The trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, which ended with him being found not guilty, attracted the attention of the wide public. And while some believed he acted in self-defense the night he killed two people and wounded one, others were convinced he needed to be found guilty of all the charges and jailed for life.
On the night of August 25, 2020, Rittenhouse left his home in Antioch, Illinois, and went Kenosha, Wisconsin, holding a weapon. He claimed he drove to Kenosha in order to protect businesses from the rioters protesting against the police in the shooting of Jacob Blake.
This year’s hottest new Republican accessory is Kyle Rittenhouse, who went out and killed two people in the street.
They’re literally fighting over who gets to stand next to him.
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) November 24, 2021
Rittenhouse faced charges of first-degree reckless homicide and first-degree intentional homicide, amongst others, with the second of those carrying a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. The entire time, he claimed that he killed his victims, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and wounded third, because he acted in self-defense.
Amid his trial, a poll asked the public to take a stand, and the results showed that two-thirds of Republicans believed he should be acquitted, while three-quarters of Democrats thought he should be convicted.
After reaching a verdict and finding Rittenhouse not guilty, he went on to speak of his case, saying that it was a classic example of prosecutorial misconduct. In an interview with right-wing host Tucker Carlson, Rittenhouse said, “It wasn’t Kyle Rittenhouse on trial in Wisconsin; it was the right of self-defense on trial.”
He then went on to explain, “I believe there needs to be change. I believe there’s a lot of prosecutorial misconduct — not just in my case, but in other cases. And it’s just amazing to see how much a prosecutor can take advantage of somebody. If they did this to me, imagine what they could have done to a person of color who doesn’t maybe have the resources I do or isn’t widely publicized, like my case.”
Kyle Rittenhouse: “This case has nothing to do with race.”
Watch our exclusive interview, tomorrow at 8pm ET on @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/vXLEVtfycc
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) November 22, 2021
One of the public figures who stood by Rittenhouse’s side from day one was former President Donald Trump. Six days after the trial started back in 2020, while Trump was still POTUS, he was reported saying, “He was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like. I guess he was in very big trouble. He probably would have been killed,” referring to the shooting.
Days after getting out of prison, not surprisingly, Rittenhouse paid Trump a visit at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida. The two shared a photo on Twitter on which they have huge grins on their faces.
TRUMP MET WITH RITTENHOUSE.
The internet isn’t ready for this. pic.twitter.com/hV5SWkEv0B
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) November 24, 2021
After the meeting, Trump had an hour-long interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, during which, among the rest, he discussed meeting Rittenhouse and his mother.
“Kyle, I got to know him a little bit. He called. He wanted to know if he could come over and say hello because he was a fan, unlike the other guy,” Trump said.
Referring to the trial, Trump added, “He should never have been put through that. That was prosecutorial misconduct,” calling Kyle “a really nice young man.”