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Trump Criticizes Slain Director, Terror Attack Prevented & Mistletoe Milestone - Tuesday, December 16, 2025
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Today is Tuesday, December 16th. We're talking about the timeline leading up to the murders of a famous Hollywood director and his wife and why President Trump is now facing backlash over his response. Also, a manhunt for a mass shooter, a potential terror attack prevented and a community evacuated. Plus, why the government is looking for more tech expertise. What happens to Roomba vacuums now that their maker has gone bankrupt. And how a Christmas tradition broke a record in the nation's capital. Those stories and even more news coming up. Welcome to the Newsworthy. All the day's news in less than 15 minutes. I'm Erica. Mandy. Thanks so much for being here. Let's do this. A suspect has now officially been arrested for killing legendary Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife. And that suspect is the couple's own son, Nick Reiner. He had spoken openly over the years about his struggles with drug addiction and bouts of homelessness, but reports say he had recently been living with his parents. The Los Angeles Times cites sources who say Rob and Nick got into a heated argument over the weekend at Conan o' Brien's holiday party, and many people apparently noticed Nick acting strangely. The next day, Rob Reiner's daughter discovered what had happened. Since then, tributes have been pouring in for the couple. People have been sharing stories about their influence in Hollywood, their kindness towards strangers, as well as their advocacy. Rob Reiner was a force in liberal politics, championing gay marriage, early childhood development, and other causes. He was a vocal critic of President Trump, and yesterday Trump suggested that criticism was behind his death. He said the murders were, quote, due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding and incredible affliction with a mind crippling disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome. Though investigators have not provided any motive. Well, now even some of the president's strongest supporters are urging him to take that post down. Trump calling it insensitive and inappropriate, especially since Reiner condemned the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and anyone celebrating his death. After the backlash over his post about Reiner, Trump was asked whether he stood by it, to which he said he was not a fan of Rob Reiner and thought he was bad for our country. Meanwhile, a memorial has been growing at Reiner's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A larger tribute event is expected to happen, too, though it hasn't been scheduled just yet. A terrorist bombing may have been prevented in the Los Angeles area. The Justice Department says the FBI disrupted a massive and horrific terror plot that apparently was set to target at least five locations of companies at midnight on New Year's Eve. Authorities wouldn't say which companies, but confirmed it was going to be several logistic facilities similar to ones Amazon might have. The DOJ says suspects were also planning follow up attacks on ICE agents and now four people are facing criminal charges. They were reportedly connected to a radical faction of the group called the Turtle Island Liberation Front. Attorney General Pam Bondi described the group as far left, pro Palestine, anti government and anti capitalist. She detailed a lot of evidence and said the suspects were arrested as they gathered to make and test several bombs. So far, no comment from the suspects or their lawyers, but authorities say there's no longer any threat. A manhunt is still underway for the person who killed two students and hurt nine others at Brown University. The person who was originally detained was released and cleared in the investigation. And as of this morning, investigators have not named any other suspects or possible motives. Yesterday, the FBI and police did release some images of a masked man they believed to be the shooter in the hope someone might recognize him. Officers also went door to door in search of any other footage that might be able to help. Meanwhile, Australian authorities are sharing more details about the mass shooting at a Jewish celebration in Sydney over the weekend. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the suspects seem to have been inspired by ISIS ideology. Remember, they were father and son and the father owned six firearms that were legally registered to him before the shooting that killed at least 15 people. Now the Australian government is promising to toughen the country's already strict gun laws. It's talking about launching a national firearms registry sooner than planned, using more criminal intelligence in the gun licensing process, regularly reviewing gun licenses to make sure the people holding them have not been radicalized and more. Some pushback is likely, but updated laws are widely expected to pass. The US Military has attacked three more boats accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Eight people were killed. Now, as we've told you, President Trump says the strikes are necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. but the Trump administration is facing increasing scrutiny from lawmakers. Increasing. In fact, there are more briefings about the attacks scheduled for today with top national security officials. Dozens of strikes have been reported over the last few months, killing nearly 100 people both in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean, near Venezuela. And the skies over the Caribbean have become especially crowded in recent weeks. In fact, a JetBlue pilot says he very nearly collided with a US military aircraft over the Caribbean recently. The pilot reported an Air Force refueling tanker had passed in front of the commercial plane without broadcasting its position, and he told air traffic control they were about 20 seconds away from crashing. To that an air traffic controller said this was part of a trend saying, quote, they've been outrageous with the unidentified aircraft. Now, pilots from several other airlines are also being warned, and the military says it's investigating. Thousands of people who live in the suburbs near Seattle have been told to evacuate. A flash flooding warning is in effect because of a levee breach yesterday. The levee is now in the process of being repaired, but there are also more rounds of rain in the forecast and water levels continue to rise. Thankfully, at this point, no one has been reported hurt, but authorities are asking anyone who hasn't had to evacuate yet to keep a close eye on any notices and be ready just in case. Besides Washington, heavy rain is also expected across Oregon and into Northern California throughout the week. We have more news for you in just a moment, but first a quick break to tell you about our sponsor. When I think about the gifts I use all year long, one that always comes to mind is my Quint's Carry on suitcase. I've taken it on so many trips now. It's sleek, lightweight, rolls so smoothly and has convenient compression straps that help to fit everything without feeling bulky. It's the kind of travel upgrade that just makes every trip easier. That's what I love about Quince. Everything feels intentionally designed and you can get it at prices that actually make sense. Whether it's their travel pieces, their Mongolian cashmere, washable silk, tailored denim or outerwear, their the quality is great without the luxury markup. And because Quint's also has beautiful options for home bedding, accessories and gifts, it really is a one stop shop for holiday shopping. Quint's makes it easy to have a gift that's practical, beautiful and built to last. Find gifts so good you'll want to keep them with quints. Go to quint.comnewsworthy for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q U I n c e.com newsworthy to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com newsworthy now back to the news. The White House is now recruiting workers from Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft and other tech giants. It's part of a new initiative being called US TechForce. It's looking for 1,000 participants to commit to a two year program to work on artificial intelligence infrastructure and other tech projects throughout the federal government. After their two years are up, the White House says they'll be able to return to their employers and if they didn't have a job beforehand, big tech companies have promised to consider the workers for other positions. Former President Biden actually did set up a similar initiative to bring AI professionals into government jobs, but most of those people were either fired or resigned in protest at the start of the Trump administration. The Trump White House also dismantled an internal tech consultancy group, closed a tech focused office inside the Social Security Administration and and has seen significant cuts to the cybersecurity and Infrastructure security agency. It's not clear if any of those people will be rehired now, but the White House says it will be going through the traditional recruiting channels as well as private sector partners. President Trump is now suing the BBC, seeking up to $10 billion in damages. It's all over how the broadcaster edited a documentary that featured Trump's speech before the January 6 Capitol riot. The network put two separate parts of his speech together, but left out the part in which he called on his supporters to peacefully march to the Capitol so it seemed like he was calling for violence. Trump is calling it a biased attack on his reputation meant to undermine his odds of winning re election. Since the documentary came out last year before he was voted back into office, Trump also says he suffered economic harm because of it. The BBC has already apologized to the president and two top network leaders resigned over the edit. Now BBC is promising to fight the lawsuit, saying there's no basis for a defamation case. If this sounds familiar, it might be because President Trump has also taken legal action against several American media outlets. Both ABC and CBS have settled with him to the tune of millions of dollars and legal battles are still ongoing with the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Some of the biggest retailers in the US Are getting some serious warnings from the fda. Federal regulators say Walmart, Target, Kroger and Albertsons all sold recalled baby formula weeks after it was recalled. We're talking about the Bihart baby formula that's been tied to a botulism outbreak that could be deadly. As of this week, some cans were still on store shelves even though there have been repeated recall notices and follow up warnings. Store employees have given different explanations like confusion over which products were affected, though most say at this point they followed procedure. To be clear, all of By Heart's infant formula products are covered under this recall. Now the FDA is demanding the companies respond with plans on how to prevent this from happening again, otherwise there could be legal consequences. The company that put robot vacuums in American homes is going through a big transition. The maker of Roomba, called Irobot filed for bankruptcy this week. The company has struggled in many ways lately, from keeping up with cheaper foreign rivals, to getting on top of its rising debt to to affording the cost of tariffs. So now iRobot is being taken over by its main manufacturer, based in China, and it's transitioning to private ownership. Fears have come up about what this all means for people who already own roombas and how they'll get future software updates. But for now, iRobot says all the devices should keep running as usual. The bankruptcy process is expected to be finished by February. Washington, D.C. now holds the record for the most Kisses Underneath Mistletoe A recent event brought more than 1400 couples together in DC's business district. They all kissed for five seconds underneath the national mistletoe, which is a sphere of greenery suspended 30ft in the air. They also held sprigs of mistletoe above their heads to make the Christmas tradition even more special. Well, that simultaneous kiss has now earned them a Guinness World record. The Downtown D.C. business Improvement District hosted the get together and its president is still celebrating, saying events like this bring people together in a memorable, joyful way. That's it for the Maine News today. So now it's time for Trivia Tuesday when we ask a different trivia question every week. But first, this episode is brought to you by fatty 15. 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Fatty 15 is on a mission to optimize your C15 levels to help you live healthier longer. You can get an additional 15% off their 90 day subscription starter kit by going to fatty15.comnewsworthy and using the code newsworthy at checkout. Okay, now back to Trivia Tuesday and today's trivia question is what major city was named in a coin toss? Listen again next Tuesday for the answer and explanation. As for last week's trivia question, what dog breed doesn't bark? The answer is the basenji. But just because they don't bark doesn't mean they're quiet. Instead of barking, basenjis make a sort of yodeling sound called a baroo. And that's not the only thing that makes them unique. They're often compared to cats because they groom themselves and rarely smell. Also, like cats, training them can be a challenge. Most are incredibly smart, a little aloof and have a lot of energy. And they're also fierce hunters. But they're still beloved and have been for thousands of years. Their origins date back to ancient Egypt. In fact, the basenji has even been depicted on Egyptian artifacts from as far back as 3000 BC thank you so much for joining us to get caught up on the news today. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest news to know. Until then, have a great day.