Rob Reiner said only regret was that the shooter missed trump
This fact-check may be outdated. Consider refreshing it to get the most current information.
Executive summary
Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were found dead in their Los Angeles home and their son, Nick Reiner, was arrested on suspicion of murder, after which President Trump posted that Reiner’s death was “reportedly due to the anger he caused others” and repeatedly called Reiner “deranged” and said he “was not a fan” [1] [2]. The president’s remarks provoked swift, bipartisan condemnation from lawmakers, celebrities and media outlets who said the comments politicized a family tragedy and offered no evidence tying Reiner’s criticisms of Trump to the killings [3] [4] [5].
1. The immediate facts: deaths, arrest and Trump’s post
Los Angeles authorities found Rob Reiner and his wife Michele dead in their Brentwood home and arrested their 32‑year‑old son, Nick Reiner, who was booked on suspicion of murder; police had not attributed a motive in the public statements cited [1] [2]. The next day President Trump wrote on Truth Social that the Reiners “passed away … reportedly due to the anger he caused others” and described Rob Reiner as “tortured and struggling” and suffering from “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME,” then reiterated in the Oval Office that he “was not a fan” and called Reiner “a deranged person” [2] [6].
2. Why Trump’s framing became explosive
News outlets and lawmakers described the post as injecting partisan politics into an active homicide investigation and a family tragedy because Trump suggested the deaths were a direct consequence of Reiner’s criticism of him — a causal claim presented without evidence in the reporting cited [3] [4] [2]. Multiple mainstream outlets reported that authorities had not linked political views to the killings, undercutting the president’s implication [2] [1].
3. Bipartisan backlash and who pushed back
Republican and Democratic figures publicly condemned the president’s remarks. Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie called the comments “inappropriate and disrespectful” given the circumstances, and prominent Republicans joined Democrats and celebrities in criticizing the move to politicize the deaths [5] [4]. Media organizations from Reuters and the BBC to The New York Times and The Washington Post documented the swift bipartisan criticism [3] [7] [2] [4].
4. The president’s defense and repetition
After the backlash, Trump doubled down in person, repeating his characterization of Reiner as “deranged” and defending his assertion that Reiner had “driven people CRAZY” with his anti‑Trump activism, according to outlets that covered his Oval Office remarks [1] [6]. Reporting shows he reiterated his dislike and framed Reiner as partly responsible for broader accusations such as the “Russian hoax,” continuing the political attack even as the criminal investigation was unfolding [1].
5. Media coverage: consensus and differences
Major outlets consistently reported the timeline (death, arrest, Trump post) and emphasized that no official motive connected the killings to politics at the time of reporting [2] [1]. Differences among outlets appear in tone and the prominence of commentary: some focused on the outrage and political consequences [4] [3], others on the president’s continued public posture and defense of his remarks [1] [6].
6. What available reporting does not say
Available sources do not mention any investigative finding that Rob Reiner’s political positions caused or motivated the killings; law enforcement had not publicly linked political views to the crime in the cited reporting [2] [1]. They also do not report any corroboration for Trump’s claim that the deaths were “due to the anger he caused others,” so that causal assertion remains unsubstantiated in current coverage [2].
7. Political and journalistic implications
Reporting highlights that a sitting president publicly attributing motive in an active homicide without evidence alters the political framing of a private tragedy and can prompt rare pushback from within his own party [5] [8]. News organizations and public figures reacted as if the president’s remarks risked inflaming partisan tensions around a criminal investigation that, in the accounts cited, was proceeding without an official political motive [3] [2].
Limitations: this briefing synthesizes the articles provided; it relies on their timelines and direct quotes and does not incorporate later developments beyond those sources. Each factual point above is drawn from specific reporting cited [1] [4] [5] [3] [8] [7] [2] [6].