Meet the Press NOW — December 16

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We begin with breaking news. Any moment now. We're expecting an update from authorities in Los Angeles about the murders of Hollywood legend Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle. Authorities have arrested their 32 year old son Nick, who's being held in jail without bail.

We'll bring you that news conference when it begins. But let's start with NBC's Gotti Schwartz who's outside that news conference. Gotti, what are we expecting to learn from Thornies here? Again, first things first, we're expecting to see potential murder charges here.

So far Nick Reiner is still being held only on suspicion of murder. But those two murder charges a lot of people have been expecting have not yet been filed. The police and the district attorney had about 48 hours since he was booked into jail overnight on Sunday into Monday. So that should expire on Wednesday.

Now in terms of what we know so far, new developments are coming in very slowly and investigators so far have been keeping everything tight to the chest. But we do know that the family, the two, Rob and his wife Michelle, they were found in the master bedroom of their home in Brentwood. We also know now that it appears as though Nick was staying there on and off in possibly a guest house. We understand that those two bodies, they were found there at 3:40 in the afternoon.

They know that the night before they were at a party, the three of them, Nick, his father, Rob and his mother Michelle, they were all at the home of Conan o' Brien during a holiday party. And that's when sources tell Chloe Delass, our colleague, that Nick made people feel uncomfortable. And there may have been some sort of verbal altercation between Nick and his father and mother at the party that other people were able to hear. We don't know exactly what words were exchanged.

We don't know if they all left together or they left separate. But at some point the mother and father, Rob and Michelle, went home. And a little bit later in the morning on Sunday, they were found deceased in their home from Scabburn. So that that gap from overnight Saturday when they left the party to when they were discovered on Sunday is what we're hoping to hear, possibly for the district returning.

But there's a chance that they will just say that the charges have been filed and don't release much information beyond that. Gabe? No, guys, just such a horrific set of circumstances here. We also understand, what is it Nick Reiner, his attorney, saying that he's not medically cleared to appear in court.

What more can you tell us about that? And what is his condition at this point? Yeah, we were actually expecting to see possibly a first appearance at 8:30 in the morning. Nick Reiner was listed on the docket for that time here at the courthouse.

However, his attorney came out. Alan Jackson, who is a very high powered attorney here in Los Angeles, said his client is not medically cleared, has not yet been medically cleared. So until that happens, he will not be making any court appearances. That could happen as early as tomorrow.

But so far Nick has not appeared in court. Now when it comes to the attorney, he has represented a lot of high profile clients in the past. Kevin Spacey, he represented Harvey Weinstein, he represented Karen Reid recently. He also prosecuted the Spectre case way back in the day here in Los Angeles.

So he has a lot of expertise, both prosecutorial and defense. So that's something that we're going to. We don't know who hired him, we don't know who contacted him for representation. But right now the latest we have is that he is representing Nick in this case.

We also understand that, you know, he made his appearance here at the courthouse a little while ago. We understand that he has now made his way to Brentwood, where he has also been seen near the Reiner family home. You know, Gotti, we are waiting at news conference which is set to start any moment now in Los Angeles. We will go to it live when it begins.

But let's turn now to the Trump administration struggling to find its stride on the issue of affordability. The president announcing today that he will be addressing the nation tomorrow night at 9pm Eastern on Saul Collins's new jobs data shows an increasingly shaking labor market. The US added just 64,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, the highest since 2021. The data, which was delayed because the government shutdown, also shows that the economy lost 105,000 jobs a month before.

It's the third time the economy has shed jobs in the last six months. The administration is trying to defend its record on the economy and affordability. Speaking today in Pennsylvania, Vice President Vance urged Americans to be patient he blamed Democrats for the state of the economy nearly a year into the president's second term. Democrats say, you know, things aren't affordable.

This isn't affordable. This has gotten more expensive. Drugs have gotten more expensive. Housing got more expensive.

And you know what? They're right. And it was because of them. And I promise you, there is no person more impatient to solve the affordability crisis than Donald J.

Trump, the president of the United States. I believe the American people are going to reward us because the American people are smart. They know Rome wasn't built in the day. And meanwhile, Congress is running out of time to address the expiring Affordable Care act tax credits.

The latest proposal from House leadership, which can be voted on tomorrow, does not include an extension of those subsidies. It's a move that has some House Republicans publicly venting their frustrations who are going to be saying, why is it that my healthcare premiums have increased by thousands of dollars when Congress could have done something about it? So, honestly, this is a failure of leadership by both parties. I think it's idiotic not to have an up or down vote on this issue.

I am pissed for the American people. This is absolute. You know, it's funny. Three quarters of people on Obamacare are in states Donald Trump won.

So maybe, just maybe, everybody should look at this and say, how do we actually fix the healthcare system? Johnson doesn't give you that vote. Are you guys signed on to Jeffrey's petition? All options are on the table.

Are you worried at all that moderates my son wants to dump. All options are on the table. But Speaker Johnson appears to have backup from Senate leader John Thune, who signaled that if Democrats managed to force their bill with the ACA extensions through the House, it would be dead on arrival in the Senate. All this making it increasingly likely that millions of Americans will see their health insurance premiums skyrocket in the new year.

Joining now from Capitol Hills, NTC Nelsona Brian Shang has won the new jobs report and Monica Alba has the latest from the White House. Thank you all so much for joining me. I want to start with you on the Hill. You were some new reporting on a tense meeting with Speaker Johnson and moderate House Republicans this afternoon.

Tell us more about it. Yeah, that's right. There was a meeting this afternoon between Speaker Johnson and the Republican governance group. That is a group that has a number of centrist and moderate Republicans.

They have been pushing for an Affordable Care act amendment vote alongside the bill. That's any of the floor votes tomorrow. That is to conservative health care bill that does not address the expiring ACA subsidies. But during this meeting, I'm told that a number of meetings members clashed with Speaker Mike Johnson because he has so far been very resistant to giving them an amendment vote.

He said it needs to have offsets. He said it needs to address some abortion language that conservatives are concerned about. So there was some back and forth. In fact, it was so heated at one point that my colleague, friend and Lee could actually hear members shouting from inside the room.

We were standing outside the closed door meeting, so that's how tense it got. Now afterwards, Speaker Mike Johnson did say it was collegial. We're all friends here. We're just trying to find a solution.

But clearly there is deep frustration among moderate Republicans. Now they are scrambling at the 11th hour to try to come up with a solution to satisfy leadership in order to get their amendment votes. So we'll see what happens. There is a meeting amongst the House Rules Committee that's going on right now.

That can take a few hours, but we should have a better sense about whether they're going to get an up or down vote or not. But even if they get evoked, that is not going to be adopted. It's not going to come law. And so really this is coming down to more of a messaging exercise and a real policy solution for millions of Americans.

They always seem to say the meeting was collegial or cordial. Even now do they feel the GOP leadership just throwing them on the bus here ahead of the midterms? Is that enough to move some of those Republicans to vote for the Democrats leadership plan? Well, potentially I think the frustrations are reaching that bullying point.

We asked a number of those Republicans, will you sign the Hawking Jeffries district petition which is for just a clean three year extension of ACA subsidies? And they said all options are on the table. So I think they're really keeping their options open, waiting to see whether or not they get their ACA amendment vote tomorrow. But clearly they feel like they're being thrown under the bus.

They've even said themselves this is political malpractice and that many of them are going to lose their seats if they don't act on these Affordable Care act subsidies that are expiring. So that's really where the frustration stems from. The moderates also feel like Johnson tends to prioritize the conservative lawmakers. But in his defense, he says he has members from all across the conference.

So he's really trying to balance all those competing factions right now. Nelson, live for us On Capitol Hill. I want to go back to the breaking news we have at the top of the broadcast. That news conference in Los Angeles on the Reiner case is underway.

Let's listen. Because of this preliminary investigation, still very active. It's being filed as we speak. There's not a lot we're going to be able to say right now.

Also, if you would please put one question at a time so that we can hear the question and answer it appropriately. So if we can have that. Decorman here. D.

Nathan Hoffman. My name is Nathan Hockman. I'm the District Attorney of Los Angeles County. Today I'm here to announce that our office will be filing charges against Nick Reiner, who was accused of killing his parents.

Actor director Rob Reiner and photographer producer Michelle Singer Reiner. These charges will be two counts of first degree murder with a special circumstance of multiple murders. He also faces a special allegation that he personally used a dangerous and deadly weapon, that being a knife. These charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.

No decision at this point has been made with respect to the death penalty we have requested. And currently Nick Reiner is being held without bail. Now, before I announcing these charges, I also want to announce that they're just that they are charges. Charges are not evidence.

Evidence is something that we will be presenting in a court of law to meet the standard of proof we meet in every criminal case, which is beyond a reasonable doubt to dwell 12 jurors who will unanimously have to find that we've met that standard to prove the charges we bring to court right now with respect to the process. Once these charges get filed this afternoon, Nick Reiner will be then brought to court. He is going through medical clearance, something that everybody who goes, who gets arrested and gets held in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department jail goes through. Once he is medically cleared, he will be brought to court to be arraigned on these charges.

At that point, he went to a plea of guilty or not guilty. Now, prosecuting these cases involving family members are some of the most challenging and most heart wrenching cases that this office faces because of the intimate and often brutal nature of the crimes involved. Rob Reiner was a brilliant actor and director, an iconic force in our entertainment industry for decades. His wife, Michelle Singer Reiner, was an equally iconic photographer and producer.

Their, their loss is beyond tragic and we have, we will commit ourselves to bringing their murderer to justice. I want to thank LAPD Chief McDonnell, who's here today along with Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton from the LAPD and lapd, Captain Scott Williams, and the entire Robbery, Robbery Homicide Division, who literally has been working around the clock to gather the evidence that have led to the charges we're going to be filing today. Also from my office, I have Assistant District Attorney Maria Ramirez. I have Director of specialized prosecutions John McKinney.

I have our Head Deputy of Major Crimes, Craig Humm, and I have the two prosecutors who will be leading the prosecution in this case. Assistant Head Deputy of Major Crimes, Habib Bailien, and Deputy District Attorney for Major Crimes, Jonathan Chung. They will bring their decades of experience to holding this murderer accountable for his actions. At this point, again, you will hear in the media rumors, you will hear speculation.

You will hear hearsay. What I'm asking everyone to do is to rely on trusted sources. If it doesn't come from the District Attorney's office, from lapd, from the Coroner's office, or from the courtroom itself. And there's a good chance you are hearing misinformation, because at the appropriate time, the actual evidence involved in this case will be presented in a court of law.

So I ask for your patience until that is done. But again, please do not rely on rank speculation, rumor, or hearsay to believe that you understand anything about what went on in this case. I now like to turn over to Chief McDonnell. Well, good afternoon and thank you all for being here today.

And it's with deep sadness that I address the tragic loss of Robert Michelle Reiner. On December 14, 2025, LAPD officers from our West Los Angeles division responded to a death investigation at the 200 block of South Chadbourne Avenue, which is in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. Upon entering the residence, they discovered the bodies of Mr. And Mrs.

Reiner. Detectives from our Robbery Homicide Division, Homicide Special Section immediately initiated a comprehensive investigation. The evidence gathered led to the arrest of their son, Nick Reiner, who was taken into custody later that night without incident in the Exposition park section of our city. Today, the Los Angeles County District's Attorney's Office has formally filed charges against Mr.

Reiner for the murder of his parents. This case is heartbreaking and deeply personal, not only for the Reiner family and their loved ones, but for our entire city. We extend our deepest condolences to all of those who are affected by this tragedy. I want to take a moment to recognize and thank our criminal justice partners, the District Attorney's office, led by DA Hawkman, and everyone who work tirelessly on this investigation.

Their swift action, professionalism, and commitment to justice have been instrumental in bringing clarity and accountability to this case. The LAPD remains steadfast in our mission to protect life and uphold justice. We will continue to support the Reiner family, ensure that every step forward is taken with care, dignity and resolved. Thank you.

We have some questions. Yes, right here in the front. Could you talk about why you feel this case lies to special circumstances? So special circumstances is a situation where one of the enumerated factors that lead to elevating in some ways a first degree murder case to a special circumstance first degree murder case occurs.

One of those special circumstances is called multiple murders. Here we have two. And it qualifies under the definition of multiple murders to allege the special circumstance in this particular case. And was there any evidence on him indicating a crime?

Did you say anything? Yeah. He was found with good, solid police work. Investigative tools used by robbery homicide and gang and narcotic division detectives with the U.S.

marshal Service Task force involved as well. So we're thankful for the work that was done. I won't go into talking about what was found or anything that could potentially paint the investigation of drug use was an indication that he was under the influence at the time of this meeting. No.

Thank you again. That's another question I can't touch. I'm sorry. Please repeat the question.

Is there any evidence of mental illness in his background beyond the addiction? The evidence of any evidence that there is any of mental illness for his background will be coming out in the hearings due. That will occur, we anticipate again after the arraignment. The process will go through the normal process a case like this goes through at the appropriate time.

If there is evidence of mental illness, it will be presented in court and in whatever detail the defense seeks to do that. Yes, right here. We don't anticipate any significant delay more than is involved in a first degree murder case with special circumstances. These are some of the most serious charges that a DA's office can bring against anyone.

And we anticipate that the discovery that we will produce to the defense will be robust. It will be very involved. They'll want adequate time to review it, though. Again, they'll want to go through every single factor that they can ascertain in the defense of Mr.

Nick Reiner. So again, this will proceed along the tracks that many of the first degree murder cases proceed. Do I anticipate it being particularly fast? No, I anticipate it being very thorough.

Yes, Right here we are. Not at this time. Let me defer to the chief on this. Hi, I'm Deputy Chief Detectives, we don't have any specific information when I release at this time regarding the families information provided.

And as we move forward, that information will be discussed in the appropriate venue which will be in court. So specifically, he was arrested in a public area in the Exposition park area near the University of Southern California campus. He was approached by the officers and he was arrested without incident. There were no indications that.

There was no indication that he was gonna resist or anything like that. He didn't flee or anything like that. He was taken in custody without issue and he was transported to RPC Whitsley. Take a question back there.

Yes, he has been alleged. One of these special allegations is that the murder was committed with a deadly weapon or a knife. As to where and how the weapon will be was located or will be located, that will actually be evidence will present in court. Let me take a question over here.

I'm sorry, we don't have that kind of specificity yet. We're waiting the coroner to be able to try and determine as best they can at this point time of death. We'll take the question back there. Okay.

So in terms of how the Los Angeles Police Department became where it was a request from the Los Angeles Fire Department. Who responded to the scene first. We responded to their request for assistance at the scene of the incident. Our initial West LA officer that responded determined that a crime had occurred and they immediately notified our Robbie Homicide Division.

They responded and they've taken over the investigation since that point. Thank you everybody. One more question. Take it right here.

So any statements made by the defendant at any point in time would be the type of evidence we will be presenting in court. Let me take one last question. Right. Hold on one second.

I just identified this gentleman. Sorry, we do not have the estimated time that it will take. We know that they're working on it expeditiously, but as to when they deliver it, we do not have that estimated time. I'll take that.

One last question back there. I was just wondering, I know these types of cases are especially difficult. How much do you take into account what the family wants when it comes to charges you're dealing with a domestic situation like that. And does that factor into whether you will go after like a parole or possibly nothing in these cases?

Like any of these cases, we will take the the thoughts and desires of the family into consideration in making our decision. Thank you all very much. And there you have authorities in Los Angeles wrapping up that news conference announcing that they were filing two counts of first Degr murder against Nick Reiner. For the murder of his parents.

If convicted, that carries maximum sentence of life in prison. No decision according to the DA with regards to the death penalty. The DA also would not answer questions, neither would the police chief, about whether Nick Reiner may have been under the influence when he was arrested. The police chief calling this case heartbreaking and deeply personal once.

For now with our breaking news coverage too, MCC's Gatty Schwartz, who joins me now from LA. Also with us as News Lee wins, Misty Maris Scalia, I'll start with you. What stuck out to you about this news conference? I mean, a lot of questions taken, not a lot of answers given.

And that is what we're probably going to be expecting here. Los Angeles, stranger to high profile cases. And they know they have to move extremely slowly and extremely methodically. So you heard a lot of back and forth there, but not a lot of specificity.

One of the things that stuck out to me was the issue of mental health and whether or not that was gonna factor in all of that. You heard the DA right there say that that is really gonna come up. If it does come up, it's gonna be up to the defense to bring that up in a courtroom setting. So we've been talking a lot about the possibility of motive here.

Right now we just don't have a motive. Obviously law enforcement isn't even saying the time of death. Right now they are confirming that the two were killed inside their home. Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle.

They're now saying that they are filing those two murder charges, basically aggravated murder charges here in Los Angeles. The most stiff charge that an individual like this can face, which has a possibility of the death penalty as well. So it's life without the possibility of parole as well as a death penalty. They have not made any of those decisions.

But as for the details of what happened, what may have led to all of this, we don't know. And from the sou, it doesn't appear as though any of that will be revealed anytime soon from the district Attorney's office or the police department here in Los Angeles. Well, Gotti, remind our viewers if you will, there's a long documented history of Nick Ryder's battles with mental illness, with substance abuse. Remind us what we know about that.

So much of what we know about Nick's history is because Nick and his father Rob shared it. And they shared it in this movie that they made together called Being Charlie. And that movie was co written by Nick with somebody that he met in rehab, one of his many sense of rehab, something that we know of, like 17 times that he'd been in and out of rehab from back in 2015, 2016, when this movie was made. We don't really know his state or his issues with substance abuse beyond that.

At the time, 2015, 2016, they had talked about how he was on the road to recovery and how he was making tremendous progress. But again, that movie was about a kid, an affluent kid that was growing up, a very famous father, and he was dealing with substance abuse, and he was dealing with these issues of mental health as well as dependence on drugs. One of the things I feel that we found very, very interesting was when Rob was doing this kind of, like, press tour about being Charlie with his son, he was asked about that and he said, look, addiction is not an illness. It is a symptom of something else.

It is a symptom of something underneath it all. As for the mental state of Nick at that time, or the mental state of Nick, if he did commit these murders, what that was like, we don't know. And again, mental health and any sort of mental health defense, that's going to be something that we hear, if we do hear from the defense attorney in this case and not necessarily the prosecutor or the police department. Got a Schwartz live for us in la.

I want to surround Misty or the Misty. The DA was asked about this, and I was hoping to clarify for our viewers, what does it mean when he says that there are special circumstances when it comes to these two counts of a first degree murder? And what could that potentially mean in terms of any sort of sentence if convicted? Yeah, this is very, very relevant because this is the highest level of murder in California.

First degree murder with special circumstances. So first degree murder, that is an intentional premeditated murder. It could result in 25 years to life behind bars. But when the district attorney enhances those charges with what is called special circumstances, and those special circumstances are enumerated in the statute, one of those being a double murder, another aggravating fact being the use of a weapon, in this case a knife, that means that the penalty is either life without the possibility of parole or possibly the death penalty.

It's an interesting thing, Gabe, because in California, the death penalty still on the books, although there has been a moratorium on enforcement of it since 2019 by Governor Gavin Newsom. So it's largely symbolic at this point, but it is reserved for the most heinous of crimes, the highest level charge that somebody can be charged with in the state of California. So that gives us a little bit of insight into what we might see as the base for the charges, that this was what the district attorney believes and he's being charged with an intentional premeditated murder versus a heat of passion murder, which would be a lesser degree charge. So this is very significant.

It's a bit telling as to what we might see when we get those charges, the filing, the probable cause of fatigue. Interesting point there, reminding us about the more torrent of the death penalty in California. Misty, want to hear your thoughts on what might be next year in the legal process? Authorities are very careful, very tight lipped, as you heard Gotti mentioned, talking about the timetable of all this.

They wouldn't even answer a question as to when they thought the murder might have taken place, saying that they're weighing on information from the coroner's office. But what is next in this legal process? The suspect, Nick Reiner force being held without bail here. Yeah.

So this is an active investigation, as was laid out in this press conference. What's going to happen next? The first thing is this mental health evaluation that's done with everybody that is in custody. The reason for this, there's an assessment of whether or not the individual, the defendant in this case, Nick Reiner, is competent to appear before the court.

That means at this point in time, is he able to understand the charges against him and participate in his own defense? So that is one threshold issue. Competency. The next step, if he is deemed competent, we will have an arraignment.

He will put in a plea. The type of charge that he has right here, murderous, special circumstance. There is, there is no bail available. It is a hard and fast rule.

No bail for that. After that, we will likely see a flurry of motions for both defense and prosecution, exchange of discovery. And again, this is an active investigation, so it may take a while for us to learn more about all of the underlying evidence that the prosecutors intend to use in court. Ultimately, if this case goes to trial.

Abyss Lee analyst Misty Maris, Guy Schwartz, before you, thank you so much for staying with us on this breaking news, that murder of a Hollywood icon and his wife. Now coming up, President Trump's chief of staff gets shockingly candid about her boss in the Trump administration's first year in a series of just published interviews. You're watching Meet the Press. Now sit with us.

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And welcome back. Joining NOW's California Democratic Congressman Pete Aguilar. He's also the Democratic Congress Caucus Chairman. Excuse me, Congressman, thank you so much for joining us here on the Press.

Now I want to start on healthcare. We heard some swing state Republicans earlier today say they're not ruling out joining Leader Jeffreys discharge petition on a three year extension of the Affordable Care act subsidies. Have you spoken to some of those members? I haven't spoken to some of those members, but that wouldn't surprise me.

Their own leadership won't engage on their bill. Democrats have made a priority of this. We have said loud and clear we want to extend the Affordable Care act tax credits. We want to ensure that 20 million people don't lose their health care coverage.

And that's exactly what Speaker Johnson has teed up. And he has pushed back time and time again on members of his own party who want to work with Democrats to solve this issue. This is these premium tax increases will raise the cost of health care for millions of people. It's untenable.

Democrats have stood opposed to this all year. A lot of Republicans went forward and gave more tax breaks to billionaires. And Congressman Leader Jeffries signaled that he would review the bipartisan bills on health care put on the table earlier this month. Have you reviewed them and are you willing to vote for either?

I've reviewed them. I've talked to the Democratic leads on each of those bills. What Leader Jeffries has said is that we will engage and have conversations with Republicans who are, you know, well meaning and put their constituents first. Now we want to see if they're willing to push back against their own leadership who time and time again have given them the stiff arm.

This is an incredibly unfortunate place to be. But Democrats continue to prioritize helping people and ensuring that these premiums don't increase. That is our focus. We come here to Congress to try to help people and we're willing to work with reasonable Republicans if they're willing to engage with us.

But they need to prove that they're willing to stand up to their own leadership. And so we're waiting to see if that happens. Is a short extension better than no extension? Do you risk letting the perfect be the enemy of the good here?

Well, we don't want that to happen, David. Honestly. We, you know, we want to ensure that people don't have these premium tax increases. We hear time and time again that Republicans are going to deal with this next month, next month in November.

They said we're going to deal with this in December. Now they're saying we're going to talk about this next year. Democrats are fed up with this. We're fed up with the speaker continuing to allow the people to have pain and have their Premiums increased by $1,000, 100%, 200% increases that people are facing.

This is happening in real time and the speaker of the House has allowed this. What he should allow is a vote on this three year clean extension so we can have more conversations about this. But unfortunately the speaker has set this up where we don't have that opportunity right now. So we're asking for Republicans to work with us.

Isn't the three year extension to dead on arrival in the Senate? Well, it had bipartisan support. It had four Republicans supporting it. So I wouldn't call that dead on arrival.

I had the most notes of the measures voted on in the Senate, over 50 votes. I know the pressure there is 60, but you know, let's pass it here and then let's let the Senate, you know, work its will and see what we can do. Congressman, earlier today, Speaker Johnson said Democrats do not want a solution on health care. He says that they want an issue in the midterms.

What's your response to the speaker on that point? Yeah, it's just, it's false and it's laughable. But that's exactly what, you know, what he has to say right now because he has let this slip through and he doesn't want to solve this healthcare crisis that he created. Keep in mind Gabe, Republicans have known this the entire year.

They went forward with their big ugly law that they got signed by the president in July. Leading up to that, they knew that these tax credits were expiring in December and they chose not to address it. They chose to prioritize getting tax cuts for billionaires while we have this affordability crisis and people are asking what about my costs, what about my health care? That's what we heard all throughout the fall.

And Speaker Johnson chose to do nothing. Of course he's gonna take the Democrats upon politics because there's no solution. The Republican Party has never put forward a health care plan for our country. Democrats have a plan.

It's called strengthening Medicare, strengthening Medicaid, Affordable Care act, tax credit. That's our plan. Congressman, I want to hear taking a recent deciders focus group where 14 voters who cast their ballots for President Trump in 2024 but voted for governor's elect standard and share on their respective states. They describe the Democratic Party as, quote, elitist, out of touch, ineffective, weak and unfocused.

That's from folks who ultimately voted Democratic this year. So how does the Democratic Party shape that perception? Oh, well, we talked about the affordability crisis. We talked about issues that people care about.

We spend less time focused on issues that people don't care about. And right now, those two gubernatorial candidates, those new governors will be sworn in in just a few weeks. Both, by the way, who work House members and leaders here, made the affordability crisis a front and center issue. They talked about issues that people care about and that's what House Democrats plan to do.

We want to talk about issues that ignite our country. We want to talk about issues that lower the cost that people face. Health care, housing, prescription drugs. Those are things that the American public wants us to focus on.

Not the shenanigans and not the distractions that Donald Trump continues to be occupied by Congressman Pete Aguilar of California. Congressman, thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Gary. And turning now to another major story here in Washington, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles is pushing back calling a wide ranging two part profile of her published today, Vanity Fair, a quote, disingenuously framed hippie style.

Wiles is saying that the article in which he speaks candidly about the president and top members of his Cabinet lacks context. And he sees White House correspondent Monica Alba has more. So Susie Trump. Do you know Susie Trump, sometimes referred to as Suzy Wiles?

Susie Trump, she's the great chief of staff, the most powerful woman in the West Wing, making waves with incredibly revealing new comments published in Vanity Fair today. White House Chief of Staff Susie Whiles weighing in on everything from the president's behavior, the top cabinet secretary's job performance to major decisions she says she disagreed with while talking about her alcoholic father and acknowledging her view would be clinically controversial. While saying the president, quote, has an alcoholic's personality and operates with a view that there's nothing he can't do. Nothing.

Zero, nothing. Whiles disclosing she had a, quote, loose agreement with the president that the score settling for his political opponents would end before the first 90 days are over, while acknowledging the president will, quote, go for an opportunity for retribution if he sees one. Also sharing that she had early reservations about pardoning the January 6th rioters and that she wished the president had handled his major terrorist policy differently, saying, quote, there have been a couple of times where I've been outvoted and if there's a tie, he wins the ice. Lady, we go with the ice.

Whiles is quoted as saying Attorney General Pam Bundy completely whiffed the initial rollout of the Jeffrey Epstein files, and she disputes President Trump's claim that former President Bill Clinton visited Epstein's island 28 times, saying, quote, there is no evidence of that and that her boss was wrong about there being anything incriminating about Clinton. In the files, she calls J.D. vance's evolution from a Trump critic to vice president as, quote, sort of political, and argues he's been a conspiracy theorist for a decade. While backing him at the 2028 nominee, Vance responded today in Pennsylvania, sometimes I am a conspiracy theorist, but I only believe in conspiracy theories that are true.

And by the way, Susie and I have joked in private and in public about that for a long time. While spoke to the Chris Whipple out a dozen times this year for the Vanity Fair spread, which also features VP Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Press Secretary Caroline Levitt. But today, the chief of staff, taking issue with what she called the disingenuously framed hit piece, saying significant context was disregarded from her on the record statements and that much of what she had to say about the president was left out of the story. I've never seen her be disloyal to the President of the United States, and that makes the best White House chief of staff that I think the president asked for.

And our thanks to Alcaba for that reporting. We should note that President Trump is standing by his chief of staff telling New York Post Day that he has not read the article on the quote. She's done a fantastic job. I'm joined now by the panel.

Shelby Dowckett, White House correspondent for Semaphore Antoine Seawright, Democratic strategist and founder and CEO of Blueprint Strategies, and Lance Strover, Republican strategist and former spokesperson for Doug Bergen's presidential campaign. Thank you all for joining me. Shelby, Susie Boss doesn't speak publicly very often. Why do you think she agreed to the Vanity Fair piece?

I think that's the question that everybody is asking, including the conservatives and people close to Trump that I have asked about this. And I'm not sure we do know that there are people who she has talked to for a very long time in Florida politics. The author of this piece is also known for doing articles and authoring books on chiefs of staff. So that could have been part of the calculus.

But I think the big question that Republicans have today is exactly that. Why did the administration choose to do this interview and choose to not only do the interview, but also do the the photo spread? Right. Because it wasn't just her interview.

There was a photo spread with Caroline Leather with Stephen Miller with Marco Rubio, vice president of answer. While I was referred to as a conspiracy theorist in part of this interview, he defended her during Penny just heard. Let's listen to more of his defense. And you know why I really love Susie Wiles?

Because Susie is who she is in the president's presence. She's the same exact person when the president isn't around. I've never seen Susie Wiles say something to the president and then go and counteract him or subvert his will behind the scenes. And that's what you want to staff her.

And as I mentioned, you worked for with the interior Secretary Doug Burnham previously. How do you think her comments will go over with him and other cabinet members? Well, look, I think there's only one person's opinion matters and that's Donald Trump. As you just know that he spoke her today and he played the clip earlier.

He called her Trump. That tells you all you need to know where she is on the petty order she's getting the Trump name attached to her. Look, Krista Cameron for CC insiders meetings. A lot of House intrigued.

We love talking about it here. I didn't find a lot of news and when I did read it before her quote, her quote came out on X to me it felt like there was missing context. And I think that's what the vice president addressed today. That's what the president addressed today.

I don't Think we're talking about this. Yeah. Antoine, are you surprised at all by the support that she's receiving from other White House officials today from the president? Sunlight is the best disaffected of the truth.

I think she wants to have some sort of freedom to her own cache, if you will. I also think this is probably a signal she has more days behind her than ahead of her in the role as chief of staff to the president. And so she's thinking about life after the job. But what I find it to be ironic is most of the things that she said in this interview.

Most Americans agree, even conservatives, when you talk to them behind the scenes. So this is not news in the sense that these are things that people not said about Donald Trump. I think they're surprised because she is the chief of staff. But I will also add on that note, there's a difference between having a job and having a role.

We should point out she wasn't extremely critical of the president. It was a situation where, yes, you take some more comments. For example, the comment about him having an alcoholic personality. That was in the context of, oh, she had an alcoholic father, so she was used to big personalities.

And that's what she's referring to, right? Yeah. And also President Trump responded to that comment specifically and said he said that himself about his own personality. And one thing I want to note, I think the biggest concerns that I'm hearing from Republicans about this interview, it's not Suzy well's comments about cabinet officials because as you said, J.D.

vance says I am a conspiracy theorist. Donald Trump says I do an alcoholic personality. When you call somebody a right wing zealot, that's a compliment and a lot of extremism. I think the concerns come when she starts talking about things like the Venezuela strikes.

Why are they doing that? Right. Or which goes against what the administration says. She basically said it is regime change.

And so when she starts talking about of those aspects, that's what I'm hearing. Republicans are concerned about. Trump. People are still shot by.

I want to switch gears here. President Trump has faced some backlash for his comments about the murder of Rob Reiner yesterday. He needs even facing backlash from some Republicans. Let's listen to some of that.

Your reaction to the president's post war presidential. It's time to be decent. The man and his wife were murdered by. Here's his son.

It's time for decency and kindness. I don't know trolling the family. So we need more class. I don't think the president should have come when the president says this kind of stuff.

It detracts from his policy achievements and from his agenda. And just speaking personally, I think when a human being is murdered or assassinated, as was Mr. Kirk, then regardless of your political beliefs, that person and his family should be shown respect. And to remind our viewers, the president has your post on social media that he brought out that he thought Rob Reiner was full Trump derangement syndrome.

This just a few hours after he was found. Daddy offered no direct condolences after the family. Do you expect more Republicans to issuing condemnation here? Because besides those users just heard it's been Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Nassey, but it hasn't been very widespread economy.

It's a sad day when members of his own party have to redeem his rights, that he has the right to remain silent, particularly about a death. I saw people in my home state of South Carolina be fired from their jobs because they made social media comments during the time of Charlie Kirk's death. I think it's beneath the office of the presidency. I also think this idea of selective empathy and limitations on compassion are counterproductive for universal consciousness.

I felt that way during the Charlie Kirk situation. I certainly feel that way now. I think we have to be better than this as Americans and for the majority party in Washington to always say, Democrats need tone down temperature. You don't see them saying these kind of comments.

When the President of the United States says this, in particular, Speaker Johnson, you know, shabby. I was speaking with the senior White House official yesterday, and they did not back off of these comments at all. They basically said, you know, I pressed this official. Why make this comment on this particular day?

Even if he had issues with Rob Reiner, why not just stay quiet? And this official said, well, he's transparent. It's relevant. He was hearing people asking him about it.

So he went ahead and made the comment. Don't expect any apology here. What is your response? No, I would not expect any apology.

When I talk to administration officials, that is essentially the same thing, the same response that I'm getting, which is, this is why people like him. It's because he is not a fraud. He's not pretending to like somebody even if they were murdered. But I do think that there are warning signs.

There are Republicans and there are people that I've talked to on the campaign trail, even before Donald Trump was elected, that were getting a little bit tired of these kinds of comments. And so there is kind of a fine line. The benefit, of course, is that this is Donald Trump's second time in office. So he is a little bit more unleashed this term because he's not running yet.

And that's the set. And then what would you advise him to do at this point? Not that anyone really could advise President Trump. Do you think this was an unforced error?

I think it's the president being the president, as I noted, this whole guy. I think people are still surprised. That candor that comes out of this White House voters from the president himself or vice president or the chief of staff. He is who he is.

I mean, about 77 million Americans went over this guy a little over a year ago, knowing exactly who he is and how he addresses certainly people that he doesn't get along with. I mean, let's face it, Rob Reiner said after he was murdered. Yeah, no, I got it. I'm saying, but we, you know how the president is.

How do you feel? This is a Democratic man. How would you feel? This is a Democratic president.

You've worked with Republican presidents. You've seen Democrat presidents. You've also seen them respond to acts of violence that impacts all of us as Americans. How would you feel if this was a Democratic president?

What conversation would Republicans be having in this moment? That's the part that pisses me off. Republicans want to give a day pass to Donald Trump, but yet when it comes to Democrats, if we come anywhere close, then there's some sort of issue that doesn't help us as Americans. There will be life after Donald Trump.

We will see more incidents after this. We've seen Bush respond, Obama respond to others. Donald Trump did not have response to it. Republicans have an obligation to call him out.

All right, I'll let you. I leave it there. I see one respond. I think I said in part.

We know Donald Trump does. We know how he speaks and the American public knows as well. He can be. The final orders on.

Antoine, thanks. Shelby. Thank you so much for joining the panel. Really appreciate it.

And up next, police released new footage of a person of interest in that deadly shooting at Brown University as a search for a suspect enters its fourth day. Stay with us. You're watching me, the press now. Stay informed with the NBC News app.

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Visit today.comxfinity for full on returns and details. Welcome back. We're expecting an update from Providence's mayor minutes from now on the search for the Brown University shooter who killed two students and injured nine others. That manhunt now is fourth day.

Providence police just releasing this enhanced video of what they call a person of interest in the attack. The video showing that person's whereabouts before the shooting at all count is the FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information to help authorities track down the killer. NBC's Marquis Francis pointing out from Providence, Rhode Island. And Marquis, what's the latest on the man?

Yeah, Gabe, really. Law enforcement officials have turned to the public for their assistance in the last hour. As you just noted, the FBI and Providence police releasing that enhanced video where you see this person of interest walking around several homes with their hands behind their back, just kind of scouting out. They're hoping the public, someone from the public can possibly help them ID this person of interest, maybe by the person's gate or something that person had on.

But we also know that time is of the essence. We have now surpassed 72 hours since this shooting. And my crew and I just earlier today we actually observed law enforcement, the atf, Providence police and state police going up and down the street right where this building of the attack occurred on Saturday, knocking on people's doors, looking for answers, looking for tips. But we heard from the attorney general's office yesterday and they said because Mr.

Holmes actually complicated this entire investigation because they're not getting as many people tips. That being said, Brown University is communicating with the greater community because they said a Brown you alert earlier today when reading part where they said the province Police Department has asked anyone from Brown who is embarrassed in Holly Building just behind me on Friday or Saturday, December 12th 13th, to arrange for an interview. In addition to this information, we now know that person of interest is standing 5 foot 8 inches tall, a stocky bill, and they now have a $50,000 reward for any information that leads to an ID and arrest and condition. And Marquis, what are you hearing from residents and people there in the community that there is a frustration that there is no suspect in custody?

Absolutely, Gabe, you're really hearing a mixed bag. There's sadness, there's anger, and there's also frustration. I spoke to a young woman, a senior at Brown University about how she's feeling in the general vibe with her group. Take a listen, watch the episode.

I will be leaving soon, but I have not changed my date of departure. And a big reason is that I feel better being here around the people that are also still here. I think for me it's it just feels a lot better to be around other people, especially other students who also went through this. I feel like we're all it just helps to have that feeling of community.

I think I feel better here rather than being, you know, in a house somewhere else by myself. And Gabe, I want to know that young woman is a senior. This is actually her last semester. So at a time where it would really be a celebration and relief, there is just heaviness.

And she mentioned the words grief and heaviness. Everyone I've spoken to, that's the prevailing sentiment. But as you can see behind me, there's this memorial here. People trying to come together any way they can.

Marquis Francis reporting for us in Providence, Rhode Island. Marquise, thank you. Thank you for watching. I'm Dave Gutierrez.

We're back tomorrow with more Meet the Press now. There's more ahead on NBC News now. Stay with us. I'm Craig Knoff.

Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. I've always been a glass half full kind of guy, and now I'm talking to some people who look at the world that way, too.

Some really fascinating folks who share their defining moments, their triumphs, their challenges, their stories are fun and quite candid. So I hope you'll join you each week. And who knows, you might just come away with your own glass Half Full. Search Glass Half Full with Craig Milford From Today on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast.