In mid-December 2025, a claim (archived) circulated online that late actor and director Rob Reiner said he wished the gunman who attempted to kill U.S. President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024 hadn't missed when he targeted the then-presidential candidate.
The rumor circulated days after Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead at their home in Los Angeles on Dec. 14, 2025. The following day, the Los Angeles Police Department announced detectives had arrested Nick Reiner, the couple's 32-year-old son. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder on Dec. 16.
For example, one Facebook user shared a graphic including text in which the claim about Rob Reiner featured. The message read in part: "You guys are all butt hurt over what Trump said about Reiner but you never said a word when Reiner said he wished that the Assassin hadn't missed, when Trump was shot in Pennsylvania"
(Facebook user Claudia Phillips)
The rumor also circulated on X (archived), Threads (archived) and Instagram (archived), while Snopes readers contacted us to ask whether it was true.
Social media users who shared the claim did not say when or where Reiner reportedly expressed such a sentiment. He was a frequent guest on news channels such as CNN and MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) and, according to news articles and people who interviewed him, once had an X account with the handle @robreiner. That profile was no longer active at the time of this writing, though archived snapshots of his account were available.
Searches on Google, Yahoo, Bing and DuckDuckGo uncovered no media interviews or reports about Reiner saying he wished the shooter didn't miss Trump (archived, archived, archived, archived). If he had, news and entertainment media websites would likely have reported on such comments, considering he spoke about Trump numerous times in interviews.
None of the archived versions of Reiner's X profile included evidence of him making such comments. However, given his account was no longer live, it was not possible to independently verify whether he made such a statement online. Therefore, we were not able to apply a rating to this claim.
Snopes contacted Reiner's agent, John Burnham, to ask whether, to Burnham's knowledge, Reiner ever made remarks reflecting the claim, in person or online. We await a reply.
According to media appearances before his death, Reiner was anti-Trump but also opposed politically motivated violence.
During an interview with Variety magazine in December 2017, after Trump secured his first-term win, the actor and director called Trump "mentally unfit" to be president of the United States.
Then, in 2024, Reiner appeared to tell MSNBC host Ari Melber that choosing between former U.S. President Joe Biden and Trump was like choosing between democracy and fascism, implying Trump was a fascist.
Despite his dislike for Trump, it was not possible to find evidence that Reiner supported acts of violence like the assassination attempt on Trump in 2024.
Speaking to British TV host Piers Morgan on Sept. 26, 2025, just months before his death, Reiner discussed the killing of prominent conservative commentator Charlie Kirk and said his death horrified him:
MORGAN: When you first heard about the murder of Charlie Kirk, what was your immediate gut reaction to it?
REINER: Well, horror. Absolute horror. And I unfortunately saw the video of it and it's beyond belief what happened to him and that should never happen to anybody. I don't care what your political beliefs are. That's not acceptable. That's not a solution to solving problems.
Trump drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike for remarks he made about Reiner shortly after the filmmaker's death. The president alleged Reiner suffered from "a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS" and wrote that Reiner had, "driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump."
Reiner, known for directing films including "Stand by Me," "The Princess Bride," "When Harry Met Sally," "Misery," "A Few Good Men" and "This Is Spinal Tap" was 78 when he died. Michele Singer Reiner, a film producer, was 68.