Michelle Obama said on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” late Monday that she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, had plans to see the filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, on the day they were found dead in their Los Angeles home.
“We were supposed to be seeing them that night — last night,” she told Jimmy Kimmel during an interview on the show. “Rob and Michele Reiner are some of the most decent, courageous people you ever want to know.”
“They are not deranged or crazed,” she said, after President Trump had told reporters earlier Monday that Mr. Reiner was “a deranged person.”
She added: “What they have always been are passionate people when there’s not a lot of courage going on.”
The bodies of Mr. Reiner, 78, and Ms. Reiner, 70, were discovered on Sunday in what the police described as an apparent homicide. One of their sons, Nick Reiner, 32, was arrested on Sunday night and is being held without bail on suspicion of murder.
Mrs. Obama said that she and her husband had known the Reiners for “many, many years.” Mr. Reiner was a prominent Democratic donor and political activist, enthusiastically championing causes including same-sex marriage, early childhood education and the careers of various presidential candidates.
In a statement posted on social media after the Reiners’ deaths, former President Obama wrote that the couple “lived lives defined by purpose.” He said Mr. Reiner’s work reflected his “deep belief in the goodness of people.”
In her interview with Mr. Kimmel, Mrs. Obama said the Reiners “were the kind of people who were ready to put their actions behind what they cared about,” especially fairness and equity.
Jenny Gross is a reporter for The Times covering breaking news and other topics.
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