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Trump's Chief Of Staff Gives Candid Interviews To Vanity Fair; Wiles Blasts Two-Part Vanity Fair Article Based On 11 Interviews With Her As A "Hit Piece"; Prosecutor To Provide Details On Reiner Case at 4PM ET; Senate Dems Furious Boat Strike Video Not Shown At Briefing. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired December 16, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: He said 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. So, we'll see if this ends up being an attractive offer to people, come gain skills in the government, and then potentially go make money in the private sector.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Clare Duffy, thanks so much for that reporting.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The President's top aide raising some serious eyebrows with a candid interview in Vanity Fair. Chief of Staff Susie Wiles pulling no punches on many topics, including the Epstein files, the President's tariffs and even President Trump's personality.

SANCHEZ: Plus, next hour, officials in L.A. are set to provide new details in the Rob Reiner homicide investigation. His son remains in custody being held without bail.

And later, it's day four in the manhunt for the Brown University shooter, and officials are releasing new photos and footage of the person of interest seen walking near the crime scene. The latest on that investigation as we follow these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

We start this hour with a really eye-opening article that is setting the group chats ablaze ...

KEILAR: Yes.

SANCHEZ: ... at the White House and further along the administration. Top Trump administration officials are now giving their full-throated support for Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in the wake of some unflattering comments made in a candid profile for Vanity Fair. Wiles acknowledging President Trump's appetite for retribution against political foes, also taking aim at top officials like Attorney General Pam Bondi, who she says whiffed on the handling of the Epstein files, and Vice President J.D. Vance, who Wiles claims has been a conspiracy theorist for a decade. KEILAR: Wiles responded on social media calling the article a

disingenuously framed hit piece. And last hour, the White House Press Secretary echoed the Chief of Staff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This was, unfortunately, another attempt at fake news by a reporter who was acting disingenuously and really did take the Chief's words out of context. But I think most importantly, the bias of omission was ever present throughout this story. The reporter omitted all of the positive things that Susie and our team said about the President and the inner workings of the White House. And as Susie said today, it's deeply unfortunate that happened, but it won't distract us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: We're joined now by CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein. He's also an opinion columnist for Bloomberg.

Ron, I just wonder kind of, you know, more broadly here what you think of this article, what it reveals, what you learned that we should be focusing on.

RONALD BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Hi, guys. I mean, look, this is just another example of the old Michael Kinsley saying that a gaffe in Washington is when you say what you truly believe. Susie Wiles, I thought, you read through the piece, offered some pretty level-headed assessments of what's going on around her and the people around her. Obviously, there's a tilt toward being sympathetic toward Trump, but a lot of her judgments are things that people on the outside would probably second about, you know, many of the figures she's describing.

I -- one thing that struck me above all about this piece was how she -- how narrowly she is defining her job. About 15 years ago, 20 years ago maybe, I had the opportunity to moderate a panel with James Baker, who was probably the greatest of the modern White House chiefs of staff, Ronald Reagan's chief of staff. And he said that above all, the job of the chief of staff is to tell the President when he is wrong, because no one else really has the nerve to do that.

And she's pretty much, it seems, abdicated that. She's not looking to rein in Trump. She's looking to kind of smooth his way toward what he wants to do. And you can see the mixed effect of that in -- in some of the overreaching in the administration in its first year.

SANCHEZ: Ron, some of the most notable comments in this piece has to do with her criticism of DOJ's handling of the Epstein files.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: She, obviously, was Trump's campaign manager last year. And she describes the importance of putting something out there for the base. Because as she understands it, as -- as many observers do, it was something that Trump himself and many of his acolytes had been calling for the full release of these files. She says, quote, "The people that are inordinately interested in Epstein are the new members of the Trump coalition, the people that I think about all the time -- because I want to make sure they are not Trump voters, they're Republican voters. It's the Joe Rogan listeners. It's the people that are sort of new to our world. It's not the MAGA base."

I wonder what you make of the distinction that she's drawing there ...

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: ... and what she says -- what she says about Pam Bondi.

[15:05:01]

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, that was a very interesting distinction.

And look, I mean, there's no question that Trump is suffering among the new elements of his coalition that he added in 2024. I mean, there was so much focus on his improvement among Latino voters in general, among young men in particular and among non-white voters without a college degree broadly. And his approval rating among all of those groups has -- is now significantly below his vote share with them. And it's not just something on a poll in paper, we saw those same groups who moved back toward Democrats in the November elections, particularly in New Jersey and Virginia.

So, I -- I think the principal problem, which she doesn't really address there, is that they are not getting the relief on their cost of living that Trump promised them was coming imminently. But as she notes, and, you know, you're talking about people who are -- who are more at the periphery of the political system, who may be more inclined to, you know, believe that essentially the system is rigged with rich -- rich and powerful people looking out for each other. The Epstein -- the whole Epstein, you know, affair has really kind of crystallized that for a lot of people. And it probably compounds the problems that Trump is having with the new elements that he added most significantly to his coalition in 2024.

KEILAR: In April, she told Chris Whipple that she believed the middle ground on tariffs would ultimately succeed. She said, "but it's been more painful than I expected."

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

KEILAR: In November, she said that Trump should pivot more often from world affairs to kitchen table issues. She said more talks about the domestic economy, less about Saudi Arabia is probably called for. He is getting this advice, I guess, right? He has this perspective around him to focus on those issues of affordability.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Well, like I said, I mean, you know, most of her assessments in here -- so, you know, given that she's starting as someone working for Trump, I think would get a lot of agreement across the political spectrum as being pretty shrewd and -- and this, you know, this certainly fits into that. But again, she doesn't really seem to see her job, at least as she's

describing it here, as steering Trump too heavily. I mean, you know, I mean, she's almost, you know, she's -- she's not quite describing herself as a bystander in -- in these decisions, but she is kind of, you know, acknowledging the kind of the hurricane force of Trump's whims.

And, you know, whatever you may tell him you want to do, whatever makes sense from a political perspective. And certainly, there was some strong messaging that they kind of pushed in his direction during the campaign. He is going to do what he is going to do, seems to be, you know, her conclusion here, almost throwing her hands up. So, yes, I mean, I think his advisors are clearly telling him, especially after the November elections, that voters don't believe you are delivering on the fundamental promise you made to them, which is getting their cost of living under control.

In fact, you see in polling, most people say that his agenda is making their cost of living worse, not better. But whether he can -- he can -- you know, translate that into a disciplined message is very questionable. He's going the other direction. He's saying -- he's still saying it's a hoax the Democrats are perpetrating on the public.

KEILAR: Yes. He's saying that, but some Republicans, including his Vice President ...

BROWNSTEIN: Are not.

KEILAR: ... are saying different things.

Ron, great to have you. Thank you so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: So, less than an hour from now, officials in Los Angeles are set to give an update on the investigation into the killings of legendary Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle.

SANCHEZ: At this time, it's still unclear if the district attorney handling the double homicide will be announcing charges today. Police have said that Nick Reiner, the couple's 32-year-old son, is responsible for the deaths. Let's go to CNN's Stephanie Elam in downtown Los Angeles.

And Stephanie, what can we expect to learn during this news conference?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we have already learned, Boris and Brianna, is that Nick Reiner will not be in court today. One of our producers was able to speak with the attorney as he was leaving court, saying that he would not be in court today because he was not medically cleared to leave jail to come to the courthouse.

Now, what is unclear are what the reasonings might be behind that. Is it just a cold-like thing or is it a mental illness thing? Unclear. There's no clarity on why he was not clear. He said it would be day- to-day on that front here. But what we also know is that the Los Angeles Police Department was able to put together their investigation and get that to the district attorney's office so that they could put together a charging document if that's what they felt was appropriate in this case.

What we are hoping to hear at this one o'clock local time press conference is perhaps a motive, because we still don't have that. Why police believe that Nick Reiner killed his parents. What we also don't know is why or how. We don't know how they were killed. We don't know if it was first-degree murder, second-degree murder, all of those types of things we are hoping to learn at some point later today.

At that point, then they have to go through to the court and figure out if the judge decides that there's enough evidence to then pursue this case. That's the -- the shorter, long-term view of what's going to happen here now.

[15:10:04]

But what we do know at this point, if you just look at a quick timeline, we know that that it was around three o'clock that the police showed up at the Reiner household in the Brentwood neighbor of -- neighborhood of Los Angeles, and we know that Nick Reiner was taken into custody in the nine o'clock hour that night, and then processed into jail overnight, early Monday morning.

What we don't know, though, is the timing of when the Reiners were killed. That's another key piece of information here, especially since we also know that many people reported that there was Nick and Rob Reiner getting into an argument loudly at Conan O'Brien's Christmas party Saturday night.

So, all of these little points are the data that we're looking to get some glue from the district attorney office on how this could have happened, Brianna and Boris.

KEILAR: All right, Stephanie Elam, thank you so much for the latest there from Los Angeles.

Still to come, troubling news about the U.S. economy. A new jobs report showing the country is on track for its worst year of job growth since the COVID pandemic.

SANCHEZ: Plus, Senate Democrats frustrated with Secretaries Hagseth and Rubio for not showing lawmakers video of that controversial follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat, the latest on Capitol Hill.

And later, days of heavy rain causing flash flooding and landslides in Washington State. Thousands under evacuation orders with more rain on the way.

Stay with NEWS CENTRAL. We're back in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Providence officials are set to hold a press conference later today to provide an update on the mass shooting at Brown University. And just moments ago, they released this new image of a person of interest in that deadly shooting. It's unclear if this photo was taken before or after the shooting, but the individual in it apparently has a bag draped over their shoulder, and they're wearing gloves. The bag is something they weren't wearing -- wearing in the three videos released by police yesterday, showing that same person of interest walking near the building where the shooting took place.

KEILAR: This first video shows the individual pacing about two blocks from the campus. This is around 2 PM, which is a few hours before the attack. And then about 45 minutes later, the same person is seen crossing a street about a block and a half away from that first sighting. The final video shows the same individual just a minute later walking in the direction of Brown, and less than one block from the building where the shooting happened approximately an hour later.

The FBI says the suspect is around 5'8", has a stocky build, and walks with a distinctive gait. They're now offering a $50,000 reward for information of the person seen in the video that leads to an arrest and a conviction.

CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst, John Miller, is with us now.

John, talk to us about what stands out to you about this new image of this person.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: It's an enhanced image. It's a little clearer. It is still not the kind of image that if you passed him on the street, you would have said, oh, I definitely remember that face. But on the other hand, it gives you a clear idea -- idea of what he looks like.

And frankly, one of the reasons you do this is you get those videos out. That generated a lot of leads. You drop a new piece in that brings people to the -- to the internet, to their televisions to look at it, and that can generate more leads. The more images they get, the more they will use them to try and keep that lead bucket full.

SANCHEZ: And John, as someone who has been part of investigations before, I wonder what you make of the behavior that this person is displaying in these videos, at one point appearing to just be pacing, walking back and forth on a street.

MILLER: Well, there's so many things, Boris. But I mean, we'll start off with the pacing. He's a distance from the target when this video is taken, but he's -- he's walking back and forth. That means he's watching the clock. He's killing time. It is suggestive of the idea that he wants to arrive at his target at a specific time when he thinks it's going to be populated with things that make it a target- rich environment for him. In this case, tragically, students in one of those amphitheater classrooms where they're all together.

The other thing is, as you pointed out, about that bag. You know, he has it in that picture. Where is it later? What's the timing of that enhanced picture? What was in it? Has it been recovered? I think the answer to has it been recovered is still no. But it's -- it's important to know when that was taken. Is this during the reconnaissance phase? Is this before or after the fact?

KEILAR: Yes, such an important note. John Miller, thank you so much. Obviously, still a lot of questions here.

And still ahead, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth briefing lawmakers about those strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats. We'll have the latest on that briefing next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:24:14]

SANCHEZ: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the Pentagon will not publicly release the full video of the U.S. strike on an alleged drug boat on September 2nd. He also angered some Democratic lawmakers after not showing the video during a classified briefing earlier today.

KEILAR: Both Republicans and Democrats have raised concerns that one of the attacks that day may have been a war crime. It involved a follow-up strike that killed two survivors after their alleged drug- running boat was destroyed. CNN's Manu Raju is with us now from The Hill.

Manu, what's been the reaction there to today's briefings by Hegseth and Rubio?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, for the most part, along party lines, Republicans came out defending the administration's actions. And Democrats were sharply critical of the decision by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State not to show them the full video of that attack and the follow-up attacks that occurred on September 2nd.

[15:25:09]

The justification, according to the senators, was that only the members who are -- of the committees of jurisdiction would have access to that video because of the senators, they said, did not have the right classification level to review that sensitive video that occurred on that day.

Now, that was -- did not pass the smell test to a lot of Democrats who said that they should absolutely see it, in their view, given their oversight role here on Capitol Hill. And some even went much further, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who's a progressive Democrat, and who told me that she believes that all this points to -- in her view, war crimes that are committed by this administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): This is the -- one of the least professional classified briefings I have ever sat in on, with the least amount of legal and intelligence justification for what is happening. RAJU: Is it a war crime?

OCASIO-CORTEZ: I believe so, and I believe that what he has engaged in -- I mean, I think beyond a war crime, I think this is just a crime. Congress has not authorized, has not engaged in an authorized use of military force in the Caribbean.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I think the video should be given to everybody in Congress. President Trump is saying his days are numbered. That seems to me that he's got to go. If it's the goal of taking him out, because he's a threat to our country, then say it. And what happens next? Don't you think most people want to know that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And that was still a question that some Republicans had. You heard from Senator Lindsey Graham there that what exactly is the objective here in the Caribbean when it comes to Venezuela? Is it regime change to push out the Maduro regime? You heard Lindsey Graham there very much advocating that to be the strategy. He said, though, that the answers to that question in that classified briefing were, quote, a bit confusing when it came down to whether that, in fact, is the goal.

But that is -- but he did side with Democrats in the calls for releasing the video. He said, release the video so everybody can see it. Graham, though believe -- and like most Republicans, though, believe that this is a lawful action that is being taken by this administration in the Caribbean. But just like most things on Capitol Hill, the response has been along party lines. Guys.

KEILAR: All right. Manu, thank you so much for that from the Hill.

And some breaking news into CNN. The FBI releasing a new video timeline. That's what they're calling it, a new video timeline of the shooting at Brown University. We'll have that for you with analysis after a quick break. Stay with us.

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