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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
White House Chief Of Staff Unfiltered; Manhunt For Brown University Shooter; Nick Reiner Charged With Murder In Parents' Deaths; Ukrainian Leaders Tout Progress Toward Ukraine-Russia Peace Deal After Berlin Talks. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired December 17, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:23]
BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Brian Abel. Thank you so much for being with us.
It is Wednesday, December 17th, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C.
And straight ahead on EARLY START.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: White House officials were left stunned when "Vanity Fair" published an in-depth interview by Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
CHRIS WHIPPLE, WRITER, VANITY FAIR: It was astonishing to me the extent to which she was unguarded and freewheeling on the record all the time.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The manhunt for the gunman behind the deadly Brown University shooting intensifies.
CHIEF OSCAR L. PEREZ, JR., PROVIDENCE POLICE DEPARTMENT: We're asking the public to look, if you have any camera systems or any Telsas, like I mentioned, that you look at that footage, you can reach out to us.
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN HOST: In Australia, police there have charged the surviving suspect in the Bondi Beach massacre.
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pain and then unbearable grief destroying families, fracturing communities. Young and old, now gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
ABEL: We begin here in Washington, where the White House is defending Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and lashing out at "Vanity Fair" over a series of wide ranging and explosive interviews.
Wiles calls Vice President J.D. Vance a conspiracy theorist, and Elon Musk, an avowed ketamine user. She admits there's an element of retribution in President Trump's legal pursuits against his perceived political enemies, and she tells the magazine that Trump has an alcoholic personality and operates with a view that there's nothing he can't do. The White House press secretary says Wiles comments were taken out of context.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is unfortunately another 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: President Trump says he hasn't read the full "Vanity Fair" article, but from what he's heard, the facts were wrong and he thinks Wiles has done a fantastic job.
We have more now from CNN's senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: White House officials, advisers, aides and even President Trump's allies were left stunned when vanity fair published an in-depth and at times brutally honest interview by Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who is known for being out of the limelight. There were lots of questions among Trump's inner circle as to how this interview happened, where Wiles went after, or at least talked in unflattering terms about President Trump, other cabinet officials, and even some of his second term policies that she said that she was not necessarily completely for.
And just to give you a taste of some of what we heard from Wiles, a one point, she said that President Trump had an alcoholics personality. She also went after Attorney General Pam Bondi, saying that Bondi whiffed when it came to the Epstein case that she didn't understand how serious that matter was to Trump's base.
Now this goes on and on. But what we saw afterwards was a huge swell of support for Wiles coming from almost every cabinet member and even the president himself.
Now, President Trump, not only just saying that he stands by Wiles, but in addition to that, embracing what Wiles said, seemingly agreeing with the fact that he has an alcoholics personality, at one point saying he believes he has an addictive personality, which just goes to show you the amount of loyalty that President Trump has to Wiles if this was anyone else, there would likely be swift punishment.
But instead, what you saw is even some of the people who were essentially raked over the coals by Wiles coming out and supporting her. But there are still questions as to how exactly this came to be and why. Wiles sat down for this interview. And it wasn't just one interview, it was 11 various interviews over time.
There are still questions circulating among whether or not this means Wiles is leaving the White House, or she was trying to send a message. Wiles herself says that she was taken out of context during this interview.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: The writer of the "Vanity Fair" article, Chris Whipple, says he interviewed Wiles 11 times. As you heard Kristen just mentioned there in her report over the past 11 months, and he recorded everything.
Here's more of what he told CNN about his experience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WHIPPLE, WRITER, VANITY FAIR: It was astonishing to me the extent to which she was unguarded and freewheeling on the record all the time. All I can tell you is what she told me. She felt that Trump 1.0 had been unfairly covered. The Trump was vilified.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: During the first administration.
WHIPPLE: During the first administration, she wanted a fair hearing, and I think she thought she would get -- everything was scrupulously in context. And I got to tell you, the giveaway when you're a journalist and you hear your target of the subject saying, talking about things like context and omissions, you know you're on the right track because there isn't a single fact or a single assertion that they've challenged in the piece.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: To Providence now, Police in Rhode Island are asking for the publics help finding a person of interest in the mass shooting at Brown University on Saturday.
Authorities released new images and enhanced video, providing a look at the person before the deadly shooting at the Ivy League. School. Officials are urging people to share any video footage from home surveillance or vehicle dash cams.
Meanwhile, investigators say they've received hundreds of tips and collected DNA samples from some of the people they've interviewed. That may suggest authorities have recovered DNA at the scene. Police are also warning people to avoid potentially harmful speculation about who the shooter may be, as the manhunt stretches into its fifth day.
CNN's Brian Todd reports from Providence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHIEF OSCAR L. PEREZ, JR., PROVIDENCE POLICE DEPARTMENT: We're asking the public to look if you have any camera systems or any Teslas, like I mentioned, that you look at that footage and that you can reach out to us and please provide us.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Four days in, the manhunt for the gunman behind the deadly brown university shooting intensifies, the FBI releasing a new timeline of videos showing the movement of the person of interest in several different locations in nearby neighborhoods. In one video, you can see the person abruptly stop and start jogging in a different direction, and then he's seen running past a house.
Then, after a gap in time and after the shooting, the same person is seen walking right near a police car with its sirens on. Also released enhanced video and a photo, giving a much clearer picture of the individual. At one point, he's seen wearing a shoulder bag.
PEREZ: We do know that he was casing the area and again, that's what criminals do prior to committing a crime.
TODD (voice-over): The police chief later telling CNN they believe he was in that same neighborhood continuously from 10:30 in the morning on Saturday.
TODD: Ten-thirty then until the time of the shooting.
PEREZ: As far as we know.
TODD (voice-over): The surveillance video shows this suspicious person pacing near campus just hours before the shooting. And then roughly 30 minutes later, walking briskly across another street just a few blocks from campus. Officials hoping that something about him is familiar. His gait, his clothing, or even that his recent behavior is telling.
CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST & HOST OF "CRIMINAL APPEAL" PODCAST: He is watching this obsessively, and if he has a family, a wife, an ex- wife, lives with his parents, they will know that he's watching obsessively and probably was very agitated. Starting Saturday afternoon, anxious, watching TV constantly.
TODD (voice-over): Providence residents still feeling anxious, knowing the shooter is still out there.
WILL JENNINGS, PROVIDENCE PRESIDENT: It's definitely nerve wracking. But again, all you can do is just like, be with your family. And that's what I'm doing and just try and relax during this time.
TODD (voice-over): Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha is trying to reassure people in the neighborhood.
PETER NERONHA, RHODE ISLAND ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Providence Police Department understands that and their heightened visibility out there and presence is designed to keep them safe. And at the same time, we're doing everything we can to get this person in custody. TODD: Officials have told reporters that they've received some 200
actionable tips from the public for this investigation, but they have reiterated, even when pressed by us multiple times, that they still do not have a name for this person, even a name behind the scenes that they can't share with the media. They have no name for the person, and they do not know whether he is still in this area or even still in the state.
Brian Todd, CNN, Providence, Rhode Island.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: In Los Angeles, the L.A. County D.A. is charging Nick Reiner with two counts of first-degree murder, alleging he fatally stabbed his parents, famed director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele. The charges coming as new details emerge in the case.
CNN's Nick Watt has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATHAN HOCHMAN, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: Our office will be filing charges against Nick Reiner, who is accused of killing his parents.
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With a knife in their homes, says the D.A., Nick Reiner had been living in the guest house, according to a source.
HOCHMAN: These charges will be two counts of first degree murder.
WATT (voice-over): LAPD photographs show officers and U.S. Marshals detaining Nick Reiner just after 9:00 p.m. Sunday on the street near USC, maybe 15 miles from the crime scene.
DEP. CHIEF ALAN HAMILTON, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: He was approached by the officers and he was arrested without incident. There was no indication that he was going to resist or anything like that.
[05:10:02]
WATT (voice-over): They won't say what he had on him if he confessed, if he was high, if they have a murder weapon, if a family member helped them ID Nick as a suspect or locate him.
If he is convicted for murdering his parents, the sentence?
HOCHMAN: Life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. No decision at this point has been made. Like any of these cases, we will take the thoughts and desires of the family into consideration in making our decision.
WATT (voice-over): Who is Nick Reiner?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Son of Rob Reiner, grandson of Carl Reiner. Total train wreck. WATT (voice-over): That's how he was introed on the podcast "Dopey"
in 2018.
NICK REINER, SON OF ROB REINER: About like a year ago, I guess. I got back, I got back on dope and other things and to make a really long story short, I wound up having a cocaine heart attack.
WATT (voice-over): He's yoyoed since age 15 between rehab, sobriety and deep, destructive relapses. Co-wrote a movie about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do have a disease. It's this place, okay? It makes you feel like a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) leper. And then when you get out, everyone's expecting you to (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up again. So, you start using.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, wait, are you taking their side.
WATT (voice-over): "Being Charlie", that movie is semi- autobiographical.
N. REINER: I was smart about it, and I just was like, you know what? I want to go home. And so, I just stayed sober long enough until I could go home. And then, yeah, I just.
And then I went home and did it. I just wanted to get back to my old life of, like, smoking weed, kind of taking some pills, like doing whatever I wanted.
WATT (voice-over): Sitting next to Nick on AOL, Rob Reiner, who directed that movie, sounds like so many parents of addicts.
ROB REINER, FILMMAKER & ACTOR: I felt at a loss. So I would do anything that, as we say in the film, anybody with a desk and a diploma, I would listen to them. And the whole idea of tough love and you have to be a certain way.
And I -- it's not my nature, you know? At the end of the day, I know my child better than an expert does, and I probably should have trusted my own instinct.
WATT (voice-over): Nick is the middle child. Older brother Jake, and younger sister Romy, both actors and writers. Romy once described Nick as her best friend. A source familiar with the incident says she was the one who found her parents Sunday afternoon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT (on camera): So, apparently, Rob and Nick Reiner had a bit of an argument Saturday night at a party hosted by Conan O'Brien. I've spoken to somebody who was at that party who said that she noticed Nick Reiner standing alone around the fire pit outside, smoking a cigarette, and he stood out because he was scruffily dressed, wearing a cap, a hoodie, jeans. She assumed he must be some kind of, you know, young comedian that she just never heard of.
Now, this woman says that she saw him later inside the house and they locked eyes. He was walking along. She says, no emotion on his face, just a blank. Now the police today would not confirm the time of death. So, we know that party was on Saturday night. There was an argument and the 911 call came in 3:40 p.m. Sunday afternoon. So sometime between then is when the murders took place.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
ABEL: The clock is ticking for the Justice Department to release the records from its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law by President Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi must make the files publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format by Friday.
Our Manu Raju asks House Speaker Mike Johnson how he feels the release will go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Mr. Speaker, do you think that the administration has fully complied with the Epstein law? Friday is the deadline.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I expect they will, yeah.
RAJU: Do you think they'll give and put out all the documents on Friday?
JOHNSON: Yes. I think the DOJ will be in full compliance. Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: The government is allowed to withhold some details, like the personal information of victims and materials that would jeopardize an active federal investigation. The leading Democrat in the Senate says he expects the Trump administration to be less than compliant.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We fully expect Trump, Bondi and their minions to dodge, delay or partially release these files. Trump, what the hell are you trying to hide?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: Schumer says he has no idea what time the files could be released on Friday, but that congressional Democrats have lawyers ready to examine them immediately.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is coming under sharp criticism from lawmakers after refusing to release the full video of a controversial strike on an alleged drug boat. The reaction from Capitol Hill, next.
Plus, world leaders wrap up what they described as productive peace talks in berlin. Well look at the latest proposals aiming to end the war in Ukraine for good. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:19:32]
ABEL: Donald Trump has ordered a quote total and complete blockade of oil tankers to and from Venezuela. He made the announcement in a post on Truth Social referring to the blockade in all capital letters. It's the latest escalation from the U.S. president as he puts pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. President Trump also made reference to the size of the military fleet surrounding Venezuela, saying the U.S. has positioned, quote, the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America around the country.
[05:20:03]
The Pentagon will not release the full video of a controversial military strike on an alleged drug boat, though, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hhegseth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: The Trump administration publicly released a clip of the initial strike, but it's the unseen follow up strike that has sparked a debate over the legality of the administration's campaign in the Caribbean. Lawmakers from both parties have supported the release of the full video, and now Democrats are expressing their frustration following a briefing on the matter with Trump administration officials.
(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.
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): This briefing left me with more questions than answers.
SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): I think they're trying to run out the clock.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): It was really sort of disappointing, disappointing presentation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: President Trump says a peace deal in Ukraine is closer than ever before, and world leaders have touted significant progress following recent talks in Berlin. But key sticking points still threaten to stall the negotiations.
Ukraine is seeking definitive NATO style security guarantees from Western allies and European leaders also discussed the potential for a multinational peacekeeping force to be deployed in Ukraine. Both points have repeatedly been challenged by Russia.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin aims to assume full control of Ukraine's Donbas region. But Kyiv is reluctant to surrender the territory.
For more on this, let's bring in CNN's senior international correspondent Melissa Bell live from Paris.
And, Melissa, the U.S. saying a ceasefire deal is closer than ever. But Russia hasn't been brought back into the fold with these latest developments. Do we have any idea when that could change in the likelihood of Putin signing off?
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly in terms of the timetable, we'd heard a very optimistic one from President Zelenskyy after those talks in Berlin. He was speaking in the Hague on that whistle stop tour of Europe, as he continues to try and shore up support and those cast iron Congress backed Article Five style guarantees that he believe will believes will be able to allow Ukraine to believe in its future and its ability to protect itself from any potential future aggression.
And really, what he had to say was that he hoped that the United States would be speaking to Moscow over the next couple of days so that by the weekend, Brian, he would be able to be sitting down or Ukrainian delegation would be able to sitting down with an American one to hash out the next steps. For now, all we've heard from Russia in the shape of its Kremlin spokesman, this was yesterday was that it hadn't yet seen these revised proposals. The Ukrainian revised now 20- point peace plan.
But we've also been hearing from other senior figures really over the course of the last couple of days, Brian, with nothing to suggest that any of their positions have changed, most of all on the idea that they would refuse. And they've been saying this for a long time. Any kind of multinational NATO force on the ground in Ukraine. But that is exactly what these latest guarantees look like. Also, that they want and continue to want the whole of the Donbas.
So, over the next couple of days, it's going to be interesting to see what progress the United States can make with the Russians. And this after American officials, including President Trump for the last couple of days, seemed very confident that this latest version could be acceptable to all and could be acceptable to Moscow.
For now, though, we await that answer. Meanwhile, here in Europe, the Europeans are looking forward to the next couple of days to a big summit that's going to be looking, bringing together European leaders, first of all, and looking at the question of how they can use the $250 billion worth of frozen Russian assets that the Europeans currently have, how they can use those frozen assets to try and underwrite a sort of reparations loan to Ukraine. Europe pretty divided on that question, but the leaders will be looking to make progress on that in the next couple of days -- Brian.
ABEL: And I guess we will see, because only the Kremlin can determine whether this latest proposal is acceptable or not to them.
Melissa Bell for us in Paris. Melissa, thank you.
Just ahead, the surviving suspect in the Bondi Beach attack has been charged. We will go live to Sydney with the latest.
And heavy rain and burst of -- heavy rain burst river barriers bringing dangerous flooding to parts of western Washington. A look at what's next in the forecast. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:29:17]
ABEL: Australian police charging the surviving suspect in the Bondi beach massacre one day after he came out of a coma. And we are about to show images of him that you may find disturbing. It shows a man thought to be 24-year-old Naveed Akram at the time of the attack. He's now facing 59 offenses, including murder, attempted murder and committing a terrorist act. His father was shot and killed at the scene.
The first funerals have been held for some of the 15 people killed in the terror attack. Heartbreak unfolded earlier at the funeral of the late rabbi, Eli Schlanger, who had organized the Hanukkah by the sea event at Bondi Beach on that fateful day.
CNN's Angus Watson is covering this live for us from Sydney since the beginning.
And, Angus, the suspected gunman is now facing those 59 charges. What more are you learning about that?
