Reiner Family Asks For Privacy and Decency
Plus: With no suspect caught, Brown students ask, "Are we safe?" Questions multiply after nuclear scientist found dead. A look inside the administration, without the filter. And more.
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There’s no soft landing today, so we’ll get right to it.
A top White House official says the quiet part out loud, and yes, there’s audio. Nick Reiner appears in court; his siblings ask for compassion over conjecture. The Brown gunman manhunt stalls. The administration cuts pediatric research funding and targets a premier climate research hub — because why stop at one crisis? Bari Weiss’ highly promoted town hall lands with a thud. Melania’s inauguration documentary costs $40 million (cinematic excellence has its price). And the Senate confirms Elon Musk’s favorite astronaut to run NASA; Mars just moved a little closer.
That’s just some of today’s news.
Here Are Your Headlines
All Talk: Trump will address the nation at 9pm ET Wednesday. According to the White House, the speech will cover “all of his historic accomplishments” and might involve “teasing some policy that will be coming in the new year as we head into the Christmas season.” According to Trump himself, “the message this evening is we inherited a mess … and our country is going to be stronger than ever before.” Trump has remained defiant in the face of increasing frustration with his handling of the economy; in a recent Politico interview, he ranked his economy “A+++++” — but a new poll has just 36% of Americans agreeing, the lowest figure in the poll’s six-year history.
Charged With Murder: Nick Reiner made his first appearance in court on Wednesday, a day after being formally charged with the murder of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner. If convicted, he could face the death penalty, though the prosecution has not yet decided whether to pursue that. (California has a moratorium on executions.) He appeared in a suicide vest and shackles and did not enter a plea. His attorney requested Nick’s arraignment be postponed to January 7. I see reports speculating about when the Reiners were killed and how. That kind of conjecture feels ghoulish to repeat here. What I will say is this: According to sources close to the Reiners, Nick’s family was concerned about his mental health; he’d struggled for years with addiction, admitting in 2018 to having destroyed his parents’ guesthouse while “spun out on uppers.” Despite that, they didn’t fear for their safety. And it’s clear the Reiners took care of him and tried to get him the help he needed.
Difficult Time: Rob and Michele’s other children, Jake and Romy, on Wednesday put out a heartbreaking statement in which they say “words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing” and that Rob and Michele “weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends.” They said they were “grateful for the outpouring of condolences, kindness, and support,” and asked for “respect and privacy, for speculation to be tempered with compassion and humanity and for our parents to be remembered for the incredible lives they lived and the love they gave.”
Decency and Kindness: Tributes to the Reiners span the political spectrum. Michelle Obama, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, described them as “some of the most decent, courageous people you ever want to know.” Billy Crystal said Rob “not only cared for the country he loved, he did everything he could to make it better.” On Fox News, conservative firebrand James Woods said Reiner “was a godsend in my life,” adding “we loved each other” and calling him “a great patriot.”
Without a Trace: The search for the gunman responsible for the mass shooting at Brown has entered its fourth day, and officials seem to have made little progress. They released a few grainy images of the suspect, an unremarkable, portly, seemingly white man wearing nondescript clothes, a hat, and a face mask. The gun he used, a 9-millimeter handgun, is one of the most common. Today officials released an image of a person they say was “in the proximity” of the person of interest. It’s not unprecedented for high-profile manhunts to stretch on this long (though it’s not typical of school shootings). As time passes, the trail grows ever colder. Officials are interviewing people near the incident, canvassing the neighborhood for potential witnesses, and asking the public to study the images and videos of the suspect. Rhode Island’s attorney general said they are “relying on the press and public to help us get there.” (Question: What is Kash Patel’s FBI doing?)
Believe Your Eyes: Many students and residents of Providence are growing increasingly furious at officials who insist they are safe despite the lack of progress in the case. Locals told the Providence Journal they were concerned there was no widespread alert about the shooting.
MIT Nuclear Scientist Targeted: Officials have opened a homicide investigation into the death of MIT nuclear science professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro, who was shot and killed at his home on Tuesday. Loureiro was the director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, which focuses, among other things, on nuclear fusion — an elusive technology that theoretically could generate “clean, near-limitless” energy, as MIT noted in his obituary. Loureiro’s predecessor described him as a “brilliant scientist” who “shone a bright light as a mentor, friend, teacher, colleague, and leader, and was universally admired.” Officials haven’t disclosed a motive, but did say there “seems to be no connection” between Loureiro’s death and the shooting at Brown.
Bondi Beach Terror: 24-year-old Australian national Naveed Akram was charged on Wednesday with 59 offenses, including terrorism, for the brutal attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that left 15 dead and dozens injured. His father, 50-year-old Indian national Sajid, was the other attacker; he was shot and killed by police. According to police, the pair were “inspired by ISIS.” Multiple homemade ISIS flags were found in Naveed’s car. The pair apparently spent most of November in the Philippines, visiting an area where Islamic separatists are known to operate — leading some to wonder if they received training.
Lock, Stock, and (Oil) Barrel: Politico is reporting that the Trump Administration is asking oil companies whether they would like to re-enter Venezuela if Maduro is gone. Today Trump told reporters, “They took our oil rights. We had a lot of oil there. They threw our companies out. And we want it back.” On Tuesday, the president announced a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.” Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro says exports will continue and he has deployed the navy to escort tankers. This blockade could further strain Venezuela’s highly volatile economy, which is extremely dependent on oil; the IMF estimated the country’s annual inflation could reach 548%. Maduro previously offered the Trump administration a deal to give US companies preferential contracts and access to all current and future oil and gold projects, while ending existing contracts with Russian, Iranian, and Chinese companies; no dice. The administration’s real aim appears to be removing Maduro himself. According to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, quoted in the new Vanity Fair profile, Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”
Healthcare Rebellion: Four House Republicans on Wednesday broke with GOP leadership, joining Democrats to pass a discharge petition to force the House to vote on extending expiring healthcare subsidies for three years. Their demand was simple: “Our only request,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) said, “was a floor vote” on one of several proposed compromises that would have addressed the expiring subsidies. But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) rejected these proposals and passed a GOP package that doesn’t include the subsidies at all. The revolt is a notable rebuke — Johnson on Wednesday had to deny he’d “lost control of the House” — but don’t expect it to actually lower your health care costs; the discharge petition won’t force a vote until January, and even if that vote succeeds the bill will almost certainly fail in the Senate.
Belated: Former DOJ special counsel Jack Smith testified to lawmakers on Wednesday that he and his team had “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump criminally conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. He also testified that his team amassed “powerful evidence” that Trump illegally retained — and obstructed attempts to retrieve — classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. In other words: Smith believes the evidence is there. The jury just hasn’t heard it.
Too Close For Comfort
Bonfire of the Vanities: Over the last year, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles gave eleven interviews to Vanity Fair. Unlike many senior officials, she “answered almost every question” writer Chris Whipple put to her with surprising frankness, criticizing everyone from Vice President JD Vance to Attorney General Pam Bondi. The administration has been scrambling to respond; Wiles complained that “significant context was disregarded,” while Trump said “it was a very misguided interviewer.” The accuracy of the quotes isn’t in doubt; Whipple has produced the audio tapes.
Only the Best: Wiles said that Trump “has an alcoholic’s personality” and that Vice President Vance has “been a conspiracy theorist for a decade,” adding that his MAGA conversion was “sort of political.” She dissed Attorney General Bondi, saying she “completely whiffed” her handling of the Epstein files, and called OMB Director and Project 2025 co-author Russel Vought “an absolute right-wing zealot. Wiles described Elon Musk as “an avowed Ketamine user” and “an odd, odd duck.” She said she was “aghast” at Musk’s evisceration of USAID, offering that they “do very good work” — though Trump “doesn’t know the details of these smallish agencies.” In regard to Ukraine, she says “Donald Trump thinks [Putin] wants the whole country.” On Trump and Epstein she said “we know he’s in the file.” “He’s not in the file doing anything awful,” she clarified, but said Trump and Epstein were “young, single playboys together.” On Trump’s insistence that President Clinton visited Epstein’s private island dozens of times? “The president was wrong about that,” Wiles said. On Ghislaine Maxwell, she insisted that neither she nor Trump “know why they moved her” to a less restrictive prison. She seems to be a Pete Hegseth fan – “just the guy to take on the powers that be.” And she seemed unperturbed by Trump and Hegseth’s deadly strikes on small boats. “This is a war on drugs,” she insisted, “unlike another one that we’ve seen.” “One of the great untold stories of the US government,” she noted, “is the talents of the CIA.” Importantly she said that if Trump “were to authorize some activity on land, then it’s war, then [we’d need] Congress.” It’s a promising sign they recognize Congress does have a function.
Get My Good Side: Accompanying Vanity Fair’s articles are a selection of deeply unflattering, extremely close-up photos of various senior officials. Karoline Leavitt’s lips, for example, appear to show marks from lip injections. Steven Miller’s portrait looks suspiciously similar to an infamous photo of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Dan Scavino is pictured from the side, showing off a bizarre haircut that the Lincoln Project likened to the “Hitler youth.” The photos are so unflattering Rubio claimed they were “deliberately manipulated.” Photographer Christopher Anderson insisted the pictures are merely his style. Maybe, but he’s shot other celebrities and politicians the same way, and they come off much better.
More News You Should Know
Keep reading to find out… Why the Trump administration just targeted these crucial health organizations. Who just got chosen to lead NASA. What’s next for Paramount after a public rejection. Why Melania’s new documentary is the most expensive in history. Which senior official is throwing in the towel (already).
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