Killings of Rob Reiner and his wife stun Hollywood as decision on charges for their son looms

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police are set to present a case to prosecutors Tuesday following Nick Reiner's arrest in the killings of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, which stunned their communities in Hollywood and Democratic politics, where both were widely beloved.

Prosecutors are set to decide whether and how to charge 32-year-old Nick Reiner, who is being held in jail without bail. He was arrested several hours after his parents were found dead in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday, police said.

Rob Reiner was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom “All in the Family” who went on to direct films including “When Harry Met Sally..." and ”The Princess Bride" He was an outspoken liberal activist for decades. Michele Singer Reiner was a photographer, movie producer and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. They had been married for 36 years.

Representatives for the Reiner family did not respond to requests for comment, and it wasn’t clear if Nick Reiner had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. Police haven’t said anything about a motive for the killings.

Investigators believe Rob and Michelle Singer Reiner died from stab wounds, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official, who was briefed on the investigation, could not publicly discuss the details and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The killings were especially shocking given the warm comic legacy of the family. Rob Reiner was the son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, who died in 2020 at age 98.

Kathy Bates, who won an Oscar as the star of Rob Reiner's 1990 film “Misery,” was among those paying tribute to the couple.

“I loved Rob," Bates said in a statement. “He was brilliant and kind, a man who made films of every genre to challenge himself as an artist. He also fought courageously for his political beliefs. He changed the course of my life. Michele was a gifted photographer.”

Bill Clinton called the couple “good, generous people who made everyone who knew them better.”

“Hillary and I are heartbroken by the tragic deaths of our friends Rob and Michele Reiner," he said in a statement. “They inspired and uplifted millions through their work in film and television.”

Three months ago, Nick Reiner was photographed with his parents and siblings at the premiere of his father's film “Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues.”

He had spoken publicly of his struggles with addiction, cycling in and out of treatment facilities with bouts of homelessness in between through his teen years. Rob and Nick Reiner explored — and seemed to improve — their relationship through the making of the 2016 film, “Being Charlie.”

Nick Reiner co-wrote and Rob Reiner directed the film about the struggles of an addicted son and a famous father. It was not autobiographical but included several elements of their lives.

“It forced us to understand ourselves better than we had,” Rob Reiner told the AP in 2016. “I told Nick while we were making it, I said, ‘You know it doesn’t matter, whatever happens to this thing, we won already.’"

Rob Reiner was long one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood, and his work included some of the most memorable and endlessly watchable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including “This is Spinal Tap” and “A Few Good Men.”

He met Michele Singer Reiner on the set of “When Harry Met Sally...," and their meeting would inspire the film's shift to a happy ending, with stars Billy Crystal — one of Reiner's closest friends for decades — and Meg Ryan ending up together on New Year's Eve.

The Reiners were outspoken advocates for liberal causes and major Democratic donors.

President Donald Trump on Monday blamed Rob Reiner’s outspoken opposition to the president for the actor-director’s killing, delivering the unsubstantiated claim in a social media post that seemed intent on decrying his opponents even in the face of a tragedy.

Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed.

Nick Reiner arrives at the premiere of "Spinal Tap II: The End Continues" on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman announces developments about the murder case of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman announces developments about the murder case of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell announces developments about the murder case of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman announces developments about the murder case of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, left, and Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman announce developments about the murder case of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman, left, and LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell announce developments about the murder case of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

An aerial view shows Rob Reiner's residence Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)

A security guard stands outside Rob Reiner's residence Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)

Flowers cover the Walk of Fame star for Rob Reiner Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

FILE - Rob Reiner arrives at the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network's Respect Awards, in Beverly Hills, Calif., Friday, Oct. 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)

A police officer blocks off a street near Rob Reiner's residence Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

ADDITION ADDS MAIDEN NAME: FILE - Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner arrive on the red carpet at the State Department for the Kennedy Center Honors gala dinner, Dec. 2, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File)

Rob Reiner, from left, Michele Singer Reiner, Romy Reiner, Nick Reiner, Maria Gilfillan, and Jake Reiner arrive at the premiere of "Spinal Tap II: The End Continues" on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Flowers cover the Walk of Fame star for Rob Reiner Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday the Pentagon will not publicly release unedited video of a U.S. military strike that killed two survivors of an initial attack on a boat allegedly carrying cocaine in the Caribbean, as questions mounted in Congress about the incident and the overall buildup of U.S. military forces near Venezuela.

President Donald Trump further ramped up the pressure late Tuesday by announcing a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers into Venezuela, which has long relied on oil revenue as the lifeblood of its economy.

Hegseth said members of the Armed Services Committee in the House and Senate would have an opportunity this week to review the attack video, but did not say whether all members of Congress would be allowed to see it as well.

“Of course we're not going to release a top secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters as he exited a closed-door briefing with senators.

Trump's Cabinet members overseeing national security were on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to defend a campaign that has killed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes on vessels in international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Overall, they defended the campaign as a success, saying it has prevented drugs from reaching American shores, and they pushed back on concerns that it is stretching the bounds of lawful warfare.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters the campaign is a “counter-drug mission” that is “focused on dismantling the infrastructure of these terrorist organizations that are are operating in our hemisphere, undermining the security of Americans, killing Americans, poisoning Americans.”

Lawmakers have been focused on the Sept. 2 attack on two survivors as they sift through the rationale for a broader U.S. military buildup in the region. On the eve of the briefings, the U.S. military said it attacked three more boats believed to have been smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing eight people.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Hegseth had come “empty handed” to the briefing, without a pledge to more broadly release the video of the Sept. 2 strike.

“If they can’t be transparent on this, how can you trust their transparency on all the other issues swirling about in the Caribbean?” the New York Democrat said.

Senators on both sides of the aisle said the officials left them in the dark about Trump's goals when it comes to President Nicolás Maduro or sending U.S. forces directly to the South American nation.

“I want to address the question, is it the goal to take him out? If it’s not the goal to take him out, you’re making a mistake,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who defended the legality of the campaign and said he wanted to see Maduro removed from power.

The U.S. has deployed warships, flown fighter jets near Venezuelan airspace and seized an oil tanker as part of its campaign against Maduro, who has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from office. Maduro said on a weekly state television show Monday that his government still does not know the whereabouts of the tanker’s crew. He criticized the United Nations for not speaking out against what he described as an “act of piracy” against “a private ship carrying Venezuelan oil.”

Maduro's government for years has evaded U.S. oil sanctions by smuggling its crude into global supply chains on a shadow fleet of unflagged tankers.

Trump's Republican administration has not sought any authorization from Congress for action against Venezuela. The go-it-alone approach, experts say, has led to problematic military actions, none more so than the strike that killed two people who had climbed on top of part of a boat that had been partially destroyed in an initial attack.

“If it’s not a war against Venezuela, then we’re using armed force against civilians who are just committing crimes,” said John Yoo, a Berkeley Law professor who helped craft the George W. Bush administration's legal arguments and justification for aggressive interrogation after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. “Then this question, this worry, becomes really pronounced. You know, you’re shooting civilians. There’s no military purpose for it."

Yet for the first several months, Congress received little more than a trickle of information about why or how the U.S. military was conducting the operations. At times, lawmakers have learned of strikes from social media after the Pentagon posted videos of boats bursting into flames.

Hegseth now faces language included in an annual military policy bill that threatens to withhold a quarter of his travel budget if the Pentagon does not provide unedited video of the strikes to the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services.

For some, the controversy over the footage demonstrates the flawed rationale behind the entire campaign.

“The American public ought to see it. I think shooting unarmed people floundering in the water, clinging to wreckage, is not who we are as a people," said Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who has been an outspoken critic of the campaign.

But senators were told the Trump administration won’t release all of the Sept. 2 attack footage because it would reveal U.S. military practices on intelligence gathering, said Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. She said the reasoning ignores that the military has already released footage of the initial attack.

“They just don’t want to reveal the part that suggests war crimes,” she said.

Some GOP lawmakers are determined to dig into the details of the Sept. 2 attack. Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who ordered the second strike, was expected back on Capitol Hill on Wednesday for classified briefings with the Senate and House Armed Services committees. The committees would also review video of the Sept. 2 strikes, Hegseth said.

Still, many Republicans emerged from the briefings backing the campaign, defending their legality and praising the “exquisite intelligence” that is used to identify targets. House Speaker Mike Johnson called the strike “certainly appropriate” and “necessary to protect the United States and our interests.”

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Associated Press writer Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed reporting.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., departs a briefing on military strikes near Venezuela, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Dan Caine arrives to brief members of Congress on military strikes near Venezuela, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives to brief members of Congress on military strikes near Venezuela, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives to brief members of Congress on military strikes near Venezuela, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth departs the Capitol after briefing members of Congress on military strikes near Venezuela, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives to brief members of Congress on military strikes near Venezuela, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio walks to a secure room in the basement of the Capitol to brief senators on military strikes near Venezuela, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth walks to the auditorium to brief members of congress on military strikes near Venezuela at the Capitol, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

A runner jogs past the U.S. Capitol shortly after sunrise, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, accompanied by Paraguay's Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano, speaks during the signing ceremony of the United States-Paraguay Status of Forces Agreement at the State Department in Washington, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

President Donald Trump speaks during a Mexican Border Defense Medal presentation in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Washington, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, looks on. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a Mexican Border Defense Medal presentation in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)