What exact words did Donald Trump use in public statements about Rob Ryner's death?
This fact-check may be outdated. Consider refreshing it to get the most current information.
Executive summary
Donald Trump posted a 117‑word statement on his platform beginning “A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood,” in which he called Rob Reiner “a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director” and blamed Reiner’s death in part on what Trump labeled “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME” (sometimes abbreviated “TDS”), concluding “May Rob and Michele rest in peace” [1] [2] [3]. News outlets report Trump explicitly said Reiner’s “obsession” and “paranoia” about Trump “drove people CRAZY,” and the post described Reiner’s alleged affliction as “massive, unyielding, and incurable” [2] [1].
1. What Trump actually wrote — the quoted lines reported by multiple outlets
Multiple outlets published substantial verbatim excerpts from Trump’s Truth Social post. Reported quotations include the opening phrase, “A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood,” a main line describing Reiner as “a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star,” and the passage attributing Reiner’s behavior to a “mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS” [1] [2] [3]. Coverage also quotes Trump saying Reiner “drove people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights” and ends with “May Rob and Michele rest in peace!” [2].
2. How outlets summarized the thrust of the post
News organizations frame the post as a politicized and mocking response to a homicide that police are investigating. AP, The Washington Post and The Guardian all report Trump “posited” or “blamed” that Reiner’s outspoken opposition to him “caused” or was tied to his death, and they describe the comments as a departure from presidential norms of condolence [4] [5] [6]. Axios and Politico emphasize the phrase “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and note Republican as well as Democratic criticism [7] [3].
3. Reactions documented in reporting: bipartisan backlash and GOP pushback
Coverage records swift backlash across the political spectrum. Celebrities and lawmakers called the post “disgusting,” “depraved,” and “inappropriate,” with some Republicans publicly rebuking it as “not Presidential,” while others defended or avoided direct criticism; Axios and Politico detail those responses [6] [8] [3]. Outlets such as Newsweek and Deadline highlight outrage that the president attacked a man who had been found murdered alongside his wife while police investigated the deaths [2] [9].
4. Contextual details reporters connected to the statement
Reporting places the post amid an unfolding homicide investigation: Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found dead in their Brentwood/Los Angeles home; police treated the scene as an apparent homicide and later arrested their son, Nick Reiner, who was being held on $4 million bail, according to coverage [6] [3]. Several outlets stress that Trump made the remarks while authorities were still investigating, which forms part of why critics called the post shocking [4] [10].
5. Disputed implications and what the sources do not say
News outlets uniformly present Trump’s words as linking Reiner’s longtime criticism of Trump to the circumstances around his death; some characterize that as “posited” or “suggested” causation [5] [4]. Available sources do not include the full 117‑word post in a single verbatim transcript from a major outlet, so precise punctuation and every word beyond the commonly quoted phrases are not provided in the current reporting [1] [2]. Available sources do not mention any separate, longer White House‑issued formal statement beyond the Truth Social post [1] [2].
6. Why the exact words matter and how media treated them
Reporters treated the specific quoted phrases — “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME,” “drove people CRAZY,” “tortured and struggling” — as central because they convert a customary condolence into a political attack during an active homicide probe, prompting bipartisan criticism [2] [4] [6]. Outlets emphasize both the moral judgment and potential political calculation in repurposing a death into a commentary about a critic’s mental state [9] [5].
Limitations: this summary uses the direct quotations and paraphrases printed by the cited outlets; a full verbatim copy of the entire Truth Social post as printed in one source is not included among the provided materials [1] [2].