Michelle Obama has shared that she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, had plans to see their longtime friends Rob Reiner and Michele Singer the night of their untimely deaths.
The couple were found stabbed to death in their Brentwood home on Sunday, sources told ABC News.
The former first lady opened up about the pair during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday, taking a moment to pay her respects to the late filmmaker and his wife.
“We’ve known them for many, many years. And we were supposed to be seeing them that night, last night, and we got the news,” she said. “And let me just say this, unlike some people, Rob and Michele Reiner are some of the most decent, courageous people you ever want to know.”
She added, “They are not deranged or crazed.”
The former first lady’s comments came hours after President Donald Trump received backlash for his harsh remarks on social media about Rob Reiner’s death, which he claimed was “reportedly due to the anger he caused by others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction … known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
The president called Rob Reiner “a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star.”
Trump’s remarks have drawn criticism from politicians on both sides of the aisle, including New York Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican, who called the post “wrong”; fellow Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who called the post “inappropriate”; and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who wrote in a social media post that the president “knows no shame.”
In stark contrast to Trump’s remarks, Michelle Obama told Kimmel on Monday that Rob Reiner and his wife have always been “passionate people in a time when there’s not a lot of courage going on.”
“They were the kind of people who were ready to put their actions behind what they cared about. And they cared about their family. And they cared about this country. And they cared about fairness and equity. And that is the truth. I do know them,” she said.
Rob Reiner and Singer’s 32-year-old son, Nick Reiner, is accused of killing his parents and was taken into custody Sunday evening. He is currently being held without bail and has not yet been formally charged. The case against him is expected to be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for filing consideration on Tuesday, according to police.
ABC News has reached out to the Reiner family for comment.
The ABC News special The Rob Reiner Story: A Hollywood Tragedy will air Tuesday on ABC at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT, and stream on Disney+ and Hulu.
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