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Awaiting Word From Prosecutors on Possible Nick Reiner Charges; Trump's Chief of Staff Gives Very Candid Interview; Police to Release Enhanced Image of Person of Interest in Brown University Case; Lawyer Says Nick Reiner Has Not Been Medically Cleared to Be Transported to Courthouse; Hegseth Says He Won't Release Video of Deadly Boat Strike; Police Investigating Bondi Beach Suspects' Recent Trip. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired December 16, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:01:21]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": We're awaiting word on possible charges against Rob Reiner's son Nick, the person that L.A. Police say is responsible for the deaths of the acclaimed director and his wife.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": And soon, Providence Police are expected to release an enhanced photo of the person of interest seen walking near Brown University's campus in the hours before the shooting. Plus, the criticism coming from inside the House, the White House. In a stunning new interview, President Trump's chief of staff directly contradicting some of the president's policies and offering unflattering takes on some members of his cabinet. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming your way right here on "CNN News Central."

We're following several new developments out of Los Angeles as we now await word from the District attorney there who is handling the double homicide of legendary Hollywood Director, Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele. And moments ago, we learned that the D.A. will be providing new details about the killings during a press conference that will be held here in just about two hours.

SANCHEZ: And the police have already said that they believe their son, Nick Reiner, is responsible for their deaths. Just last hour, we learned from his lawyer that he has not been medically cleared for an appearance in court. So today, there won't be one. CNN's Josh Campbell is live for us in Los Angeles. Josh, we also learned that when Nick Reiner was arrested on Sunday, it happened without incident, according to the U.S. Marshal Service. What more are you learning?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, we're getting new details about the timeline here. And as you mentioned, the U.S. Marshal Service indicating that they were part of this Joint Apprehension Task Force with the Los Angeles Police Department that regularly looks for fugitives. U.S. Marshals are among the best in the business at trying to locate people that authorities are trying to bring into custody. We're told that it was LAPD homicide detectives who actually asked this task force to go try to locate Nick Reiner. He was found here in the city of Los Angeles on Sunday evening about 9:15 p.m. by authorities there, taken into custody.

Now, of course, as you mentioned, we're waiting for the next steps and that is what possibly prosecutors intend to charge Reiner with. The police have said they believe that he's responsible for these murders, but of course, the prosecutors have to lay out the evidence that they have in charging documents and then eventually, before a court, before a judge as well. And so, we're looking to see what those actual details are and if he is in indeed charged with murder, what type of charge are we talking about?

Do authorities believe this is something that was potentially premeditated and planned? Was this something that was more a crime of passion, kind of in the heat of the moment as they say? Authorities will have to back up whatever the charge they have. And so, we're looking to see what that evidence will be, guys, as you mentioned, just any -- next couple hours, we're waiting to hear from the chief prosecutor here in L.A. about the case.

KEILAR: Yeah. How will the evidence that prosecutors review impact their charging decisions?

CAMPBELL: You know, there's so many different angles that they can include here. The first, we know that the suspect here, Reiner was interviewed. We don't know if he's been cooperative, if he actually admitted to anything, provided any details, or if he exercised his constitutional right to not be questioned and to remain silent and get an attorney. But if -- obviously, if he did provide details, that would be something that authorities would want to include.

We also know there's a significant forensic component to this investigation as well. The Los Angeles Police Department arrived at the Reiner's home on Sunday, eventually got a search warrant after those bodies were found, and processed the scene. And so, again, these charging documents can often be rich, especially if they identify a possible murder weapon or other evidence, placing the suspect there at the scene and perhaps culpable in the view of prosecutors.

[14:05:00]

All that we expect would be laid out. Right now, prosecutors are describing this as an update in the case, but we will certainly be looking to see if this is indeed the moment that they take to actually lay out any potential charges here.

SANCHEZ: Josh Campbell, thank you so much for watching that story for us. We have Breaking News to CNN, Police in Providence have just released this enhanced image of the person of interest they're looking for in the Brown University mass shooting. Yesterday, police released three videos of the same person walking near the Barus & Holly Building where the shooting took place. The first video shows the individual pacing near the campus around two o'clock, a few hours before the attack. Then roughly a half hour later, the same person is seen on video walking across another street just a few blocks away. And the final video shows the same individual a minute later, walking by a gated house located just a few blocks from the shooting location.

KEILAR: The FBI says the suspect is around five foot eight, with a stocky build, and walks with a distinctive gate, and they're now offering a $50,000 reward for information on the person seen in the video leading to an arrest and conviction. Interesting, in this picture, it looks like there is a sort of a cross body pack. Doesn't appear to be in the video there. Police are releasing this new enhanced photo where you see that. We're joined now by Mary Ellen O'Toole. She's a former Senior FBI Profiler. I wonder what you think, Mary Ellen, of this new photo. What kind of value might this provide?

MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER SENIOR FBI PROFILER: Well, all it takes is one person, not thousands of people, but one person to look at the photo and say, I recognize that individual, or I recognize somebody was standing in front of my house and looked like that. So, that's what they're hoping for. It's not hundreds of people responding. It's just one or two people who can respond. So in that sense, this can be extremely helpful to put that information out there. It doesn't guarantee that this is the shooter, but law enforcement really doesn't have any option at this point but to put that out and in the event that this is the person that's responsible.

SANCHEZ: And Mary Ellen, often during shootings like this, we see the attacker either take their own life or get in an altercation with police that either gets them killed or taken into custody. What do you make of the fact that the suspect was able to make it off of campus seemingly without their face showing up on any footage that we've seen?

O'TOOLE: For me, it's very surprising. I mean, we've been looking at these cases really since Columbine, and that's 25 years. And there does seem to be some consistency in these cases, and suicide is oftentimes the outcome. This appears to be an older individual, so that certainly can impact whether or not they -- if they are responsible, if they decided not to do that, suicide could still have occurred. We just don't know at this point.

But I think the one thing to me that is so striking is that this is somebody that had to be familiar with that campus and had to be familiar with the times of the study group. So he's been inside that building before. He's probably familiar with how doors lock or don't lock. And so being able to show this photograph to people that are frequently inside that building could be incredibly important because he didn't just get in there by luck. And frequently with these cases, there is a surveillance that the shooter engages in days or even weeks before the event, so that they are familiar. Once they're inside that building, they can go forward without any hesitancy.

KEILAR: Yeah. To your point, yesterday, we had a student tell us that normally, you have to use, I think, an ID badge to swipe in and swipe out of the building. But on a busy day like this, they would not have that. You could just kind of come and go from the building. So to your point there about what kind of surveillance this person may have done to know that, Providence officials, Mary Ellen, say the community at large is afraid. I don't think we're surprised by that. However, they've also assured residents that there's been no specific threat since Saturday's shooting. The police chief says the shooter targeted Brown University, but many Brown students have left campus. Is that really enough to mitigate risk here?

O'TOOLE: Not in my opinion, and I'll tell you why. This person, if it's this person in this photo or if it's somebody else and they're still alive, they can never go back to their life beforehand. It's done. It's over. They've already committed the crime and it's undoable. So if they are caught in a situation where they feel trapped or they feel compromised, they may feel, what the heck?

[14:10:00]

I've already killed two people, my life is over. And so, that can certainly make them, certainly, much more dangerous than they were a week ago. It's that mentality of they put it all out there. They've committed these two homicides. So again, a stranger, a police officer, somebody that confronts them or they feel confronts them, could be in danger.

SANCHEZ: What do you make of the Providence PD and even the state Attorney General using language to distance themselves from the FBI?

O'TOOLE: That could be indicative of a complicated, I'll use that term, a complicated relationship with the FBI. My experience in working with a task force is that when you're a member of a task force, you work well with other officers, with other departments because that's key to being able to resolve the case. So for me, it's disappointing if that's what's going on, because it's going to take a collective expertise to solve the case. So I don't want to see that, but it does suggest that that may be going on.

KEILAR: Yeah, complicated relationship maybe not the best chance of success, which they certainly need there. We'll be watching this very carefully, as will you. Mary Ellen O'Toole, thank you so much.

Still to come, Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth says he won't release video of a controversial boat strike that killed survivors. But Democratic lawmakers say his reasoning doesn't make sense. Plus, it's the interview heard around the White House. President Trump's chief of staff sharing very candid and some pretty unflattering views of multiple top White House officials, including the president himself.

SANCHEZ: And later, Australian police investigating the Bondi Beach attack are now looking into a recent trip made by the father-son suspects. Where they went, why the location has officials concerned, that and much more coming your way next.

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KEILAR: There's new frustration on Capitol Hill today following a classified briefing about the deadly follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat. Many lawmakers have been hoping to see the complete unedited video of the September 2nd attack and the subsequent follow- up strike that killed two survivors who were clinging to wreckage,

SANCHEZ: But today, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth did not show it, and they gave this reason as to why the footage should be withheld.

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PETE HEGSETH, UNITED STATES DEFENSE SECRETARY: In keeping with longstanding Department of War policy, Department of Defense policy, of course, we're not going to release a top secret, full unedited video of that to the general public. HASC and SASC and appropriate committees will see it, but not the general public.

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SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with CNN Military Analyst, retired Air Force Colonel, Cedric Leighton. Colonel Leighton, Hegseth there saying this as the DOD has put all these edited clips of these strikes on the internet for all the world to see. What is different about this second strike that they apparently can't show if they could show all these others?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah, that's a great question, Boris. So what it looks like to me is that there's something they don't want to show us. And I know that on the Democratic side, they kind of have the same viewpoint that what they're looking at is an action that may very well at least be questionable, if not outright illegal. And they don't want to show it. They don't want to give proof that they committed an illegal act. So, that's one aspect here.

There is a slight possibility that the tape could reveal something that is classified or that is operationally sensitive. That is certainly a possibility. But like you said, they've gone out, they've revealed all these different capabilities that they have in order to follow these kinds of operations, and this one would be no different. It would not reveal anything different from what we've seen before.

KEILAR: Adam Smith, who is the Ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said that tomorrow, Admiral Mitch Bradley, who ordered, oversaw this strike is going to be briefing lawmakers. And he and a lot of Democrats and Republicans would like some information about the legal advice that Bradley got because sources are telling CNN that Bradley did get advice from a JAG officer who told him that it was legal to do that follow-up strike. Now, Democrats want to hear from the JAG officer or officers. Without hearing from them, is it kind of -- can they not really get to the bottom of this?

LEIGHTON: That's certainly a possibility, Brianna, because if you don't know what the JAGs actually said and get their side of the story, then it's going to be really hard to determine what kind of advice, what kind of specific advice the admiral received. Now, the admiral will obviously be able to say, this is the advice that I got. This is how I acted in response to that advice. But experienced commanders know that you get advice from JAG officers, but you don't always have to follow it. Sometimes you have to make sure that you are actually following the law in spite of what they tell you. And they can get you in trouble if you have somebody who's inexperienced or you have somebody that is not looking at all aspects of the law. So, sometimes you have to be your own JAG basically.

KEILAR: Wow.

SANCHEZ: The criticism over this double-strike has not stopped the administration from pursuing more. In fact, we just learned that overnight the military conducted strikes against three more alleged drug trafficking boats. This in the Eastern Pacific, eight people, according to U.S. Southern Command, were killed. What questions do you have about those strikes?

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LEIGHTON: So the basic question that I would have is, they do say, Boris, that these were on narco trafficking routes and that's very possible. It is certainly true that there is a lot of narco trafficking that goes on in the Eastern Pacific as it heads up toward Central America and then to Mexico and eventually to the United States. But at least one of the boats, when you look at the videos, at least one of the boats is quite stationary. It is not moving. And so, what I would want to know is how certain were they that these were not legitimate fishing boats or maybe they were dual use boats, they were used both for fishing and for transporting drugs. That's all very possible.

And so, you want to make sure that you get a complete picture of exactly what's being transported here, who these people actually are. And I think it kind of stretches credulity to know right now that what the administration is telling us is a hundred percent correct, because you really don't know who these people were, what they were doing there, and to whether or not they were part of a real narco trafficking enterprise.

KEILAR: Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you so much for taking us through that. Really appreciate it.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Brianna.

KEILAR: Next, White House aides are, well, they are absorbing what has come of this article out, wondering why President Trump's chief of staff just gave an interview questioning many of his decisions and criticizing multiple cabinet members. We have that reporting right after this.

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SANCHEZ: Trump administration officials are defending Susie Wiles after a stunning Vanity Fair article featuring a number of candid quotes from the White House chief of staff. Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt responding moments ago. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Your example of disingenuous reporting, where you have a reporter who took the chief of staff's words wildly out of context, did not include the context those conversations were had within. And then further, I think the most egregious part of this article was the bias of omission that was clearly present. And we see a lot of this when dealing with the media every day. You will leave out important context, leave out comments and facts. Many people in this building spoke with that reporter and those comments were never included in the story, probably because it didn't push this false narrative of chaos and confusion that the reporter was clearly trying to push.

So what I'll say about our chief of staff, as you've seen from not just myself, but also the entire cabinet, and a groundswell of support from people on Capitol Hill who don't even work in this building, about how incredible Susie Wiles has been to President Trump. And he's been able to accomplish so much because of his leadership and his tenacity, but also because of Chief of Staff Wiles' leadership and her ability to effectuate his agenda. So, thank you.

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SANCHEZ: Leavitt there suggesting that the author, Chris Whipple, was biased in indicating that there was chaos and confusion at the White House. Notably though, she doesn't address the substance and the exact quotes that he uses, which she says were taken out of context. The two-part piece in question was published after 11 interview sessions with Wiles. And in the article, Wiles gives a pointed assessment of multiple top officials, including the president himself.

Wiles told Vanity Fair's Chris Whipple that Trump has "an alcoholic's personality, operating with a view that there's nothing he can't do, nothing, zero, nothing." On Trump's chaotic tariff rollout, Wiles is quoted as saying there was a huge disagreement over whether tariffs were a good idea. She believed the middle ground would ultimately succeed, but that it had been "more painful than I expected."

KEILAR: Wiles has blasted the reporting as a quote, "framed hit piece" and says her remarks were taken out of context. She did not deny making them, however. CNN's Kristen Holmes is with us now. Kristen, I think it's really important to kind of dig down on this alcoholic's personality comment because there is actually a lot of context in the piece about it where Wiles talks about her father, having been raised by an alcoholic, who she describes as having a very big personality. And that sort of informs, I think, her description of the president and how she, I guess, deals with him maybe. What did you think?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, certainly. And President Trump actually just responded to this. He did a brief interview with the New York Post specifically about those comments in which he stood by Susie Wiles, telling the reporter at the New York Post, that he has full faith in Susie to continue her role and that he has, and again this is according to The Post, "a possessive and addictive type personality," so that he wasn't offended by what she said about his personality.

One thing to keep in mind here, President Trump has relied on Susie Wiles in a way that he hasn't relied on anyone probably at any time in his life, certainly in his political life. She is there every step of the way, and he truly believes that she was loyal to him at a time when no one else was. After January 6th, when all, almost all Republicans had started to turn their back on President Trump, and she said that she would stay with him and not only that, but eventually run his campaign for president.

So, there is no one that President Trump views as closer to him than Susie Wiles and really, to a certain extent more loyal. Now, it wasn't just about President Trump that she had some very blunt remarks about. At one point, she talked about the Vice President Vance saying that he was a conspiracy theorist, and he had been, and talking about his transformation from an anti-Trumper to a full on MAGA supporter, saying that it was somewhat political because he was running for Senate in Ohio.

She also had -- she also had scathing words for the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, in which she said that Bondi had whiffed on the Epstein files, essentially underestimating the importance of the Epstein files to President Trump's supporters. Now, I will note Bondi is one of the people, who has come out in defense --