Kyle Rittenhouse verdict: Gun group to ‘award’ AR-15 to teen as defence attorney calls Trump Jr ‘idiot’
Teen acquitted on homicide charges following Kenosha shootings
Kyle Rittenhouse’s attorney has criticised Republican lawmakers he has accused of trying to capitalise on his client and has called their behaviour “disgusting”.
He also called Donald Trump Jr an “idiot” for supporting an offer by Guns of America to give Mr Rittenhouse a free AR-15 rifle, similar to the one used by Mr Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin on 25 August, 2020.
Mark Richards, who represented Mr Rittenhouse at trial, told Insider: “He’s an idiot. I don’t have to expand on that because it speaks for itself.”
At least three members of Congress have suggested offering internships to Mr Rittenhouse following his acquittal.
“They want to trade on his celebrity and I think it’s disgusting,” Mr Richards told Insider after the verdict.
Protests across the US followed his acquittal, after a jury found him not guilty on all five counts in his homicide trial after four days of deliberations.
Fox News personality Tucker Carlson will interview Mr Rittenhouse on Monday, and the network is set to air a documentary-style film about the trial in December.
Mr Richards told CNN on Friday that he did not approve of a film crew embedding with the legal team.
Justin Wells, a senior executive producer of Tucker Carlson Tonight, told the Associated Press that no payment was made for access, footage rights, legal fees or any other purpose to Mr Rittenhouse or his family.
In a clip from the upcoming documentary showing Mr Rittenhouse after the verdict, he says that “the jury reached the correct verdict. Self-defense in not illegal.”
He continued: “I believe they came to the correct verdict and I’m glad that everything went well.”
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Attorney for Proud Boys leader at 6 January Capitol riot says actions ‘not unlike what Kyle Rittenhouse did’
A court motion – filed on the same day as Rittenhouse was acquitted – claims that alleged Philadelphia Proud Boys leader Zachary Rehl travelled to Washington DC ahead of the Capitol riots to “defend vulnerable demonstrators against violent attacks from ANTIFA, not unlike what Kyle Rittenhouse did”.
Attorney defends Proud Boys leader with comparison to Kyle Rittenhouse
Kenosha Guard group leader who called for armed support during protests: ‘I felt vindicated’
As protests and wild unrest in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake entered a third night, former city alderman posted on the Kenosha Guard Facebook page to call for armed support to protect the city. The post went viral, and Kevin Mathewson – who says he never met Kyle Rittenhouse – ended up being banned from the platform.
Following Mr Rittenhouse’s acquittal, he told The New York Times: “It vindicates Kyle ... I felt vindicated by it ... It vindicates people that say, ‘Look, no one’s coming to help, we have to help ourselves.’”
The trial has brought the growing presence of self-styled militia groups at racial justice protests into closer scrutiny.
Its expected outcome, as prosecutors were unable to argue to jurors that Mr Rittenhouse was not acting in self-defense, does issue a “stark reminder of who was likely to be seen by the police and jury members as ‘helping’ in a situation like the one Mr Rittenhouse placed himself in, and who was not,” according to the newspaper.
We’re closing today’s coverage of the outcome of the verdict in Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial.