New Phase of Brown U. Shooter Manhunt, Reiner Son Charged, Aussie Attack ISIS Link： AM Update 12⧸17
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Summary
After 72 hours, the Brown University mass shooter still remains on the loose and could face life in prison without parole or the possibility of the death penalty. Meanwhile, online sleuths point fingers at a student who they believe may have been the target of the attack.
Transcript
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It's Wednesday, December 17th, 2025, and this is your AM Update.
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We all know the first 24 to 48 hours are the most important in a homicide investigation.
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More than 72 hours after the attack, the Brown University mass shooter remains on the loose.
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These charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole
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Prosecutors filing charges against 32-year-old Nick Reiner, accusing him of slaying his parents,
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famed movie director Rob Reiner, and wife Michelle with a knife.
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Australian authorities officially saying the Bondi Beach shooting is connected to ISIS.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio, plus Secretary of War Pete Hegseth,
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brief lawmakers on the drug boat strike campaign.
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I get to marry the love of my life, and I feel just like the luckiest girl in the world.
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And a Trump is getting married. We'll tell you who.
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All that and more in just a moment on your AM Update.
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As President Trump is settling into his new administration, one of the top Democrats in
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The Brown University shooter still on the loose. Providence, Rhode Island authorities yesterday
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giving an update but providing little new information. Police releasing enhanced video
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of what they're still calling a person of interest hours prior to the shooting. The same husky male
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seen in the videos released yesterday. Authorities again asking the public to search doorbell cameras
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and other devices for more footage that may have captured the subject. Rhode Island Attorney General
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Peter Nerona saying the video released so far contains the clearest images they have of this person of
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interest. On Tuesday afternoon, online sleuths noting Brown University apparently removing pages
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associated with a student touting left-wing ideology. Many speculating that student might be the suspect.
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I think this is an area where caution is really necessary.
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There are lots of reasons why a page might be taken down, particularly if there's chatter out there
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about words that were spoken. It's easy to jump from someone saying words that were spoken to what
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those words are to a particular name that reflects a motive targeting a particular person. That's a really
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dangerous road to go down. Really dangerous. If that name meant anything to this investigation,
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we would be out looking for that person. We would let you know we were looking for that person.
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You know, again, I think it's just a really dangerous road to go down.
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Some wondering if the target of the attack was vice president of the Republican Club at Brown,
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Ella Cook, one of the deceased victims and a prominent conservative voice on campus.
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Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez saying authorities do not believe she was the intended target at this
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point. Three days removed from the attack, many growing weary and impatient. We spoke to retired
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FBI agent James Fitzgerald, known for his role in capturing the Unabomber, about what to expect.
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Fitzgerald says these video releases, even short clips, are encouraging steps that can further the
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Good for them. They found some of this person, much like the J-5 bomber that he could kind of put
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him walking through some neighborhoods. They're sort of doing the same with this guy. And it does give
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a better picture of in terms of height and weight. He looks like a white male, at least from a little
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bit of his face that we can see. None of this we knew before. I'm not sure the age, 20s to early 30s,
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perhaps kind of an unusual gate. And that can be analyzed with various software programs. So it's
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always a good thing to get these types of pictures, videos. Let's hope there's some video of him
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somewhere getting into a car or getting into a public transportation, going into a business. And at that
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point, perhaps they can further narrow down the search and perhaps even identify the individual
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FBI agents and other law enforcement officers seen canvassing throughout the streets and kicking
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through the snow in recent days. Fitzgerald describing the tedious searching that lies
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ahead for investigators and the major breakthroughs it could lead to.
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With the Charlie Kirk investigation in September, they did the same thing and they actually found
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the rifle buried under some leaves or debris or something. So that type of a search paid off.
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A ground search of the immediate area is, you know, investigation 101. You have to do that.
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They're going to go through some sewer systems and there's ways of looking for weapons. That way,
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they may drag some lakes or rivers or creeks, whatever, or sending drones, you know, underwater.
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They're going to do all kinds of searches. They're also going to go door to door and neighbor to
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neighbor. That's what you do, a neighborhood canvas, they call it. And I'm probably within a half mile
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of the campus. And certainly any streets this guy walked along, investigators are going to be
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knocking on every door. We asked Fitzgerald about the typical timeline in a manhunt like this
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and how we are already past the most crucial window. There is no normal timeline. We all know the first
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24 to 48 hours are the most important in homicide investigation. Nowadays with social media and again,
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surveillance footage, as we're discussing here, sometimes it takes extra hours, extra days.
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I've been in these investigations. I know how difficult they are. And to the Olympic bombings
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and other bombings after that in the mid to late 90s, we knew the guy was Eric Rudolph. We knew he
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drove his truck to Western North Carolina. It still took us five years to find him and we knew his name.
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So you don't know. This guy may decide to be perfectly quiet about it. Deep, deep cover,
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sort of his own Manchurian candidate and didn't say a word to anybody and just went out on Saturday,
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shut up the school. And that may be it. But I'm giving these investigators the benefit of the doubt,
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certainly now with the FBI involved, my former agency. And I have a feeling this guy's days are numbered.
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Nick Reiner officially charged in connection with the murder of his parents,
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legendary director Rob Reiner and wife Michelle. Nick's arraignment originally set for Tuesday,
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delayed pending medical clearance for transportation from the jail to the courthouse.
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Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hockman yesterday evening outlining the charges.
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These charges will be two counts of first degree murder with a special circumstance of multiple
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murders. He also fesses a special allegation that he personally used a dangerous and deadly weapon,
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that being a knife. These charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility
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parole or the death penalty. No decision at this point has been made with respect to the death penalty.
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We have requested and currently Nick Reiner is being held without bail.
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Hockman elaborating on what the special circumstances elevation means.
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Special circumstances is a situation where one of the enumerated factors that lead to elevating in
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some ways a first degree murder case to a special circumstance first degree murder case occurs.
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One of those special circumstances is called multiple murders.
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Here we have two, and it qualifies under the definition of multiple murders to allege the special
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High-profile criminal defense attorney Alan Jackson now representing Reiner, Jackson previously
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serving as legal counsel for Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and Karen Reed, who was acquitted over the
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summer after being charged with murdering her Massachusetts cop boyfriend.
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New reporting bringing the timeline of the murders into sharper focus.
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Nick tagging along with his parents on Saturday night to a holiday party hosted by Conan O'Brien.
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Rob and Nick Reiner reportedly getting into a loud argument at the party, one of the attendees
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telling the New York Times. Another guest reporting that people were worried about Nick's behavior,
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saying he looked, quote, anxious and uncomfortable in a way that deeply unsettled them.
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Around 4 a.m. early Sunday morning, TMZ reporting Nick checked into the Pierside Santa Monica Hotel,
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about 15 minutes from the Reiner's Brentwood Mansion. According to eyewitnesses, Nick seemed,
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quote, tweaked out, but there was no indication of a violent altercation.
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Hotel staff later reportedly discovering the shower in Nick's room full of blood,
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with more bloodstains on the bed and sheets covering his windows.
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The Daily Mail reporting Rob and Michelle were found in their bed with their throats slit,
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in addition to other stab wounds, possibly asleep when they were murdered.
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The L.A. County DA's office announcing yesterday evening Nick's arraignment will be set for a later
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date. Coming up, Australian officials linking the Bondi Beach shooters with ISIS. Was it the
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multiple ISIS flags all over their car? Top Trump cabinet officials brief members of
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Congress on those boat strikes, and love is in the air for a man named Trump will explain.
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Australian officials, including the Prime Minister, confirming the Bondi Beach shooters were inspired
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by ISIS. 50-year-old father, Sajid Akram, and 24-year-old son, Naveed Akram, opening fire on a
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Jewish celebration on the first night of Hanukkah, killing 15 people and injuring dozens more.
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The elder killed by police in the shootout, the son, still in the hospital. New South Wales Police
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Commissioner Mal Lanyon yesterday with new information on the rampage.
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There has been reports in the news about our two offenders travelling to the Philippines last
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month. I can confirm that they did travel to the Philippines. The reasons why they went to the
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Philippines and the purpose of that and where they went when they were there is under investigation
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at the moment. I also confirm that the vehicle which is registered to the younger male contained
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IEDs, but I also confirm that it contained two homemade ISIS flags.
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The New York Times reporting the shooters entering the Philippines on November 1st,
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then departing on the 28th. Hearts of the Philippines are known hotbeds for ISIS training.
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Authorities declining to share more details on their activity in the country, but ABC Australia
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reporting officials do believe the pair received military-style training while on the trip.
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Investigators for ASIO, an Australian intel agency, reportedly investigating the sun in 2019
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for links to Islamic extremism, determining then he did not pose a threat.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth yesterday providing lawmakers
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with a closed-door briefing on the campaign to take out drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and
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Pacific Ocean. Democrats railing against the strike since they began, their criticism intensifying
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following reports that one strike left two survivors, who were then taken out in a second strike.
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Unsurprisingly, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying he is not satisfied with the briefing,
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a sentiment echoed by other Democrats throughout the day yesterday.
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My demand of Secretary Hegseth in front of all hundred senators that he allow every senator to see the unedited
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version, the unedited video of what happened on September 2nd. He refused. The administration came
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to this briefing empty-handed. That's the major question that we face. And if they can't be transparent on
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this, how can you trust their transparency on all the other issues swirling about in the Caribbean?
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Secretary Hegseth telling reporters the full video remains classified and will not be released to the
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public. But later today, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees will be able to view the video
00:14:39.400
as those members hold higher-level security clearances. Last night, President Trump increasing
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pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, posting to Truth Social, quote,
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Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South
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America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before
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until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the oil, land, and other assets
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that they previously stole from us. Huh? The full scope of that demand is not immediately clear,
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though in 2007, Venezuela's government seized oil assets owned by foreign companies, including U.S.
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companies like ExxonMobil, after they refused to give Venezuela's state-run oil company majority
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control of their operations. Over on the House side, Speaker Mike Johnson describing the White House's
00:15:31.740
legal reasoning post the briefing. Pursuant to this constitutional authority and the law of armed
00:15:37.480
conflict, the president determined that the United States is in non-international armed conflict. That's
00:15:43.540
N-I-A-C, as the acronym is known. And that is with designated terrorist organizations and their affiliates
00:15:50.040
who have evolved into complex structures with financial means and parliamentary capabilities needed
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to operate with impunity, engage in violence and terrorism. That presents a clear and present danger to the
00:16:03.020
security of America and threaten other nations in our hemisphere. I want to make this point very clear. Over the
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last four years alone, America has lost more lives to drug overdoses and other drug-related deaths than we did to the
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enemy actions in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq combined. This is a serious problem that a
00:16:24.740
serious administration is addressing. It'll soon be wedding bells for Donald Trump Jr.
00:16:30.940
announcing his engagement to Bettina Anderson from the White House on Monday.
00:16:35.640
I just want to wish all of you guys an incredible holiday season, a Merry Christmas, a very happy new
00:16:40.680
year. And to thank Bettina for that one word, yes. When you go down there, it's like you're gonna go and
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you're trying to ask and you're not sure what the answer is gonna be. It's almost a little bit rough,
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but she said yes. This has really been the most unforgettable weekend of my life, and I get to
00:16:56.760
marry the love of my life, and I feel just like the luckiest girl in the world. Yes, one of America's
00:17:02.840
most eligible bachelors in love and now engaged to Palm Beach Socialite Anderson, the pair an item for
00:17:09.860
about a year and a half now, following Don Jr.'s breakup with former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle
00:17:16.060
and a previous marriage to ex-wife and mother of his five children, Vanessa Trump. Having spent time
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with both of them after our tour stop in Sugar Land, Texas, your humble correspondent can report
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And that'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back here for the MK Show,
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live on SiriusXM's The Megan Kelly Channel, 111 at noon east, on youtube.com slash megankelly,
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