Did Rob Reiner publicly say he wished the Trump shooter hadn’t missed?
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Executive summary
No credible reporting in the provided sources shows Rob Reiner publicly saying he “wished the Trump shooter hadn’t missed.” Coverage instead records Reiner offering a conciliatory public response to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and widespread reporting that President Trump later attacked Reiner after Reiner and his wife were killed, with numerous outlets noting there is no evidence Reiner celebrated political violence [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. What the claim alleges and why it matters
The specific allegation — that Rob Reiner publicly wished a shooter targeting a Trump supporter had succeeded — is an accusation of celebrating political violence and would be a significant statement about a public figure’s stance on partisan violence; no article supplied in the reporting documents Reiner making such a statement, and reputable outlets instead describe Reiner responding to a separate assassination with grace and forgiveness, which directly contradicts the alleged quote [1] [2].
2. What Rob Reiner actually said about the Charlie Kirk shooting, as reported
Multiple mainstream sources record that Reiner responded to the assassination of Charlie Kirk with remarks emphasizing compassion and forgiveness rather than triumphalism; Axios summarized Reiner’s public comments as “I don't care what your political beliefs are … That’s not acceptable,” and noted Reiner praised the Kirk family’s forgiveness at a memorial, while others quoted colleagues recalling Reiner’s grace in that episode [1] [2].
3. How the allegation appears in media and political reaction
After the Reiners’ deaths, President Trump and some partisan outlets attacked Rob Reiner, prompting some right-wing commentary that implied Reiner had been hostile toward conservatives; those attacks included broad claims about Reiner’s political rhetoric but the reporting gathered here shows no sourced instance of Reiner saying he wanted a shooter to succeed, and several outlets explicitly framed Trump’s comments as baseless and inflammatory [5] [4] [6] [7].
4. What mainstream outlets documented about Reiner, Trump, and the aftermath
Major outlets including AP, The New York Times, BBC, PBS, The Washington Post, Time and others focused on President Trump’s Truth Social post and later comments blaming “Trump derangement syndrome” for the killings and doubled-down by calling Reiner “a deranged person,” while those same outlets reported there was no evidence linking Reiner’s criticism of Trump to the murders and noted the accused killer in police custody — but none of those reports cite Reiner as having advocated or celebrated political violence [3] [4] [8] [9] [10] [6].
5. Alternative narratives, partisan sources, and limits of the record
Some partisan sites and commentators seized on Reiner’s long record of criticizing Trump to imply moral culpability or to claim he celebrated violence, and outlets such as Gateway Pundit amplified strong partisan framing of events; however, in the reporting provided there is a consistent absence of any sourced quotation from Reiner expressing a wish that a shooter “hadn't missed,” and the public record in these sources shows the opposite—Reiner urging restraint and acknowledging forgiveness—so the claim lacks corroboration in mainstream reporting [11] [12] [1] [2].
6. Bottom line and reporting caveat
The allegation that Rob Reiner publicly said he wished the Trump shooter hadn’t missed is not supported by the supplied reporting: contemporary, mainstream coverage records conciliatory comments from Reiner after the Charlie Kirk assassination and extensive scrutiny of President Trump’s attacks on Reiner following the Reiners’ deaths, but none of the cited pieces provide evidence that Reiner made the quoted statement; if other sources exist outside the set reviewed, they were not provided and therefore cannot be confirmed or refuted here [1] [2] [3].