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Unemployment Rate Rising; Trump Chief of Staff Gives Candid Interview; Manhunt Continues in Rhode Island; Reiner Double Homicide Investigation. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 16, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: As investigators piece together a motive in the killings of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, we're standing by to learn what charges their son Nick may face after he's arrested, believed to be responsible for their deaths.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Plus: still at large. Investigators releasing new video evidence in the Brown University shooting. They're now asking for the public's help in finding this person you see here as the manhunt stretches into its fourth day.

And a peek behind the curtain. In a new interview, President Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, gets candid and offers some unflattering assessments of her boss, his agenda, and some of his closest allies.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: We begin this hour with new details in the double homicide of legendary Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele.

This hour, their son, Nick, who police say is responsible for the killings, is still in custody and we're told that investigators could hand their case over to prosecutors as soon as today.

KEILAR: The key questions right now, is their direct evidence that links him to his parents' deaths, were these attacks planned, and what happened in the hours leading up to the killings.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is live in downtown Los Angeles.

Stephanie, what are you learning?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have an update for you, Boris and Brianna, that we now know that Nick Reiner will not be appearing in court today.

We heard from his lawyer, Alan Jackson, that he has to be medically cleared every day before he can be transported from jail to court. He was not cleared to come today. And at this point, we're told it will be day-to-day before he will be able to come to court. So it may not even be tomorrow. We do not know yet.

At the same time, though, we do know that the LAPD was expected to take their case to the district attorney's office today, so that they could then begin to put together their charges and put together a charging document. I believe that part is still ongoing. That part continues, but no sight of Nick in court today.

Now, just to look back at how much has transpired here in these last couple of days, it was Sunday afternoon that CNN has been told that the sister of Nick Reiner discovered her parents. And then the police came. It wasn't until 9:00 at night that he was arrested and booked into jail early Monday morning.

So this is where we stand on this case right now. Obviously, he's being held without bail in this case, and the fact that he does have a lawyer just so that there's some sort of support for Nick Reiner at this point.

It's also worth noting on this timeline that, Saturday night, the night before the Reiners were found murdered, Nick Reiner and Rob Reiner got into a heated argument at a Christmas party thrown by Conan O'Brien. The mother was also at this party. Michele Reiner was also at that party as well. Unclear if the family all left together or not.

So we're starting to get a little more details on this timeline here. But the biggest note that we have gotten today, because many of us were expecting that we might see Nick Reiner in court today, we will not be seeing that. And it's day-to-day whether he will be here tomorrow -- Brianna and Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, really a telling detail there, Stephanie.

And in the meantime, more friends and former colleagues have been paying tribute to the Reiners. How are they being remembered?

ELAM: There's so much love for both Rob and Michele Reiner. And people are really conveying what they meant to them, how much their humanitarian efforts meant to them.

You have got even Jane Fonda coming out today on Instagram saying that they were wonderful, caring, smart, funny, generous people who were always coming up with ideas on how to make the world better and kinder. You have Arnold Schwarzenegger calling Rob Reiner a creative genius and a wonderful friend. Guillermo del Toro, a staggering loss is how he said the death of Rob Reiner has hit him.

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And Paul McCartney says they will always have fond memories and Stephen King said: "You always stood by me."

You look at this, it's people who are across Hollywood. It is political leaders who have all been talking about how they're devastated and heartbroken. Across the board, you're hearing people who are just in shock that Rob and Michele Reiner are gone.

KEILAR: It is so shocking.

Stephanie Elam, thank you for the report.

Investigators chasing a new lead this hour in Saturday's mass shooting at Brown University, the active manhunt intensifying after police released several new videos of a person of interest walking through Providence, Rhode Island, in the hours before the attack that killed two students and wounded nine others.

SANCHEZ: The FBI is now asking the public for help to find this person described as about 5'8'' tall with a stocky build. He was seen wearing a two-toned green and black jacket, seeming to walk with a distinctive gait.

Officials say that he should be considered armed and dangerous. And we are just learning that police plan to release an enhanced image of this person soon as the manhunt now enters its fourth day. The FBI is also offering a $50,000 reward as they seek the public's help in this investigation.

CNN senior law enforcement analyst John Miller joins us now to walk us through what's going on behind the scenes.

John, now that these videos have been released and police are asking for tips to come in from the public, what do you anticipate comes next?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, we have already seen, according to the people I'm talking to, that this has been productive, meaning they have gotten calls since then. They have developed leads as a result of the video, but they also developed leads that they were focused on prior to that.

So they're very active in the investigation. Now, my experience with these things, having been on the inside of some of the cases here and in other places is, you can have the greatest lead in the world and it can fizzle out. You can have almost no information and then something can come in suddenly that develops very quickly.

That is kind of where they are, which is, they're doing triage on what are the most viable leads, what are the ones that need to get to right away, and then waiting for that magic call where somebody calls and says, I know exactly who this person is by looking at that video.

KEILAR: And all of these new videos, John, show this person of interest before the shooting. What does that say to you that we have seen very little in the way of security videos of the person of interest after the shooting?

MILLER: Well, I mean, the videos are telling, in that, in some cases, he's got two gloves on. In some cases, he's got one glove off and a hand in the pocket, which makes you wonder, is that where the weapon is and is he ready to confront somebody? But the video before the shooting that's most telling is the one where he's pacing back and forth. It suggests he's waiting not far away for the right time. So that raises the question, well, what did he know about scheduling? What did he know about when that particular set of amphitheaters or classrooms were going to be full and what the activity was?

SANCHEZ: That's an important point.

John Miller, thanks so much for the update. We know you will stay on top of the story and bring us the latest as we get it.

Still to come: a new jobs report showing that the unemployment rate hit a four-year high in November. Ahead, what this latest economic warning sign signals.

KEILAR: Plus, a revealing new interview with one of the most powerful people in President Trump's White House. Chief of Staff Susie Wiles goes on the record and gets very candid on everything from the handling of the Epstein files to the pardoning of January 6 rioters.

See what she had to say -- next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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SANCHEZ: Today, we're reading a bombshell interview from one of President Trump's most trusted senior officials. Chief of Staff Susie Wiles gave an unusually candid sit down to "Vanity Fair," speaking on a wide range of topics throughout Trump's first year back in office, like this.

On Attorney General Pam Bondi's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, Wiles quoted as saying: "I think Bondi completely whiffed on appreciating that was the very targeted group that cared about this. First, she gave them binders full of nothingness and then she said that the witness list or client list was on her desk. There is no client list and it sure as hell wasn't on her desk."

KEILAR: Wiles also talked about the president's perceived retribution campaign against political foes following the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Wiles says -- quote -- "I don't think he's on a retribution tour. A governing principle for him is, I don't want what happened to me to happen to somebody else. And so people that have done bad things need to get out of the government. 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."

But when pressed on accusing Attorney General James of mortgage fraud, Wiles conceded: "Well, that might be the one retribution."

Wiles is now blasting this profile, calling it a -- quote -- "disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest president, White House staff and Cabinet in history."

Joining us now, former senior adviser to President Obama CNN chief political analyst David Axelrod.

Just an unbelievable profile to read, Axe. I wonder, what's your impression of this and the effect it would have in the White House on her being able to do her job?

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DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, well, look, this is really unusual.

These are the kinds of reflections -- some of these reflections are the kind of reflections that you see in retrospective pieces, not in real time. And so the vehemence with which she's responded to it gives you a sense of her feelings about what this could do.

Why she sat down, my sense is, this is the kind of thing where you were told this -- the author has written books about chiefs of staff in the White House and perhaps she thought this would be written after she was gone in a retrospective way.

And it should be said that there's a lot of this interview in which she is very supportive of the president on the Epstein files, for example, and what it says about him. And, frankly, she defended Bill Clinton a little bit there as well against some of the things that Trump said.

But, basically, she is supportive of the president and she explained some things that others might be highly critical of. But there are places there that are -- on tariffs, on the USAID, on the pardons of the January 6 people, particularly violent offenders, where she says, I gave him different advice and, once he made his decision, I supported that.

We should point -- I think the most interesting thing in the whole piece was her description of the president as an alcoholic personality. We know he doesn't drink. He had a sibling who died of alcoholism. But it was an interesting statement because she said her father, Pat Summerall, the famous football player and announcer, had issues with alcohol and that framed her experience and that taught her how to deal with the president and his moods and his exuberance and all of that.

And I thought that was quite an insight into the president, but also their relationship, because, if you're the child of an alcoholic, you learn how to roll with those moods and moderate the worst impulses of that person and try and protect them from themselves.

And, in many ways, you read this piece and it feels like that's what she's trying to do.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it's notable because she describes this feeling on behalf of the president that there's nothing he can do. So it speaks to that sort of impulsiveness that... AXELROD: Nothing that he can't do, yes.

SANCHEZ: Nothing -- right. And it speaks to that impulsiveness,which, notably, previous chiefs of staff to President Trump in his first term seemed to try to sort of tamp down. I'm thinking of Reince Priebus, John Kelly as well.

The way that J.D. Vance describes her approach to the job is notable, given that contrast.

He says -- quote -- "There's this idea that people have that I think was very common in the first administration that their objective was to control the president or influence the president or even manipulate the president because they had to in order to serve the national interest. Susie just takes the diametrically opposite viewpoint, which is that she's a facilitator and that the American people have elected Donald Trump. Her job is to actually facilitate his vision and to make his vision come to life."

AXELROD: Yes.

SANCHEZ: In that sense, would you describe her as being an effective chief of staff?

AXELROD: Well, listen, let me say this.

I think that she ran a brilliant campaign for Donald Trump. And part of the way she ran that campaign is that she grabbed hold of those things that she could control, and she worked with the things that she couldn't control. And they had this very rational campaign that operated very effectively alongside a sometimes irrational candidate.

And she won his trust by, A, being very good at what she did, but also at being willing to accept the things that she couldn't change and, yes, facilitate them. And I think she's carried that philosophy -- you read this piece, she said she carried that philosophy into the White House as well.

It's harder there, though, because government is a lot more complex than campaigns and there are a lot more parts and a lot more players, and the consequences of everything you do are a lot greater.

I will say, on J.D. Vance, one of the most interesting things in this -- in these interviews, I guess there were multiple interviews, was her characterization of J.D. Vance as a kind of opportunistic adopter of Trump when he was running for the U.S. Senate versus Marco Rubio, to whom she's close and was an advocate for him when he became vice president or the nominee for vice president, who she said was very principled, would never sacrifice his principles and really had to work through his relationship with Trump.

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That is interesting. And I wonder what kinds of implications that has for her relationships in the White House, because those two guys, while they now say they are allies and Rubio says he's going to be the candidate for president, a lot of people think that they may not be aligned come 2028 and they may be opponents for that.

So she may have run headlong into a bit of a civil war there down the line.

KEILAR: Yes. Look, we're going to find out whether internally and externally politically what the fallout -- if there is fallout from this.

But I wonder what you think, David, about the value of Americans just knowing these things. You mentioned the January 6 rioters, saying that she didn't think the blanket pardon thing was the way to go.

About USAID -- quote -- "No rational person could think the USAID process was a good one, nobody."

And she concedes that the administration needs to look harder at the process for which they are deporting people. She said it was, for instance, a mistake...

AXELROD: Yes. Yes, that -- yes.

KEILAR: ... when that mother and U.S. citizen children were deported, including one who had cancer, including a child who had cancer.

What's the value to the American people having this glimpse inside?

AXELROD: Well, what it does say is that were there were people inside who were telling the president, urging the president to take a different course, and he did not.

And so I think that has real implications, because now people say look, even your own chief of staff told you this was not right, this is the wrong path for you to take, and you disregarded that. So I think there are implications for this.

Look, back in the -- before you guys were born, when Ronald Reagan was president, David Stockman, who was the director of the Office of Management and Budget, did an interview in which he basically acknowledged that all of this talk of supply-side economics, that you could cut taxes deeply and it would pay for itself was a canard, a hoax in order to achieve what they wanted to achieve.

And he paid a big price for that, and it was a huge embarrassment for the administration. So there will be political implications of this. But it's also, like, an incredible, an incredible look at what's going on inside that administration. And now they're doing -- as you can see from the reaction from the White House, it's a major cleanup on aisle seven here for them.

And it may be that this spills into other aisles as well.

KEILAR: Yes. Well, we will definitely see.

And, fact-check, I was alive for the Reagan presidency, though I mightily appreciate...

AXELROD: You don't have to admit that.

KEILAR: I appreciate your math, David. I really do.

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KEILAR: Thanks for being with us.

AXELROD: Great to see you guys, as always.

KEILAR: And, also, we should mention, the reporter who wrote this article, "Vanity Fair"'s Chris Whipple, will be on with Anderson Cooper. Thus tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

And still ahead: a new jobs report showing the U.S. economy on track for its worst year of employment growth since 2020. That's not the only concerning takeaway from today's report.

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SANCHEZ: A flood of new data out this morning that could suggest more trouble for the U.S. economy, unemployment rising to a four-year high of 4.6 percent in November, the economy adding 64,000 jobs last month after losing more than 105,000 in October, figures that we're only getting now because of the historically long government shutdown.

KEILAR: CNN senior reporter Matt Egan is with us now on this story.

Matt, it's a lot to sift through, but what stands out to you here?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, Brianna and Boris, a lot to sift through, but this is a job market that continues to flash warning signs.

And the latest one is the unemployment rate, as you mentioned, went up to 4.6 percent during the month of November. That's up from 4.4 percent in September. I can't tell you what it was in October, because for the first time in almost 80 years, the government did not release an unemployment rate for the month of October, and that, of course, is because of the government shutdown.

But when you look at the trend, you can see that unemployment over the last three years is clearly moving in the wrong direction. It's going higher, and this is the highest rate in over four years.

Now, we also learned that the U.S. economy lost 105,000 jobs in October. Now, this has a bit of an asterisk, because the entire job loss during the month of October was driven by the Trump administration's efforts to slash the federal work force, right?

Even though some workers, federal workers, took buyouts from the government earlier this year, they were still counted as employed until October. And when you look at private hiring, that was positive in October.

Now, the better news is the fact that, in November, the economy added 64,000 jobs. That beat expectations. But look at the trend. This shows jobs by month all year. And you can see how bumpy the ride has gotten recently.