Nick Reiner to enter plea in stabbing deaths of parents Rob and Michele Reiner
Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner attend Human Rights Campaign’s 2025 Los Angeles Dinner at Fairmont Century Plaza on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Human Rights Campaign)
(NEW YORK) — Nick Reiner is set to enter a plea to murder charges on Monday following his arrest late last year in the stabbing deaths of his parents, renowned director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Reiner.
The 32-year-old faces two counts of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of multiple murders.
He was set to enter a plea last month at a hearing in Los Angeles, before his defense attorney, Alan Jackson, withdrew from the case during the court appearance. Nick Reiner agreed to delay his arraignment and was assigned a public defender.
He remains in jail on no bail.
Jackson told reporters after court that he had to withdraw as Nick Reiner’s counsel due to “circumstances beyond our control, but more importantly, circumstances beyond Nick’s control.”
“Pursuant to the law in California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder,” he added. “We wish him the very best moving forward.”
A Reiner family spokesperson said at the time, “They have the utmost trust in the legal process and will not comment further on matters related to the legal proceedings.”
Nick Reiner made a brief first court appearance on Dec. 17, during which he waived the right to a speedy arraignment.
Since then, sources told ABC News that law enforcement and defense attorneys had been working to piece together Nick Reiner’s psychiatric and substance abuse history.
He has a documented history of addiction and substance abuse treatment, and friends have told investigators that his mental health had been deteriorating prior to the fatal stabbings.
Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner were found stabbed to death in their Brentwood home on Dec. 14, 2025.
The night before, Nick Reiner — who had been living on his parents’ property — got into an argument with Rob Reiner at a holiday party and was seen acting strangely, sources told ABC News.
Nick Reiner was taken into custody in downtown Los Angeles hours after the bodies were discovered.
Rob and Michele Reiners’ other children, Jake and Romy Reiner, said in a statement following their parents’ deaths, “Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing.”
“The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends,” they said.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaks during an event with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House on October 06, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Trump has been adamant that the U.S. will take control of Venezuela’s oil. Wednesday morning, Energy Secretary Chris Wright explained how the Trump administration envisions this will actually work, saying the U.S. will control the flow and sale of Venezuela’s oil and the revenue that comes from those sales.
“Instead of the oil being blockaded, as it is right now, we’re going to let the market, let the oil flow, sell that market to United States refineries and to around the world to bring better oil supplies, but have those sales done by the U.S. government and deposited into accounts controlled by the U.S. government,” Wright told an energy industry conference organized by Goldman Sachs in Miami.
“And then from there, those funds can flow back into Venezuela to benefit the Venezuelan people, but we need to have that leverage and that control of those oil sales to drive the changes that simply must happen in Venezuela,” Wright said.
Wright also said that he is in “active dialogue” with the Venezuelans and the oil and gas companies that were there before.
“It is going to require this, this cooperation between and pressure between the United States and Venezuela. If we control the flow of oil, the sales of [that] oil, and the flow of the cash that comes from those sales, we have large leverage, but without large leverage, as we’ve seen in the last 25 years, you don’t get change,” he said.
As for what happens to the revenue from those sales, which Wright said would be “deposited into accounts controlled by the U.S. government,” it would then “flow back into Venezuela to benefit the Venezuelan people, but we need to have that leverage,” he said.
Wright did not detail how much of that revenue would ultimately flow back into Venezuela. He did say that several hundred thousand barrels of oil could start to flow from Venezuela in the “short to medium term.”
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday night that Venezuela will turn over 30 to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the U.S. Sources told ABC News that those barrels represent the first tranche to be handed over to U.S. control.
Sources also confirmed to ABC News that some sanctions against Venezuela would be lifted to allow for the transport and sale of the oil on global markets, and that the revenue from those sales would be deposited into accounts controlled by the U.S., as Wright said.
The White House declined to comment but did not dispute the reports.
Wright on Wednesday echoed Trump in saying that some sanctions against Venezuela may be lifted, or at least that the U.S. would enable imports of some crucial equipment.
“And as we make progress with the government, you know, we will enable the importing of parts and equipment and services to kind of prevent the industry from collapsing, stabilize the production, and then as quickly as possible, start to see it growing again,” Wright said.
Wright also described the current energy infrastructure in Venezuela as “not good,” saying that it had degraded under “decades of under-investment, decades of corruption.”
“It’s not, of course, just oil and gas. Think of the electricity grid. That’s the backbone of a society,” Wright further said, adding that he’s been talking to leaders in the oil industry about how to improve the infrastructure.
“We’re either going to make that happen, make those changes in Venezuela and the capital will flow, or if we can’t successfully make those changes in Venezuela, the capital won’t flow,” Wright said.
Luigi Mangione (R) appears for a suppression of evidence hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Criminal Court on December 01, 2025 in New York City. (Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A year to the day after Luigi Mangione allegedly stalked and gunned down United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk, the 27-year-old alleged killer was identified in court by one of the police officers who first encountered him in Altoona, Pennsylvania, following the shooting.
“He’s the gentleman right there sitting between the female and the male. Looks like he’s wearing a suit,” patrolman Tyler Frye said, pointing with his left hand.
Mangione’s lawyers are attempting to convince the judge overseeing his case to prohibit prosecutors from using critical evidence, including the alleged murder weapon and Mangione’s journal. They argue the evidence was unlawfully seized from his backpack without a warrant during his arrest.
Mangione — in court for the third day of a pretrial hearing in his state murder case — flipped a pen in his right hand and then began writing on a white lined legal pad, largely ignoring body camera footage of his arrest that played on screens around the courtroom.
Frye, 26, was still a probationary officer, on the job less than a year, when he responded to a McDonalds on E. Plank Road after the dispatcher told them a manager had called 911 to report someone who looked like the person wanted in the shooting.
On the body camera footage played in court, someone is heard directing the officers, “He’s back there.”
Frye is seen in the footage standing a few feet from Mangione while Mangione nibbled a hash brown as the officers stalled for time by engaging in small talk about the Steak McMuffin.
Another officer is heard asking Mangione, “Do you know what all this nonsense is about?” Mangione is heard replying, “We’re going to find out I guess.”
Officers subsequently informed Mangione he was under “official police investigation” and asked him his real name. Frye, on the video, is seen writing the name “Luigi Mangione” in a small notebook and providing his date of birth. At that point, Mangione is read is Miranda rights.
Defense attorneys are trying to exclude statements Mangione made and the contents of his backpack, including a 3D-printed gun and a red notebook.
“Where were you standing in relation to the backpack?” prosecutor Joel Seidemann asked. “Right near it,” Frye replied.
“Were you aware of that backpack?” Seidemann asked. “I was,” Frye said.
“When did you become aware of it?” asked Seidemann.
“About the time I walked in,” Frye replied.
The hearing has the potential to sideline what prosecutors say is some of the strongest evidence of Mangione’s guilt, and has provided the most detailed preview to date of their case against the alleged killer.
Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition figure and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, attends a press conference on December 11, 2025 in Oslo, Norway. (Rune Hellestad/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said Friday she was “absolutely grateful” to President Donald Trump after meeting with him Thursday and presenting him with her Nobel Peace Prize medal. The president called it a “wonderful gesture of mutual respect.”
“María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. He also said that Machado was a “wonderful woman who has been through so much” and that it was a great honor to meet her.
Machado, in turn, said Friday it “took a lot of courage” for Trump to take action against Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
Following the Thursday meeting, a White House official confirmed to ABC News that Trump did accept the medal.
Further details about the closed-door meeting were not immediately revealed by the White House. Asked about the meeting by ABC News’ Mary Bruce, Trump said it went “great.”
Machado told reporters as she was exiting the White House that she presented Trump with her prize and reflected on the history between the two countries.
“I told him this … Listen to this — 200 years ago, General Lafayette gave Simon Bolivar a medal with George Washington’s face on it. Bolivar, since then, kept that medal for the rest of his life,” she told reporters.
“Actually, when you see his portraits, you can see the medal there. And it was given by General Lafayette as a sign of the brotherhood between the United States, people of United States, and the people of Venezuela in their fight for freedom against tyranny. And 200 years in history, the people of Bolivar are giving back to the heir of Washington, a medal, in this case a medal of a Nobel Peace Prize, and a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom,” she added.
Simon Bolivar liberated Venezuela and several other Latin American countries from Spanish rule in the 1800s. The Marquis de Lafayette was a French national who volunteered to fight with American colonists during the Revolutionary War and eventually rose to be one of George Washington’s most trusted generals.
Machado didn’t offer any more details about her meeting with Trump.
She won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her work “promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela” and her push to move the country from dictatorship to democracy.
Machado dedicated the prize to Trump, along with the people of Venezuela, shortly after it was announced in October 2025.
She said last week that she would like to give or share the prize with Trump, who oversaw the successful U.S. operation to capture Maduro. Maduro faces drug trafficking charges in New York, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
“I certainly would love to be able to personally tell him that we believe — the Venezuelan people, because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people — certainly want to, to give it to him and share it with him,” Machado told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday. “What he has done is historic. It’s a huge step towards a democratic transition.”
The Norwegian Nobel Institute issued a statement last week saying that once the Nobel Peace Prize is announced, it “can neither be revoked, shared, nor transferred to others. Once the announcement has been made, the decision stands for all time.”
When asked earlier this month whether Machado could become the next leader of Venezuela, Trump said it would be “very tough for her” because she “doesn’t have the support or the respect within the country.”
Trump said Wednesday he had a “great conversation” with Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, their first since authoritarian Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro was seized by the U.S. on Jan. 3.
“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during a bill signing in the Oval Office. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”
The president said last week on his social media platform that he had “cancelled the previously expected second Wave of Attacks” on Venezuela after the government released several political prisoners, but he added that “all ships will stay in place for safety and security purposes.”
Trump has coveted and openly campaigned for winning the Nobel Prize himself since his return to office. White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung slammed the Nobel Committee for its decision after Machado was announced as the most recent winner.
“[Trump] has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will,” Cheung said in an X post. “The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”
Jorgen Watne Frydens, the Nobel Committee chair, was asked about Trump’s “campaign” for the prize last year but denied it had any impact on the decision-making process.
“We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what, for them, leads to peace,” Frydens said. “This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. We base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”
