A match made in hell
Donald Trump claims he met with Kyle Rittenhouse after the teenager was
found not guilty and said he was a"nice young man" that shouldn't have had to "suffer through a trial".
In a highly divisive decision, Rittenhouse was last week cleared of the fatal shooting of two men and wounding of a third during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 25 last year following the killing of Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white Kenosha police officer.
The former US president told Fox News' Sean Hannity on Tuesday that Rittenhouse is "really a nice young man” and that he "got to know him a little bit."
"He wanted to know if he could come over and say hello," Trump said.
"He was a fan, unlike the other guy."
Rittenhouse, now 18, from Antioch, Illinois, was cleared on all five charges.
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He was charged with reckless homicide in the slaying of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and intentional homicide in the death of 26-year-old Anthony Huber. He also faced a charge of attempted intentional homicide for severely wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, a 27-year-old paramedic who was there that night volunteering his medical services, and two counts of recklessly endangering safety.
According to a report by NBC News, Trump defended Rittenhouse, saying, "What he went through, he should’ve — that was prosecutorial misconduct. He should not have had to suffer through a trial for that.
"If he didn't pull that trigger, that guy that put the gun to his head, in one-quarter of a second he was going to pull the trigger."
Trump added, "Kyle would’ve been dead."
Rittenhouse told the court all the shootings were acts of self-defense and had claimed he went to Kenosha to protect private property during the protest.
Rittenhouse has since given interviews in which he has claimed to
support the Black Lives Matter movement.
