driving with our producer Maria, I jumped out of the moving car so we could ask officers what they're seeing, what they're doing. They're knocking on doors, noting the different cameras they see on these houses.

So they're actively investigating here, trying to paint this full picture.

BERMAN: Yes. Of course, that was yesterday, kind of 48 hours after the shooting. But that gives us a sense of what they're up to now.

Leigh Waldman great work here. Thank you very much.

All right, joining us now, senior law enforcement analyst, former deputy director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe. Andy, great to see you this morning. Let's first just talk about the video, which is still the newest piece of evidence we have here.

This person, 5'8", stocky build. You can see his walk. What do you see in this? And what can you tell us that authorities must be hoping for by releasing this?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, John, we know they're hoping that people will see this video. And someone who knows this person is going to respond to the specific details in the video that are apparent, and which were not apparent in the original video, right? It's that size, that height, that stocky build, the very distinctive walk, the jacket that he's wearing, which you can now see actually has some colors other than black -- it appears to be green on the front kind of across the belly.

The way that he's wearing his hat and his mask, they are, you know, all their greatest hopes are that somebody is going to see this and then call in and say, I know who that is. But many times that's not enough.

The second part of this better video is that they now have a tool that they can use to go out and recanvass every single person that they can identify who might have been somewhere in that area on Saturday. I'm talking about hundreds and hundreds of interviews, and every one of those should be shown, these videos, to really force those images in front of eyeballs that might have seen him on Saturday. It is an incredibly high volume, low return type of work, but it can be the thing that opens up this case.

They just need to commit the resources and the time to do it.

BERMAN: Yes. And they're doing it now, though, which is, you know, it'll be 72 hours at four o'clock today. A lot of time has passed.

And another thing that they're asking for is any anyone who is in this building, the engineering building behind me, students, teachers, anyone during the shooting, they're asking them to come and be interviewed now, which I think is understandable. But also, wouldn't that be the kind of thing you would have done on day one, Andy?

MCCABE: Absolutely. It's the kind of thing you do ideally on day one. And it is not day one anymore.

But, you know, investigators have to keep looking forward. You know, quite honestly, I hope they're doing more than just asking people through the media to spontaneously call them and be interviewed or reinterviewed. They should be reaching out to the school and demanding a list of every student who's assigned to any class that had any sort of an official meeting, like a review session or a final exam or whatever, in that building on that day.

And that would be the base to start with. And every single one of those students should be contacted and interviewed, even if telephonically, now that they've returned home. They should be walking into every single -- knocking on every door.

We know basically the route that he took, or at least some parts of it. Every door needs to be knocked on every one of those doors. Somebody needs to be interviewed.

Every business needs to be walked into. Every employee who worked in those businesses on Saturday needs to be identified. It's a massive, massive effort.

[08:10:00]

So we know that the FBI sent additional resources to Providence yesterday. This is the kind of operation that when I was in the FBI, we would send hundreds of agents to assist that field office. We would book entire hotels in which to house them. We'd cover the transportation, every cost. The leader of that field office has a blank check for whatever he needs.

But on the other hand, once you get what everything you need, you have to run it 24 hours a day like a machine.

BERMAN: Yes, just one thing to keep in mind. Providence, Rhode Island, right on I-95, major highway, easy to get on and go far. A train station within walking distance from here.

Trains come through all the time. This guy could have put some distance between himself and authorities here in Providence. Hopefully there will be some breaks in this case soon.

Andrew McCabe, we really appreciate you helping us understand everything that's going on.

And Kate, as we stand here this morning, it's notable how empty the campus itself is, but also how busy the streets are. We saw a school bus go by, you know, people driving through, frankly, the stop sign right behind me.

But life is back here except it's absent of students. It's really eerie.

BOLDUAN: Life continuing, but also a community completely still on edge. They still do not know where this person is, and they say he is armed and dangerous. They are armed and dangerous.

I mean, this is very -- it's still unfolding, still developing, and the FBI needs the public's help. John, thank you. We'll get right back to John.

Also coming up for us, we could see charges against Rob Reiner's son, Nick, as soon as today, the new details coming in today about what may have happened in one of the final interactions between the father and son.

And evacuations are underway in Washington state as another severe string of storms is set to drop even more rain on the already saturated state, with one levee even bursting its banks.

And the Zootopia effect, how the sequel in Disney's animated hit franchise is spurring and sparking one of possibly the most unusual fan trends ever.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: So as soon as this morning, the Los Angeles District Attorney could bring charges against Nick Reiner, the son of legendary director Rob Reiner. Police say the 32-year-old, the way they put it, is responsible for the death of both of his parents, Rob Reiner and producer Michele Singer Reiner.

The couple was found dead in their Los Angeles home on Sunday. Nick Reiner was booked into jail on suspicion of murder. It's up to the DA's office to charge him with the specific charges.

Here's how the authorities put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have our robbery homicide division handling the investigation. They worked throughout the night on this case and were able to take into custody Nick Reiner, a suspect in this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Let's talk more about this. Joining us right now is former federal prosecutor Alyse Adamson. It's good to see you again.

What happens now with Nick Reiner?

ALYSE ADAMSON, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Yes, Kate, so this is still at the early stages, but Nick Reiner's legal exposure is enormous. So right now, Nick Reiner has just been arrested on suspicion of murder. But we know that they have at least probable cause for that arrest. What's going to happen now is that prosecutors are going to be evaluating the case and probably as early as this morning, Kate, filing charges, formal charges. This means that there is enough evidence to continue this case. And we're expecting that they will be murder charges.

And the only question right now is whether they are going to be second degree murder charges or first degree murder charges, which, of course, has bearing on the ultimate legal penalty.

BOLDUAN: LAPD, the wording used in its statement yesterday was that Nick Reiner was responsible for the deaths of his parents. Is that language legally relevant or specific or suggest anything about what investigators have that they have not released publicly?

ADAMSON: Well, Kate, it's so hard to speculate at this time. Investigators have been tight lipped, and that is completely normal when an ongoing investigation is still in its early stages. That being said, at least to me, and this is the speculation I told you we should not be doing, could mean that he potentially confessed to this crime.

It could mean that there is overwhelming evidence such that they feel very, very confident that this is the perpetrator. I don't think this is really a case of whodunit. I think this is really a case of why did he do it?

And that's why I mentioned before, Kate, the question is going to be, is this first degree murder or second degree murder? First degree murder, of course, suggesting that this was planned and premeditated. Second degree murder being more spontaneous.

And those are the details that hopefully we will have a little bit more of once the D.A. makes their charging decisions today.

BOLDUAN: Because I was going to ask you what your big question is that you would hope to have answered when the D.A. formally files these charges. But maybe the most important thing is what do investigators, what does that office need to do in order to establish if it was premeditated or spontaneous? What do you expect that they are doing right now behind the scenes?

ADAMSON: Yes, Kate, what they are doing is they are taking every piece of evidence that is immediately available to them and trying to place it together and see if this was a planned attack. Now, what I will say, Kate, is there is reporting that there was an argument between Nick Reiner and his father the day before the bodies were found. Please believe that investigators are interviewing people who were at that party.

[08:20:00]

I believe it was at Conan O'Brien's house to hear what was said, what was the state of mind. Because the difference between second degree murder and first degree murder, Kate, is state of mind. And obviously we don't have a window into the mind of the defendant. And here that's Nick Reiner. So we have to use circumstantial evidence to piece that together. And

so authorities are going to be talking to folks surrounding that party, the family, looking at the household.

And also, Kate, it's the manner of death. We don't know exactly what happened. Of course there have been reports, but we want to wait until that becomes official.

And so manner of death will also be very helpful in determining whether this was planned or a spontaneous attack.

BOLDUAN: Alyse, it's good to see you. Thank you so much for coming in. I appreciate your time.

Minutes from now, new data is set to be released on the state of the U.S. economy. Jobs numbers that have been delayed by the shutdown. What they can tell us all today.

And a private jet crashes in Mexico during an emergency landing. At least six people were killed. Just look at that smoke. And what we're learning about what may have caused it.

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BOLDUAN: Is the U.S. on the right track or the wrong track right now? New numbers out this morning offer a new snapshot of how Americans are really feeling about the direction of the country at the moment.

[08:25:00]

And the data cuts across party lines and seems to also cut across the map.

CNN's Harry Enten is running the numbers all over the map on this for you. Harry, what did you find?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: I like going traveling, Kate.

BOLDUAN: We all do.

ENTEN: We all do. Look, you know, what it was, the NBC News poll came out this weekend and I saw this wrong track number. And it just kind of jumped out to me because it was 66 percent.

And one of the things I always like to look at is, you know, Donald Trump historically has done better than his polling suggested. But this right track, wrong track numbers have generally tracked with what actually the country is feeling. We see 66 percent there.

More than three in five Americans who say the country's on the wrong track. Ipsos, 61 percent. MU, Marquette University Law School, 64 percent.

Gallup, 74 percent of Americans say they are dissatisfied with the state of the nation. You see it on your screen right there. And all of these numbers, all of these numbers that I could find were the highest percentage who said that the country was on the wrong track since Donald Trump took office.

It's not just Trump's poll numbers, his disapproval that's going higher and higher and higher. It's the wrong track numbers that are going higher and higher as well.

BOLDUAN: How has this changed since earlier this year? Is this a change?

ENTEN: Yes, it's a huge change. It's a huge change. Think that the country is on the wrong track or the right track.

You go back to April, May. Look, the clear majority of Americans thought that the country was on the wrong track at 58 percent. But you see 38 percent, a 20-point difference here.

Look at that. What we've seen is a ballooning of this, a ballooning. Now you take the average of the polls, right?

And now we're talking well north on average, where you're talking two in three Americans say that the country is on the wrong track. Now less than three in ten Americans say that the country is on the right track. And when we look at this back going into the 2024 election, right, the election in which the Democratic Party was pushed out of power, this number looks a whole heck of a lot.

This right track number looks a whole heck of a lot what it looked like going into the 2024 election. This 66 percent looks a whole heck of a lot like that number going into the 2024 election.

So what we're seeing now is Donald Trump came into office. He was given the benefit of the doubt. We saw an increase in the right track number, a lot more like what we see when presidents are reelected.

But those numbers have receded. That right track has receded. And that wrong track has gone way up. All of a sudden, the American people aren't just turning on Donald Trump.

They are seeing the country he has taken the direction and they are saying, you know what? This country is on the wrong, wrong track.

BOLDUAN: So if this holds, what does this mean for the midterms? You're already kind of alluding to.

ENTEN: I am. You know, sometimes you can follow along on the thread that I pull out and Kate pulls it out and tells the story for me. And we see it right here.

I mean, look, pres. party didn't lose house seats midterm since 1978. Percentage said the country was on the wrong track. Forty six percent in 2002, 38 percent in 1998.

The 66 percent now, the 66 percent, a lot of numbers on the screen right now who say the country is on the wrong track. This doesn't look anything like those midterms where the president's party didn't lose seats. The Republican Party is on track to lose the House of Representatives if the wrong track numbers look anything like they do right now.

BOLDUAN: So buckle up and hold on. And we will see together.

ENTEN: We will see together. We're going to go for a ride out of the studio.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Harry.

ENTEN: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: All right. So we're going to continue following breaking news over from overnight. Take a look at this.

Eight people killed in a new round of U.S. military strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats. And the president is now declaring fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction. What is the real impact of that declaration?

Plus, new videos from the FBI show a person of interest in the Brown University shooting. Take a look at that. Why they say they now need the public's help to crack this case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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