Authorities Give Update In Brown University Killings

24:38And then since the shooting, I believe some webpages for students or faculty have been taken down. Is that a response to any external threats to anyone in the community? We have been working very closely with law enforcement to provide them with all of the internal to Brown information that they need to do this investigation. It's their investigation. They're the professionals. So we're providing information. we're not in the job of reviewing it for them. I know nothing about webpages being taken down as part of this. It's the first I've heard it. In the back. You want people to feel safe. Can you say this person of interest is no longer in Providence, no longer in Rhode Island, running out of the state?

25:24Do we have any sense at all? I can't speak to the investigation, and if there's a follow-up for either the general or the colonel, I'm sure they'd be happy to answer it. But I'll restate what I've said several times now, which remains true as another day passes. Since the initial call came in at 4.05 p.m. on Saturday, we have not received, and this is now updated with another 24 hours have passed, a single credible specific threat to the area, to the city related to this event, and as far as I know, to the state. And I know that this is a question that many people are struggling with, and it's difficult conversations that I've had with many, many of my constituents, including a very anxious parent this morning.

26:20The best information we have is that there is no credible, actionable, specific threat that has occurred since Saturday. And in order to enhance and ensure the safety of our community, we have stepped up law enforcement efforts throughout the city in a precautionary measure, an abundance of caution, to try to give comfort and confidence to people who have to take the steps forward in their daily lives, who have to take their kids to school, who have to get to work. And that is the honest answer and the best answer we have at this time as the days continue to pass. Mr. Mayor, with that, can you tell us where you believe he may be?

27:05Is he in the state? Is he in the area? So that question was asked as well. So, Colonel, I'll let you answer that. Yeah, we'll continue to investigate that. That's not, listen, we're looking for the same answers as the mayor stated. We haven't really received any credible info as far as any other calls of that nature. But I'll tell you that we have enhanced our presence in a part of the city, and we're using every resource we have and every call that comes in. respond to it immediately. Are you working with any neighboring states? It's Pat, so we're working our way across the room here. Pat. Pat Ford, Cole, with your radio.

27:39In a case involving a hit-and-run accident in the vicinity of Brown University that was litigated by the Office of Attorney General Norena in 2023, Brown University Police Detective John Remke stated that the university maintained several thousand video surveillance cameras and license plate readers on Brown University campus and surrounding campus. Now, this is an addition, obviously, to the Providence Police Data Center. Attorney General Noron, your department litigated that case, essentially giving your department a thorough understanding of the landscape. Why is it there are more video or metadata, and were those cameras all operational?

28:11Yeah, I can't speak to what was operational or wasn't, but I will say this, that, and I've answered this question a few times today, and I'll try to do my best to answer it again. So somebody reported, it might have been The Globe, that there are 800 cameras or so on the campus. It might have been The Globe. 1 ,200. But this building is on the very edge of the campus. I know that building well. I had two sons who spent a good chunk of their lives there. It's at the very edge of the campus. It's not in the heartland of the campus. It's not the green. And there are several greens. It's not any of the three greens as I remember them.

28:45So it's right on the edge of the campus. And where the shooting took place is at the very edge of that building on the edge of the campus. And so, as those of you who know Providence know, you are very quickly into a residential neighborhood, which is why the video footage you're seeing of this defendant's, excuse me, wrong word, person of interest movements, excuse me, are pre - and post-shooting are in that neighborhood. So the building is on the edge of the Brown campus, where the shooting took place, is at the edge of that building, and then you're very quickly into a residential neighborhood.

29:22There is no footage, I'll try to say it again, there is no footage that depicts this individual that would be useful in identifying him that we have not released. Frankly, the not very helpful quality of the initial footage that our standard is pretty low. If we thought it was at all helpful, we would have and will release it. John. A follow-up question, real quick follow-up. Does Brown University or the federal government employ Stingray or any other mass surveillance equipment in and around the Brown University campus? And again, remember that the Brown University detective said that these applied and said these cameras extend in the neighborhood.

30:03So the other question is, does mass surveillance by Brown University end at campus borders, or is there anything in the Flair Street community in the downtown area or anywhere else in the community?

30:16You asked me this question last night, Pat, and I don't have any knowledge of those systems. Respect the mayor, I'm not asking you, I'm asking the Attorney General or the FBI. Okay, yeah, there is no mass surveillance. Well, first of all, I'm not sure what mass surveillance means, Pat, but by any standard, I wouldn't describe it as mass surveillance by Brown University. There are cameras that they have in place in an effort to protect their students. And unfortunately here, given location, given age of building, we just don't have additional video footage. Trust me, I wish we did. But we don't.

30:54And so we're doing everything we can to find additional footage from the neighborhoods, reinvent his path of travel, and continue to canvass for either people who may have seen him, encountered him, or who have video evidence that could supplement what you already have. John, I have a question for Ejit Dox of the FBI. Ejit, so this happened Saturday night, and then last night you have an MIT professor. I know the question was asked, but this has to work. What we see on this video is seemingly someone very cautious, almost like a professional, kind of like the D.C. pipe bomber that is circling several times.

31:33What information do you have? That MIT Jewish professor's work plan was basically executed. Do you have any intelligence how that person was operating there? You know, it's interesting. Colonel Noble reached out to me very early. Their lead on that particular incident, he made sure that if there's any intelligence, any information in which is connected to what we have here, that they would share that. at this time there seems to be no connection as it relates to that particular incident. As an FBI agent, what do you see in that individual who's walking? For example, he's walking with his arms behind his back, and I've seen people talk about that's not like a young kid on a campus, that scene where he's walking, that's something more either European or Middle Eastern.

32:24What do you see so far in this video that we see of the suspect? I think the colonel articulated in a sense what they see. I say from an FBI perspective, we have individuals that can hypothesize on that, our behavioral analysis unit and those type of individuals. I will say I would be, I think, getting a little ahead of things if I give you kind of an inference of what I see in that particular behavior. It can mean a lot of things to be truly transparent with you and to get into the mind of an individual that would commit such a heinous act, that's a place in which I don't want to go right now.

33:02I'm not sure what was going on in that particular individual's head at that time. But you would agree. This individual seems very caliphant. Brian, in the back. President Paxson, clearly, as you stated, the shooter is to blame, but you're hearing a lot of questions about the lack of cameras. You mentioned you've heard some of the criticism. What is your response to parents as well who said they pay a lot of money for their kids to go to Brown? They're questioning the cameras, why the sirens didn't go off. Do you believe that Brown had the precautions and safety measures in place before the shooting that were appropriate and necessary?

33:34I do. And in fact, I'm glad you mentioned the sirens because I think there's been some misinformation about that. We have two security systems that we can activate in a time of an emergency. One is a system that sends out text messages, phone calls, e-mails. and it was activated within minutes of the incident. Those messages went out to 20 ,000 individuals. So all alerts. We also have a system of sirens. There are three sirens placed across campus. Those get activated when there is a broad-scale emergency and we want people to rush into buildings. In the case of an active shooter, activating that system could have caused people to rush into Barriss and Holly.

34:23So that's not a system that we would ever use in the case of an active shooter. Just to follow up, it does say on the website when it was launched that it is for an active shooter. It depends on the circumstances and where the active shooter would be, but you don't want to ever get people rushing into buildings that might be the site of an active shooting. That's my understanding. Go ahead. Sorry. Do you have any evidence that suggests that the victim may have been targeted?

34:57No, not at this point. Yeah, I agree. I just want to ask a question over here. Can you make sure you have over 200 kids? Miss, we're working our way across. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Tom. Attorney General Rona, what are the characteristics of the guy in the first video that makes you believe that he's also the same guy in the video that was released yesterday? and then a follow-up for President Jackson? Yeah, look, I think that that is an analysis that has been done by the agents and the detectives. And a lot of factors are going into that. A lot of it is being able to, and as I just saw upstairs, a really terrific job of tracing movements.

35:38And when you put movements and times together, it's easier, perhaps is the best word, to identify them as the same person. Now, look, look, there are no absolutes in any investigation, and I'm not about to make absolute statements in this one either, but that's the general reasoning for why we concluded that. Just a follow-up to President Pax. Right now, school break is pretty much underway for a lot of the university students. Have you met with your police department and board trustees on how you're going to secure the university going into the second semester? Are you making any changes to the way you guys operate?

36:21Well, right now we have been, the campus is emptying out first, as you said, but we still have staff and faculty and graduate students and international students who will remain on campus during the winter break. So it's still open. And right now our focus is on getting as many sort of boots on the ground, people in cars. we have been really fortunate that the city and other municipalities have people who are helping us people from the state we also have security that we brought in from outside I think over 60 people today were patrolling the campus I was on campus walking around and I couldn't turn around without seeing a security person so we will continue that for as long as we think it's necessary and right now the campus feels very secure so thank you Steve I'm sorry I missed you If I were, if someone were, a province resident were to see someone who matched the description of the person of interest, how would they be sure that they weren't dealing with a federal ICI?

37:25The tip line that we've been providing throughout the last several days, 401-272-3121, that call comes in here and is answered in this building with province police professionals and our partners at the FBI. That is who's manning the phones. That is who's processing the tips. And we are encouraging anybody who has relevant information to please use that tip line. And they should know that that's who's on the other end of the phone. and again, if you have relevant information or information that you think might help us with this investigation, we encourage you to call. Are there any thing that can be differentiated between this person and an ICE agent who would be masked up walking through town and not be approached by the police in the same way this person was?

38:17Again, we've worked really hard to build the trust of our community here in Providence and I'm telling you that that phone number, 401-272-3121, rings in this building and is answered by Providence Police and or FBI. Those are the agencies that are processing, running down, and investigating any relevant information. And we urge folks, if you have relevant information, to please use that phone number. Luke. For the colonel, do you have any indication as to whether all the interviews of the students in the classroom are completed? Is there any through line that you gleaned from those interviews?

38:55We're still conducting those interviews as we speak. Go ahead, please. You mentioned that you have no idea if the shooter is still in the area. Have you been working with any law enforcement agencies in other states that are nearby? Yes, we're working with every municipality here in the state of Rhode Island, and obviously Massachusetts. Obviously, we have conversations with them as well, but the majority of the law enforcement that we're working with right now is our own nearby municipalities, the Rhode Island State Police, and every agency that you can think of, a federal agency, in this building.

39:28Are you working with agencies in Connecticut? We're in conversations with them, but they're not here. If I could just jump in here, what's really critical first is that we identify who the person is. Once we identify who this person is, I believe we'll be able to locate them. It's very hard to hide in this country. But until you have a name, which is why we're working so hard to identify them, it's not particularly productive to reach out to law enforcement across the country as to who you're looking for because we don't yet know who we're looking for so that's why we have to identify the person once we've identified him we'll know more information about where he's from and who his friends are and where he might go so those are the things that we can do once we have an identification of this person and that's why the team now is laser focused on identifying who this person is in this video Amanda.

40:21I have some questions for the chief. Just following up on another question that was just asked, I'm glad to hear that some of the students are beginning to recover. How many of the students who are inside that building and also outside have detectives been able to interview and have they elaborated anything that this man said? Allegedly he yelled something in the classroom before opening fire. Did he appear to be wearing a bulletproof vest and that's why he appeared faulty? It's a good amount of interviews that have been conducted. We have re-interviewed several people. And so I just want to tell you that's part of the investigation right now.

40:58We'll continue to investigate and we'll continue to speak with them. And like the general stated, listen, we're just trying to build the case here and make sure that we can move forward and continue to progress as we're doing. But the interviews are still being conducted. But Chief, they haven't elaborated exactly in what this man, if he did say anything when he was yelling. Yeah, no, I don't have that info, no. Straight back. Sir. What do we know about the path of the shooter as they left Ferris and Holly, and where do we lose sight of him? So his movements were all in that residential block that I mentioned, between Waterman Avenue, Power Street, I Street, Hope Street.

41:39It's all that block. The whole residential block that I just mentioned is where his movements were. and then obviously that's where we lose sight of him somewhere around Governor Street. This is after the shooting chief? In the back there. Correct. To that point, at any point, will there be kind of like a map put out as to which cameras you're seeing him on to kind of give an idea to the public of maybe my camera's there, maybe my Tesla's there, like you said? Correct. Great point. And something that we talked about just before I came down here, to be able to reuse that map as well. Alex. For the girl.

42:14Do investigators know how many shots have been fired? It's in our forensics unit, and obviously with the FBI as well. They're all there, and there were several rounds that were fired inside the building. And just another follow, the image today of the person with interest, they have a stature. Is it known if there were additional weapons in there or magazines or some finds? No, that's all we know. It was just that one weapon that I mentioned the other day. Go ahead. Yeah, this might be a question for President Hudson or the colonel here. I wanted to follow up on the scrubbed internet pages that were mentioned.

42:53There's a lot of misinformation out there. There's been a lot of speculation about what those scrubbed pages might mean. Can you help fact check, give us some information today about what those scrubbed individuals, about one very particular individual, does that have any connection to the shooting? As I said before, I have no knowledge of any scrubbed pages. You can follow up with our communications office if you want to get more information, maybe tomorrow. But this is the first I've heard of it. So I did, and then they directed me to Colonel Perez. Do you know anything about... I do not know.

43:29Right behind, yes. Hi, I have a question for the Coronel. What do you see in the description of the body of this person that makes you think that it's an interest person? I've talked to people in the community who have confidence because they already liberated a person who was also interested. What does this person do to do? Yes, the question is, what makes this person one of the suspects that we have that is a priority? And since we have released somebody already in the past, what makes this person the same? All right. We feel like that press conference has garnered as much information as it will.

44:10Joining us now to discuss CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller, also with us, CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem. John, we just saw this newly released enhanced video, police asking people to pay special attention to how this man moves, his posture, the way he carries his weight. How might these details help police generate more leads? Well, somebody who's familiar with him, somebody who works with him, someone who knows him might be way more likely to recognize that than someone who passed him on the street. But we also learned some things in this press conference.

44:46I mean, the chief told us, for instance, that they tracked him moving through that neighborhood as early as 10.30 in the morning, probably a good few hours before this 4 o 'clock shooting. Then they have him moving in that specific area in a circuitous route for around 2 hours before the shooting, sometimes walking slowly, sometimes breaking into a run. So the chief's speculation on that point was we believe he was casing the area, casing the right way to get in, perhaps casing the most effective getaway route, maybe even looking for where the cameras were or were not, but clearly disguised or wrapped up in such a way that whatever cameras he passed wouldn't be that productive, what we're going through now.

45:38So it raises questions about why that target, Why did he approach so slowly? Obviously, he left more quickly. But what was the motive behind an attack where he went to so much pre-operational planning, surveillance, walking around to open fire in there and then leave without leaving any apparent message about what this was for? And Juliette, it's been quite a whiplash day. First, we got this new image of the person of interest from the Providence Police. More than an hour after that, the FBI released a timeline video, but then they deleted their original tweet. Then about 40 minutes after that, the Providence Police released the enhanced video that we just saw.

46:31What do you make about what seems to be a lack of coordination, all this? Did the press conference help clarify any of that? I think so. I mean, look, this has been for 36 hours clearly a rift between the FBI and the local and state authorities. We don't have to guess here. The attorney general of Rhode Island was on our network saying the same. I think the FBI, its tendency, including its leadership, to sort of get out ahead of where the investigation needs to go and where we can confirm it by tweeting stuff, by talking about things has been harmful to this investigation in terms of losing time.

47:14I just left Providence. I was with you all there. It snowed. And that's obvious that hurts an investigation because if anything was left behind, if there was any evidence, the elements may have gotten rid of it because he's there for four hours. I mean, you know, does he leave a piece of paper? Does a Kleenex fall out of his pocket? So I did view today's press conference not just about what John was talking about, which I think is so important because this does change a narrative of what we thought. right? I mean, he's spending a lot of time there in terms of going in. But it was also, I think, an attempt to realign the federal state local nexus that had an integration that had really had come to a head quite publicly, quite ugly, and not a great look for law enforcement generally over the last 48 hours.

48:06John, we're now in the fourth day of this search. How likely is it that the suspect is still in Providence, Rhode Island? And how might authorities need to expand the search zone. You heard a question from, uh, at that press conference about whether the murder, um, apparent murder of an MIT professor in Massachusetts might be related. Well, the worst kind of a manhunt, um, and I've been involved in several, is where you are in a manhunt where you don't know who the man you're hunting is, which then gets to where he could be. Um, so that's a real challenge. And it's one of the reasons why they said, listen, look at all the time he spent here.

48:45So there are other houses that, you know, may have images in that perimeter or even days before. We haven't gone back that far yet to see if he was casing this earlier. They asked for people driving Teslas where those cameras out of the front are always recording to say, did you drive by him during the time that's covered in that timeline. And it's been productive. They've got 200 viable tips. Now, that means they got more calls than that, but 200 workable tips that come with a name, a citing, a nickname, an address that they're going through. And they've been talking to people. They've been talking to people about where were you that day?

49:27What's your alibi? They've taken DNA swabs, which tells us something else. If they're taking DNA swabs, that means they have DNA that they believe belong to the perp. but it also means it doesn't show up in the DNA system that tracks criminal DNA. So they are operating on multiple planes simultaneously to try to get to that answer. While acknowledging how difficult it is to ask for patience, but still asking for patience. John Miller, Julia Kayyem, thanks so much. We want to take a moment, of course, to remember the two victims killed in this attack at Brown University. Ella Cook, she was vice president of the school's College Republicans.

50:05And then Mukhammed Aziz Omoksikov, Vice President J.D. Vance, called him a brilliant young man who dreamed of being a surgeon. Nine others were injured. One is in critical condition, five in critical but stable condition. We do have some breaking news from Los Angeles this afternoon in the deaths of Rob and Michelle Reiner. The explosive charges that the district attorney just laid out in the murder case against the couple's 32-year-old son.

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51:33Even better, you can watch the vodcast on Spotify. We have some breaking news for you in our pop-culturally last hour. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced two counts of first-degree murder charges against Nick Reiner. That's the 32-year-old son of beloved film director Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle, who were found dead in their home Sunday. These charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison with no parole or the death penalty. CNN's Josh Campbell's in Los Angeles for a news conference just wrapped. Josh, another disturbing detail. Authorities also say that Nick Reiner used a knife in these killings.

52:10That's right. That grew some detail about what the alleged murder weapon was, that this appeared to be death by stabbing. Now, authorities have not yet indicated whether they recovered that item as they processed the scene. They also are not saying whether the suspect here admitted to anything. I asked the district attorney if that was part of the body of evidence that they have. confession. And he said that's something that will come up later on in court. But we are getting details about where this prosecution is going. As you mentioned, two counts of first-degree murder. That's important because that tells us under California law, first-degree murder implies some type of premeditation as opposed to what's called second-degree murder.

52:49So again, he faces two counts for the alleged death of both his mother and his father. It's important to note that premeditation doesn't have to be days or weeks in advance. It can sometimes be a very short window of time, but that is a key aspect to getting that charge. Now, we're waiting for authorities to provide additional information about kind of the tick-tock, what was happening there, what they found at that residence. We know that even if he didn't provide some type of confession, if he didn't admit to what he did, forensics would be key in an investigation like this. Authorities don't need a motive in order to prosecute someone for murder, but we're told they're gathering all that evidence that will all be part of this case.

53:24Final point I'll note, Jake, is that we are expecting him in court at some point. He hasn't been to court yet because his attorney tells CNN that he's still waiting for what's called a medical clearance. So that initial appearance could be coming soon. All right, Josh Campbell, thank you so much. This is CNN Breaking News. Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper, and The Lead tonight is our politics lead. Shocking quotes from the White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, in a Vanity Fair profile by journalist Chris Whipple, to something of an expert on White House chiefs of staff. Among the most explosive are comments.

53:58The first ever woman chief of staff of the White House, the daughter of an alcoholic, former broadcaster Pat Summerall, said to Whipple, quote, Wiles said that Trump has, quote, an alcoholic's personality. He, quote, operates with a view that there's nothing he can't do, nothing, zero, nothing. Of Vice President J.D. Vance going from never-Trumper to MAGA stalwart. Vance's, quote, conversion came when he was running for the Senate, and I think his conversion was a little bit more sort of political than others. Also adding of Vance that he's been a conspiracy theorist for a decade, quote unquote.

54:30The last quote, a reference to the Epstein file, saying Vance was one of only a handful of officials in the Trump administration who understood how the refusal of the administration to release the Epstein files would upset parts of Trump's coalition. Weill says of Attorney General Pam Bondi and her handling of that quote, I think she completely whiffed on appreciating that that was the very targeted group that cared about this. First, she gave them bindings, binders full of nothingness. And then she said that the witness list or the client list was on her desk. There is no client list. And it sure as hell wasn't on her desk.

55:02Wiles said that what told the author Whipple that she'd read what she calls the Epstein file. And she said Trump is in the file and we know he's in the file and he's not doing he's not in the file doing anything on law awful. Weill said that Trump, quote, was on Epstein's plane. He's on the manifest. They were, you know, sort of young, single, whatever. I know it's a passe word, but sort of young, single playboys together, unquote. As for being young at the time, one might note that Mr. Trump turned 50 in 1996. Whipple says that he talked to Weill 11 times for this profile. And when asking her in March about criticism that Trump was using the Justice Department to punish his critics, quote, Quote, I don't think he wakes up thinking about retribution, Wiles said, but when there's an opportunity, he will go for it.

55:51And then there is this exchange where Whipple says, do you ever go into Trump and say, look, this is not supposed to be a retribution tour? Yes, I do, she'd replied. We have a loose agreement that the score settling will end before the first 90 days are over, unquote. Now, that was earlier in the year. Later in August, Whipple reminded Wiles of what she'd said. Quote, I don't think he's on a retribution tour, she said. But a governing principle for him is, I don't want what happened to me to happen to somebody else. And so people that have done bad things need to get out of the government. In some cases, it may look like retribution, and there may be an element of that from time to time.

56:25Who would blame him? Not me, Whipple says. So all of this talk about accusing Letitia James of mortgage fraud? Well, that one, that might be the one retribution, Wiles says. In a statement to CNN, Letitia James' attorney, Abby Lowell, calls that an astonishing admission. Now, what about Trump using the Justice Department to reward MAGA criminals? Whipple writes that, quote, did she ever ask the president, wait a minute, do you really want to pardon all 1 ,500 January 6th convicts or should we be more selective? I did exactly that, Wiles replied. I said, I'm on board with the people that were happenstancers or didn't do anything violent.

57:06Wiles added, quote, in every case of the ones he was looking at, in every case, they had already served more time than the sentencing guidelines would have suggested. So given that, I sort of got on board, unquote, we should note that is not true. Many of those pardons served less time than guidelines suggest. The former Department of Government Efficiency had Elon Musk, who played a role in firing thousands of government employees, and his reposting of a tweet about public sector workers killing millions under Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, Wiles said, quote, I think that's when he was microdosing.

57:40Now, Wiles today denied saying that about Musk microdosing, calling the quote ridiculous and adding, quote, I wouldn't have said it and I wouldn't know. The New York Times reached out to Chris Whipple, who played an audio recording of Susie Wiles saying exactly what he had reported. Wiles says of Musk's sudden and severe dismantling of USAID, which provided life-saving aid around the world, quote, I was initially aghast. He decided that it was a better approach to shut it down, fire everybody, shut them out, and then go rebuild. Not the way I would do it. On Monday night, we should note, the Pentagon struck three more alleged drug trafficking boats.

58:19It's an effort the administration has repeatedly said is entirely about protecting Americans from dangerous drugs. But Wiles in this interview says this is about more than that. It's about Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Quote, Wiles told me about Trump's Venezuela strategy. Quote, he wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle. And people way smarter than me on that say that he will. Unquote. So at least part of this campaign is for regime change. Journalist Michael Kinsley once famously said that a gaffe is, quote, But when a politician tells the truth, or more precisely, where he or she accidentally reveals something truthful about what's going on in his or her head, this interview was full of gaffes and a lot of accidentally revealed truths.

59:06There's a lot to discuss here. Let's talk about it with CNN anchor and chief White House correspondent Caitlin Collins, along with the dispatches, Jonah Goldberg. Caitlin, we've seen a lot of reaction to this interview. White House officials are one after the other after the other talking about how great Susie Wiles is, which the article doesn't say she isn't, and how the media is crap when all it did was just provide her quotes. President Trump said to the New York Post, quote, I didn't read it, but I don't read Vanity Fair, but she's done a fantastic job. I think from what I hear, the facts were wrong and it was a very misguided interviewer, purposely misguided.

59:46We should also note that this Vanity Fair profile has a number of photographs of the administration officials posing for pictures for this article. Yeah, I mean, the Vanity Fair staffers who went said they were there for, I think, eight to nine hours the day they did that photo shoot and conducted it and brought everyone in. I think between seven and eight this morning when this story published, my phone was basically blowing up with people shocked. because this felt like something very Trump round one coded, something that would have happened in the first term where a chief of staff speaks incredibly bluntly on the record, criticizes the sitting attorney general for how she handled something that has become one of the biggest vulnerability points for the president with his base on the Epstein files.

1:00:28And mainly people were just shocked because Susie Wiles is someone who is very disciplined, very effective chief of staff. That's why so many people are praising her today. And a lot of them were surprised at how candidly she spoke in these 11 interviews. It wasn't like just one sit down with a reporter or where they brought someone in. It was 11 separate interviews over, you know, the course of Trump's second term in office that this has happened. And I just heard from a lot of people who work there, who like Susie Wiles and deeply respect her, but were stunned by this. And I think really the, you know, despite what they say, they're attacking the media, saying it's the media going after them or the left going after them, it is her own words.

1:01:06And it does undercut a lot of what you've heard these officials say on the record, whether that's on the boat strikes, whether that's on tariffs and the effectiveness of them, whether that's on the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein files. She kind of undercut all of that, including the work that Elon Musk did with Doge. Yeah. What was your reaction to it, John? So I don't disagree with any of that, except in one sense, I think the reputation that has hurt the most in this is Wiles herself. And not just for talking to Vanity Fair, But her reputation was that she was someone who ran a tight ship, managed the president, and yet time and time again she's revealing these episodes where she had a plan about how to deal with things, about how to roll out the tariff stuff.

1:01:46She had suggestions about the pardons and all these kinds of things. And when these things happened at the time, people like me would say, this is shambolic. They don't know what they're doing. They don't have a plan. And all of Megaworld would say, you don't know what you're talking about. This is four-dimensional chess. Of course, they know exactly what they're doing. And of course, she's just revealed, I was right, and they were all wrong. That, in fact, he didn't do what she wanted him to do on pardons. She didn't do what she wanted him to do on tariffs. That they didn't have a coherent strategy.

1:02:15And she's the chief of staff. She's the one who's supposed to be imposing a coherent strategy. So I think she undermined herself as much as she undermined a lot of the talking points of the administration. So J.D. Vance responded earlier today to Wiles saying that he's been a conspiracy theorist for at least a decade. Take a listen. I haven't looked at the article. I, of course, have heard about it. But conspiracy theorists, sometimes I am a conspiracy theorist, but I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true.

1:02:49And by the way, Susie and I have joked in private and in public about that for a long time. I mean, I can think of at least one conspiracy theory that wasn't true that he not only believed in but pushed was the thing about Haitians eating the dogs and cats that was disproved. They never apologized. And also the DOJ cover up of the Epstein files when he was not the vice president. I mean, he is one of the people who was on the record talking about releasing them and why they wouldn't release them saying, you know, no one should have any issue with them coming out. So he said the big lesson is that nobody in the Trump administration should talk to the mainstream media anymore.

1:03:22That's what he said. I do think that might change their strategy, but I think this also reveals something where the administration says one thing and does another. I mean, they are very critical of the mainstream media time and time again. Obviously, it's their go-to strategy when a negative story or a story they don't like comes out. But they chose to sit for these interviews with Chris Whipple, someone who's deeply respected and speaks to lots of chiefs of staff that have worked in Democrat and Republican administrations. But all of these officials also spoke to him and also did this photo shoot with Vanity Fair.

1:03:51So I think for an administration that tells the right and right-wing media they disdain mainstream media, I mean, they are the ones who granted them all this access, which is why, to your point, their defenses have not really held ground. Also, just on the Vance part, there is a little, you know, Susie Wiles, longtime veteran, serious politico from Florida. Yeah. There does have a vibe in there that she was talking about how Marco Rubio is a man of principle who wouldn't violate his principles. And J.D. changed his principles because he was running for the Senate. Right. It feels like in the sweepstakes between Marco and Vance, who are the two frontrunners to run for president in 2028, she's siding with Marco, which is interesting.

1:04:30My takeaway would be that I think the most consequential things she said are, one, she suggested that this campaign against the alleged narco terrorists in the Caribbean is for regime change. Right. That's a big revelation. And that they just, she just handed Abby Lowell and Letitia James a huge argument. if she ever is indicted again, which seems problematic at the very least. Caitlin and Jonah, thank you so much. The author of this explosive entity fair interview will be on the lead tomorrow, but you don't have to wait that long. You can watch him tonight on AC 360 with Anderson Cooper. And tonight on Caitlin's show, don't miss her brand new interview with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, the outgoing Republican from Georgia.

1:05:14Oh, yeah, she still has a few days left before her resignation. That's on The Source with Caitlin Collins tonight at 9 Eastern and all here on CNN. The very first funerals for the victims of the Bondi Beach massacre in Australia are about to begin. We're going to go live to Australia next. We're going to be learning details about the background of the alleged shooters.

1:05:37In our Worldly Today, just minutes from now, the very first funeral for one of the 15 victims killed at Sunday's mass shooting on Bondi Beach, an act of anti-Semitic terrorism. This one, this funeral, is for Rabbi Eli Schlanger, the man who organized Sunday's Hanukkah event that is the site of all this horrific death. Meanwhile, investigators have new insight into the motives of the suspected father-son duo who carried out, allegedly, the anti-Semitic attack, which officials say appeared to be inspired by the terrorist group ISIS. CNN's Will Ripley has the latest. New dash cam video reveals the first minutes of the Bondi Beach Massacre and two bystanders bravely trying to stop the attack.

1:06:21A husband and wife confront the older gunman, the father, Sajid Akram, leaving his car, rifle in hand. Watch closely. The man in the purple shirt drags the attacker to the ground, wrestles for control, rips the gun out of his hands, swinging it almost like a bat. The gunman takes another rifle from his car, opening fire on the man and woman. Australian media is identifying them as possibly the first two victims of Sunday's attack. The video also reveals a crucial piece of evidence. Look at the windshield. You see that black flag bearing what appears to be the logo of the Islamic State. It would appear that there is evidence that this was inspired by a terrorist organization, by ISIS.

1:07:03Investigators are now looking beyond Australia. Police say the shooters recently traveled to the southern Philippines, a region long plagued by ISIS-inspired violence. Philippine officials say the pair arrived on November 1st for military-style training, leaving nearly four weeks later. Returning to Australia just over two weeks before opening fire on Bondi Beach. More than 24 hours after the shooting, Bondi Beach remained an active crime scene. You have police tape blocking off the whole area. There's this outdoor cinema where people basically dropped their stuff and ran. The whole area kind of feels eerily frozen in time.

1:07:43This will come for you on the Day of Judgment. Video is also emerging of the younger gunman, the son, Naveed Akram. Allah will reward you for whatever action you do in his cause. Inshallah, this will save you on the Day of Judgment. A Sydney-based Islamic street preaching group confirms Akram appeared in a handful of videos in 2019, handing out pamphlets during public outreach. The group says Akram was just 17 at the time. They insist they've had no contact with him since. In a statement, the group says it's horrified by the attack and appalled by the actions of both father and son. You're allowed to have strong views, but to go and do that, it's just wrong.

1:08:21Lockie told CNN affiliate Nine News he's a former co-worker of the younger shooter he calls Nav. He says Nav quit his bricklaying job about a month ago and often talked about his love of hunting. It looked like he could handle a gun. Yeah, yeah, well he had. We used to talk about going shooting down at Crookwell and he'd say, he actually said to me once, I said, oh, we should go for a shot down there one day and he goes, oh, I don't know if that'd be good for you. And I thought, oh, okay, that's a bit weird, but yeah, he was a bit of a weird cat. And our thanks to Will Ripley for that report. Joining us now, Noah Tishby, because Sunday's attack follows a steep rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Australia.

1:09:02More than 3 ,700 anti-Semitic incidents since the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel two years ago, according to the advocacy group, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. Two-times New York Times bestselling author Noah Tishby is also Israel's former special envoy for combating anti-Semitism. Thanks so much for joining us, Noah. So minutes from now, Rabbi Schlanger's funeral is going to take place. This is a community you know well. You lived in Australia. You even had a view of Bondi Beach at one point. What have you been hearing from Australian Jews since the attack? I've been hearing a lot of anger from everybody in Australia.

1:09:38And I'll tell you why, because the last two and a half years we have been communicating with them and they have been complaining relentlessly that this is about to happen. The rise in anti-Semitism and Israel-related Jew hatred around the world has been staggering, and we cannot ignore it anymore because it's causing deaths. So the rise in anti-Semitism in Australia has been five times. In the U.S., right here, three times. The U.K., 1.5 times. And in France, 2.5 times since October 7th. I was just in Paris a week and a half ago and stumbled upon a demonstration, 50 ,000 pro-Hamas demonstrators, yelling anti-Semitic chants.

1:10:18I was interviewing them, asking questions, and one of the girls asked me if I am a Zionist. And I said, yes, I was born and raised in Israel. Being a Zionist only means that Israel has the right to exist. And they attacked us. They were yelling, chasing after us. So we know it when we see it, as we are aware of that phrase. And we know what this is. These are not peaceful demonstrations. They're anti-Semitic demonstrations. And they need to be handled properly or this is going to continue. And it's going to come here as well. Yeah, I mean, a demonstration against the current Israeli government and the war in Gaza is one thing.

1:10:57But that demonstration turning into people chanting, hundreds, thousands of people chanting, gas the Jews, which happened in Australia. that's another thing. Today, the prime minister of Australia said that he's ready to revisit legislation to help, quote, stamp out anti-Semitism. Shortly after this attack, you posted, quote, this is a failure of leadership. What should the government do to prevent future attacks? There are a few things. First of all, the Abilenezi government has woke up too little too late, but we'll take it at this point as well. And this is something that the entire world needs to pay attention to.

1:11:30We need strong language against this. So a part of the problem that the Australian community has had in the past two and a half years is that the Albanese government said nothing about all these anti-Semitic incidences, attacks and burning of synagogues and attacks on the Jewish community. So we need strong language. We need strong actions against the perpetrators of these offenses. And we should all consider adopting the IRA definition of anti-Semitism. The IRA definition of anti-Semitism is the International Holocaust Alliance definition of anti-Semitism, which is a non-binding, non-legal definition, which can actually help us understand what anti-Semitism is.

1:12:09A lot of people just don't understand what it is, and we need to do this in order to stop this hate. Noah Tishby, thank you so much, and thanks for your leadership on this issue. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Brand new information revealed just moments ago in the manhunt for a person of interest in the Brown University shooting, including where surveillance cameras are and are not placed on campus. The mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, is going to join us live next.

1:12:36I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. We're talking to Dr. Alexander Moskop. He's author of the book called The End of Migraines, and he's the founder and director of the New York Headache Center. He's going to tell us why headaches hurt, what's really happening in your head, and what you can do about it. What is the first thing you sort of recommend that in terms of lifestyle? So sleep deprivation is number one and people are busy not getting enough sleep. That's probably part of the reason headaches have gone up just because we're getting less and less sleep. You're right. Diet is a very important factor as well.

1:13:12Lowering your carbs can definitely help. Three out of four migraine sufferers suffer from reactive hypoglycemia which means you eat something sweet or carbs, sugar goes up and then plummets. Listen to Chasing Life. Streaming now. wherever you get your podcasts. Some breaking news in our law and justice lead in Rhode Island. Police released a new enhanced video of what they're calling, what authorities are calling a person of interest in the Brown University shooting on Saturday in which two students were killed and nine others were wounded, seven of whom still remain in the hospital. This on what is now day four of a manhunt with an unidentified killer on the loose and a community on edge.

1:13:56Joining us now is the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, Brett Smiley. Mayor Smiley, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. I hope you're taking care of yourself in these stressful circumstances. In the last hour at a press conference, you were asked whether the suspect was still in Providence. And you said that you've not received a single credible significant threat to the Providence community. With all due respect, that's not really an answer as to whether the man who shot and killed these two students is still in Providence or believed to be in the state. what is your answer to that question?

1:14:27And what's your message to the people of Providence who are still afraid? Yeah, I mean, the chief of police was asked the question about the location of the person of interest and our investigation is ongoing. The leads that we're running down are giving us more information regularly, but the location of the individual right now is not known. My message to the community is that we are doing everything possible to help them take the first tentative steps forward because one way or another right now, residents, my neighbors, they still need to go to work. Kids still need to go to school. And so we're providing enhanced police protection and visible coverage.

1:15:15It's hard to go a block or two without seeing a police officer right now in my city to provide that confidence and sense of safety and security for neighbors that have to take some steps forward. And so that is the best way we can help them right now to have the courage and the resolve and the confidence necessary to start to take those first steps forward. Providence police today asked again for the public to send in any videos they have that might include this person of interest that we're showing on the screen right now. Do you feel like you're playing catch up with this investigation? How is it that somebody can walk into a classroom at Brown University, shoot at least 11 people and then apparently just walk out and disappear?

1:16:07year. I mean, we're certainly continuing to gather more leads and we are making forward progress in just the 24 hours that have eclipsed recently. We've released multiple additional new videos which give us better information about the possible path that the person of interest took, which then enables us to then go gather new evidence in a better direction. And that's how these things go. You know, there was a very preliminary video that was released almost immediately that I think a lot of people have seen. It didn't give us a lot of details other than a direction of travel. And from that, then we've now started to piece together multiple videos.

1:16:54And today we disclosed that not only do we have him on video at approximately 2 p.m. before what was a 4 p.m. shooting, but that we now have evidence that he was in the area at around 10 a.m. And so as each one of these new pieces of information comes up, then we're able to then go look in a better direction. And that's how these things go. And so we're making progress. I know I speak for my community and that we would like to have this case solved immediately. But it's going to take the time it's going to take. And I want the residents of my community to know, and really around the country who are watching this, because this, you know, engenders fear and concern of any kid on a college campus and anyone who's been around gun violence in our community, that all of the resources that we could possibly need are here.

1:17:50And so it is not a lack of resources. It's just the dogged police work that is necessary to solve a crime like this. The question I asked is one that I'm sure that you asked behind the scenes, the one of like, how on earth does it happen that somebody can walk into a prestigious university like Brown or any school that has thousands of students and faculty and support staff, shoot at least 11 people and then apparently walk out and disappear. And I don't say that because I think law enforcement's done anything wrong or anything. I have confidence the person's going to be caught, et cetera. But what's your answer to that question?

1:18:31Because I'm sure it's one that you ask, too. What is the answer? How does that happen? Are there just not as many cameras up as we think, that there isn't as much law enforcement in Providence or at Brown University as one might think? Like, how did that happen? Yeah. So first of all, I mean, for people watching around the country, I don't think it matters that it's a prestigious university. We've all seen horrific acts of gun violence in public schools and in other public settings. And so that just because it's a great school and it is. I just mean that they have a lot of money matters. That's all I meant by prestigious is that they have a lot of funding.

1:19:08That's all that you would think that there would be more cameras and more security. So the Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Nerona just spoke recently an hour ago at our press conference and explained, and I think some folks might know, I live on the edge of campus. Brown is different than maybe some universities in that it is very much integrated with a residential neighborhood. It is, there's no wall around the campus. There are no gates. You know, our neighbors walk our dogs through campus. And we love that about Brown and students love that about Brown. this building is on the literal edge of the campus and the person of interest walked out the door that as soon as he stepped onto the sidewalk was no longer on campus and so um the president of brown spoke about an hour and a half ago and reported that there's something like 1200 cameras on campus um but this individual was off campus the minute he stepped out of that door and into a residential neighborhood.

1:20:07And so the camera footage that you are seeing is footage that we have gotten through the hard work of province police and the FBI and the cooperation of the community. It's part of the reason we keep asking for the community's help so much is because even though this occurred on campus, the route of travel and all of the video evidence you've seen other than that very first video has been video from off campus, from my community. And so the questions around how could this happen on an institution like Brown, the path that we're following for this person of interest is actually off campus. That really helps.

1:20:50I'm being completely sincere. That helps me understand this much more. And I hope our viewers as well. Mayor Brett Smiley, thank you so much and good luck in the coming days. I hope you all catch him as soon as possible. Thank you. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says the public will not get to see that deadly boat strike video at the center of this controversial debate. And it's not even clear that some key senators are going to get to see it. Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, who is said to have sparred with Hegseth earlier today in a closed door briefing, that senator will join us next.

1:21:28Back with our politics lead. Senate Democrats are fuming over a classified briefing today with the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, and the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, after Democrats say the officials declined to show them the unedited video of this controversial follow-up strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug vessel in the Caribbean. This briefing left me with more questions than answers. If they can't be transparent on this, how can you trust their transparency on all the other issues swirling about in the Caribbean? This all comes as Secretary Hegseth says the video will not be released to the public beyond the part that they already released to the public.

1:22:07Let's bring in Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly. And Senator, you said when you came out of the briefing, you have more questions than answers, as all has also been said. Sources say you also got into a bit of an argument with Secretary Hegseth. What can you tell us about that and also the briefing? Well, it seems like he came there with a little bit of a speech for me, which says, again, a lot about him. Even in this closed briefing with a bunch of senators, he's focused on this thing about me and didn't even want to get to my questions. I had some very specific questions for him about these boat strikes, and he feels the need to give a speech.

1:22:43I think it, again, shows how unserious this guy is. But what was he saying? I mean, I gave you a little little little speech about the stuff that was in the video and what he what he thinks about it. And it it I guess it didn't really surprise me because, you know, at this point, about 10 months in, we know who this guy is. He's unqualified for this job. He can't even focus on, you know, answering our questions. We get into this brief. And by the way, it's it's sort of his brief and Marco Rubio's. but they bring four other individuals. So there's six of them and they basically filibustered. Every one of them got to speak for about five or 10 minutes.

1:23:20That took up 35 to 40 minutes. We got 20 minutes for questions and maybe six out of a hundred of us got to ask some question of them. So, you know, being in the Senate, you know a little bit about filibustering and trying to slow this down because they don't want accountability on this. So in addition to the idea of this follow-on strike, whether or not shooting at survivors allegedly in the water. I didn't see the video, so I don't know. Yeah, I'll see it tomorrow. Whether or not that was legal according to the laws of war, et cetera. There's the whole question about the justification for all of this.

1:23:56Right. And I don't know if you saw, but the Pentagon has long maintained, obviously, that the motivation is to stop these drugs from coming into this country because they're killing Americans. But in the Vanity Fair interview with Susie Wiles, the White House Chief of Staff, She says that Trump, quote, wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro, Nicolas Maduro, the head of Venezuela, cries uncle. And people way smarter than me on that say he will. That would suggest that this is actually a campaign to push regime change, not what the stated purpose is. Right. And that makes sense, because if you remember when this started back in September, right, the first strike, September 2nd, They initially said this is about like fentanyl coming into the country.

1:24:39Well, fentanyl comes in through our land port of entries, mostly. These routes are taking other drugs, cocaine, to Caribbean islands. And then, you know, these routes go on to Europe and Western Africa. This isn't about drugs coming into the United States. So what is it? Is it regime change? Some people say it's about access to oil. I think the president needs to be very clear. And by the way, like Susie Wiles, the president's chief of staff, said today in that article that was released, if he starts doing land strikes, he needs to get approval from Congress to do this. I think he should for the boat strikes as well, because, I mean, they've tied themselves in knots.

1:25:20They give different reasons. Sometimes they say it's about the boats. Sometimes it's about the drugs. Sometimes it's about the people. And now, according to her, it's about getting rid of Maduro. So let's talk about the fact that the Pentagon says that you're now facing this official command investigation over that video that you and five other lawmakers put out in which you said that service members should not follow illegal orders, which is something that Pete Hegseth in his previous life as a Fox News commentator also said. You said on Morning Joe you hadn't heard anything official from the Department of Defense about this.

1:25:53But they say that you're now facing an official command investigation. Right. How does that? Well, I still haven't heard anything official. I see stuff on Twitter or reported. He didn't even today say anything except his short speech where he was rather animated about it. But the last thing I heard from the Navy officially about my service to the Navy was 14 years ago when I retired and they gave me a Legion of Merit for my service. Um, so again, you know, that shows how unserious they are. They want attention over this. Um, but in some ways this is rather serious because this is intimidation.

1:26:38They're trying to intimidate me, uh, to send a message to other retired members of the military. You better be careful what you say, because if they can intimidate me, if they can get me to back down as a United States Senator, how many people out there, you know, they're retired from the military or just left the military, former service members, people on active duty will hesitate before they speak up about this administration. And then, you know, that's the slippery slope to us starting to lose our democracy. We have First Amendment rights to speak out against about our government. And I said something that was lawful.

1:27:15I said, follow the law. It was the truth. The president didn't like what I said, and for that he said I should be killed, executed. I mean, who is this guy? And if he thinks I'm going to back down, he picked the wrong guy because that is not happening. Democratic Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona, thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it. Coming up next, the notable names calling out President Trump after his downright insensitive comments after the murder of celebrated film director Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle. Stay with us.

1:27:50In our politics lead, more fallout from President Trump's disparaging remarks on beloved Hollywood director Rob Reiner, whom police say was murdered alongside his wife by their own son. Trump callously blamed Reiner's death on Trump derangement syndrome and said he was, quote, bad for our country. Today, Jim Garrity of the conservative magazine The National Review is out with a blistering takedown of Trump's comments, writing, quote, I'll let you decide whether the term psychopath or sociopath better describes the president's actions. Donald Trump's entire worldview of whether someone is a good person or a bad person depends entirely on whether that person offers praise or criticism of Trump.

1:28:26This is the person who runs the executive branch of the U.S. government, and this is a formula for disaster, unquote. Our panel's here. Joe, I know you're a Republican, but I know you would never even dream of saying or defending anything like that, so I just want to get that out of the... I wonder how much... I mean, I see a lot of commenters on the right on social media and some like Eric Erickson are saying like that's those are horrible comments and people shouldn't be defending them. And then there are people who are defending them. And then there are people it seems like most Republicans commentators anyway are like this is who Trump is.

1:29:04We're not going to change him. Who cares? As someone who grew up admiring the Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush model, which you may or may not agree with on substance, but they're classy guys who served in the military, who treated people with respect, who would never be caught doing anything like this. It's so disappointing that this is the current and possibly future of the Republican Party is this nasty, personal, emotional, street-fighting model. Unfortunately, I think there's a slice of the MAGA crowd that actually likes this sort of thing. And I think for most Republicans who are willing to vote for Donald Trump and hold their nose, I think that what they'll say is if you put them on the spot, Well, we ran gentlemen like John McCain and Mitt Romney, and we lost.

1:29:46And so Trump's a fighter. And so that's why we're going to stick with him, despite this kind of stuff. But they also ran gentlemen like Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. And they won. And you have to hope that we go back to that model. But it's unclear where we are now. I mean, kudos to Jim Garrity at the National Review. You know, that is not preaching to the choir. There's no upside other than intellectual integrity for him to say this. But he also said, quote, the guy who can't feel empathy for the Reiners being stabbed to death by their son is also not going to feel empathy for the people who contend the cost of living is still high, which is why the president keeps running around insisting the word affordability is a Democratic hoax and the Americans are living in a golden age.

1:30:25What are you hearing about this? That that's right. And that, look, Democrats need to take things like this, which seem that, you know, why would this matter to most people and say this is why it matters. Exactly the way it was framed there, because this is a person who's making decisions that impact your lives. And if he has no empathy for the fact that actually people are making tough decisions, it's the holidays about are we going to have a meal or am I going to buy an extra toy? Unemployment's up. Right. Unemployment is up. Inflation continues to be up, despite what the president says. And so I think this issue, when we talk about character matters, so it does.

1:31:03And what Democrats are sort of talking about and thinking about as we look to next year's, How do we make that an issue for the election, but really make it clear to Americans, this is why it actually does matter? You know, for those who might say, but that's just who he is. Well, OK, but this is also someone who is comfortable with children being zip tied in the cold streets of Chicago while their parents are being deported. So, Joe, Vice President Vance was asked about this affordability issue when he was in Pennsylvania earlier today. Take a listen. What do you have to say? When we go out there and we tell our story that gasoline and energy got way too high under Joe Biden's administration, but we've lowered the cost of energy, the American people will understand that.

1:31:50They know Rome wasn't built in a day. They know what Joe Biden broke is not going to get fixed in a week. It has been 330 days since President Trump took office. How long do you think that argument will be convincing the voters? If things aren't drastically different by the midterms, it will not resonate well at all. I mean, again, another reference back to my youth, Ronald Reagan in 1981. He basically said, look, Jimmy Carter dug us into a hole. I've helped pass tax cuts. I've done what I can. Stay the course. Trump can say the same thing. It might work out for him. It might not. But it's going to be the number one determining factor, both in the midterms and as we get into 2028.

1:32:32Yeah, he never said in 2024 during the election, hey, it's going to take a little while, but then we're going to get back on track. He said, I'm going to get it done within 24 hours. And I think even though people probably didn't think that was true, they thought it'll be a few weeks, maybe a month or two. Not here we are at the end of the year. My health care costs are about to go up. Bills are going to come due next year. Hard to see how he's going to bring down inflation. And so, you know, obviously, I have to admit, I'm looking at the vice president with the chief of staff's remarks about him in ringing in my in my mind.

1:33:05She's due to Wiles and Vanity Fair saying that he was a she questioned the sincerity of his conversion to MAGA. Correct. That being said, you know, he can go out there and say, oh, yeah, once we start telling our story again, I've said this to you before. Who else said that? Joe Biden. Right. How many times do we say once they just tell their story? Well, it didn't work out. It's always a comms problem. It is, right? Joe, what was your response to the Susie Wiles Vanity Fair article today? A lot of quotes that they're all pretending that the quotes are made up or it's all the liberal media, blah, blah, blah.

1:33:37But I mean, these are her candid thoughts about the administration and some of them are pretty shocking. Baffling. I mean, she is known, I've never met her, but she is known in Republican circles to be so disciplined, so level-headed, and not one to sort of get in front of the spotlight for the sake of it. So for the fact that she said these things, my impression, and we're talking about it beforehand, these are the statements of someone who is trying to distance herself and clean up her own record. And so whether or not she has this job in a week or in a month, I think that's beside the point.

1:34:08I think she's laying the groundwork to separate herself from the Trump administration by saying, hey, look, I know better even if they didn't listen to me. As a comms person, bad staff work. What were the ground rules, baby, before you opened your mouth? Well, a lot of glossy photographs of White House officials. Yeah, apparently so. Thanks to both of you. Some new images just in from the moments after the arrest of Nick Reiner, the son of film director Rob Reiner, who's being charged with his father and mother's murder. We're going to have that up next.

1:34:37This just in, the Los Angeles Police Department released new images showing officers arresting Nick Reiner, the 32-year-old son of celebrated film director Rob Reiner, Sunday night. Today, the L.A. District Attorney charged the son with two counts of first-degree murder for the death of Rob and Michelle Reiner. The charges carry a maximum sentence of either life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. The District Attorney also said prosecuting cases involving families are the most heart-wrenching because, quite often, the murders are the most brutal. Also today, authorities near Boston say they have no suspect in custody in the apparent murder of an MIT professor shot at his home.

1:35:1747-year-old Nuno Larrero died at a local hospital this morning after the Monday night shooting in Brookline, Massachusetts. Last hour, Providence, Rhode Island police today said they had no awareness of any connection with the shooting at Brown University with the shooting of Professor Lanero. MIT says it's offering support and other services to MIT students and colleagues. If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can watch a show on the CNN app. Aaron Burnett at Front starts now. I'll see you tomorrow.

1:35:49From the descendants of history makers involved in the Louisiana Purchase to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, discover the untold stories of American expansion in the CNN original series, This Land. Now streaming on the CNN app.