What exactly did Rob Reiner say about the Trump assassination attempt and where was it reported?
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Executive summary
A viral claim that Rob Reiner said he “wished” the would‑be assassin who shot at Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, “hadn’t missed” is unsupported by reporting and has been debunked by fact‑checkers; investigators and multiple news outlets found no evidence Reiner made such a statement [1] [2]. The allegation circulated on social media and was flagged by Snopes as unfounded, while mainstream coverage of Reiner in December 2025 focused on his death, President Trump’s controversial response, and statements from other public figures — not on any admission by Reiner endorsing political violence [1] [3] [4].
1. The viral accusation and its source trail
The specific claim that Reiner wished the July 2024 Butler gunman “hadn’t missed” appeared in social posts and a shared graphic that Snopes examined and archived; Snopes reports the message circulated on Facebook among other platforms but that investigators could not find primary source evidence of Reiner ever making that remark [1].
2. What the records and reporters actually show Reiner said — or didn’t say
Multiple outlets and commentators who reviewed Reiner’s public record concluded there is no verifiable public comment by Reiner endorsing the Butler attempt: opinion columns and reporting noted that Reiner did not make a public statement supporting political assassination, and at least two pieces explicitly said Reiner made no public comment about the Butler assassination attempt [2] [5].
3. How fact‑checkers and mainstream outlets handled the allegation
Snopes investigated the viral posts and labeled the claim unfounded after being unable to locate a primary source in which Reiner expressed a wish that the shooter had succeeded, and noted the graphic’s circulation as the likely vector for the rumor [1]. Mainstream coverage of the Reiner story in December 2025 — including reporting by PBS, Reuters and others — centered on the couple’s homicide, the arrest of their son, and President Trump’s incendiary comments, not any evidence that Reiner advocated violence against Trump [3] [4].
4. Reiner’s documented stance on political violence and related comments
Reporting summarizes Reiner’s public posture as anti‑violence: coverage notes he condemned political violence in other contexts and that he expressed horror at politically motivated shootings such as the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, which Reiner said should be widely condemned — material that undercuts the likelihood of him publicly praising an assassination attempt [6] [7].
5. Why this rumor spread and how it was weaponized politically
The false attribution fed existing partisan narratives about cultural figures and Trump: social posts recycled the claim to cast Reiner as a hypocrite in the wake of his death and to justify harsh responses from political allies of the president, and fact‑checking outlets trace its spread to social graphics and partisan pages rather than any verifiable quotation from Reiner [1] [8]. Mainstream outlets also documented how Trump’s own attacks on Reiner after the homicide intensified attention and polarized reactions, creating fertile ground for misinformation to take hold [3] [9] [4].
6. Bottom line — what exactly was said and where it was reported
No credible reporting has produced a sourced quotation in which Rob Reiner said he wished the Butler gunman “hadn’t missed”; Snopes reviewed the viral posts and concluded the claim is unfounded, and several newspapers and commentators who catalogued Reiner’s public statements likewise report no such remark [1] [2] [5]. Coverage that addressed the allegation typically framed it as online misinformation and instead reported on Reiner’s death, the arrest of his son, condemnations of political violence, and President Trump’s controversial social‑media response [3] [4] [10].