Kyle Rittenhouse verdict: Gun group to ‘award’ AR-15 to teen as defence attorney calls Trump Jr ‘idiot’

The Democratic House Judiciary chairman Jerold Nadler has described the not guilty verdict in Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial as a “miscarriage of justice”.

He also called for a “federal review” to take place.

Mr Nadler issued a statement after the verdict, saying: “This heartbreaking verdict is a miscarriage of justice and sets a dangerous precedent which justifies federal review by DOJ.

“Justice cannot tolerate armed persons crossing state lines looking for trouble while people engage in First Amendment-protected protest.”

Kyle Rittenhouse cannot be tried again for the same alleged crimes and the Department of Justice does not have any authority to prosecute state crimes.

The DOJ could however probe law enforcement for bias or misconduct.

Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters after the trial that the verdict “really speaks for itself”.

She added: “As many of you know, I’ve spent a majority of my career working to make the criminal justice system more equitable. And clearly, there’s a lot more work to do.”

Hours after a jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse on charges of homicide, Fox News personality Tucker Carlson announced that he will not only interview the teenager but air a documentary about him.

On 19 November, the host of Tucker Carlson Tonight revealed that a film crew had followed the 18-year-old during the trial, although defence attorney Mark Richards told CNN that he did “not approve of that”.

“I threw them out of the room several times,” Mr Richards said on Friday following the verdict. “I don’t think a film crew is appropriate for something like this.”

US Senator Kevin Cramer told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that the “symbolism that surrounded” Mr Rittenhouse’s case have not “reflected the facts on the ground,” as a polarising verdict on Friday him not guilty of homicide.

Jurors deliberated a relatively narrow trial focusing on the shootings themselves against Wisconsin self-defense law, and weighed prosecutors’ argument over whether Mr Rittenhouse was justified in using deadly force against the people chasing after him on 25 August 2020 in the volatile aftermath of police brutality protests in Kenosha.

“Justice has been done by a jury of his peers,” Senator Cramer said.

He added: “I think frankly, when you look at the video tape, the videos of things that became more apparent later in the trial, you find a kid that was in the wrong place at the wrong time, should not have had a gun probably with him. But he did provoke what was happening to him, he responded in self-defense.”

He said that the problem is that “justice was done, but the rhetoric surrounding it on both sides is inappropriate to the actual events.”

A defense attorney for Kyle Rittenhouse has criticised Republican lawmakers looking to “profit” from his client’s “celebrity” after he was acquitted in a closely-watched, double homicide trial.

“There’s a lot of people trying to profit on this, and I don’t think people should,” Mark Richards told Insider after a jury found Mr Rittenhouse not guilty of killing two men and injuring another in the aftermath of police brutality protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year.

Prominent right-wing figures and news personalities have come to his defense, while civil rights groups and Democratic officials have argued that the case underscores failures in the criminal justice system.

At least three Republican members of Congress have suggested they want Mr Rittenhouse as an intern. Donald Trump Jr tweeted, then deleted, an offer from a gun rights organisation to send Mr Rittenhouse an AR-15-style rifle, along with a card in “support of Kyle”.

Civil rights attorney David Henderson told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that the activism surrounding civil rights issues, increasingly met by an armed civilian response, has opened the door for scenarios that are “volatile enough that people begin firing”.

“What stands out to me initially is not the existence of these laws but that people fundamentally do not understand them,” he said.

He said that the Rittenhouse trial was a “winnable” one for prosecutors, adding that “with a different jury you would have a very different outcome.”

“The law is not a problem so much as the system is a problem,” he said. “This was a very difficult case to win ... Based on these facts, this was a difficult case to win. But let’s think through what happened here with the law of self defense.”

Prosecutors argued that Mr Rittenhouse made the decision to fatally shoot Joseph Rosenbaum, who was chasing after him, rather than fire a single round, or a warning shot. Mr Rittenhouse shot him four times.

Mr Henderson made a similar argument, suggesting that defense attorneys would have had to make a similar lethal self-defense claim had Mr Rittenhouse used his hands, rather than an AR-15-style rifle.

He said the jury should have considered, in assessing whether Mr Rittenhouse made a “reasonable” decision to use lethal self-defense, whether he should have backed down.

A gun rights organisation is “awarding” Kyle Rittenhouse with an AR-15-style rifle following his acquittal at trial on homicide charges for fatally shooting two men and injuring another with a similar weapon.

Gun Owners of America – which claims to represent 2 million gun owners in the US – “will be awarding Kyle Rittenhouse with an AR-15 for his defense of gun rights in America,” according to a post on the group’s Twitter account.

“Join us in saying THANK YOU to Kyle Rittenhouse for being a warrior for gun owners and self defense rights across the country!” the post states.

The weapon used by Mr Rittenhouse, who lived in nearby Antioch, Illinois, was stored at his friend’s home in Kenosha. Mr Rittenhouse testified that his friend, Dominick Black, bought the gun in Wisconsin in May 2020 and agreed that it would be stored at Mr Black’s home until he turned 18.

Kenosha County Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed a misdemeanor charge against Mr Rittenhouse for possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18. Legal experts contended the charge was likely the best chance for prosecutors to convict Mr Rittenhouse, as there was no dispute that he possessed the gun that night.

Judge Schroeder argued that the charge, which is punishable by up to nine months in prison, was drawn from the state’s poorly and confusingly written open-carry law and rules allowing minors to carry firearms while hunting.

NAACP president Derrick Johnson told CBS Face the Nation on Sunday that it is “hard for many African Americans to reconcile” the verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse case while many Black American remain in jail for charges they didn’t commit or were “overcharged” in other cases.

Mr Rittenhouse “put himself in harm’s way based on the rhetoric he had seen on social media platforms,” Mr Johnson said.

“This trial for us is a warning shot that vigilante justice is allowed in this country, or in particular communities,” he added.

Mr Johnson falsely added that Mr Rittenhouse armed himself while driving into Kenosha from nearby Antioch, Illinois; a friend purchased the AR-15-style rifle for him and kept it at his step-father’s home in Kenosha.

After at least three members of Congress suggested they want Kyle Rittenhouse to work for them, Democratic US Rep Cori Bush of Missouri – who has repeatedly denounced endorsements of violence from Republican lawmakers – suggested that GOP congressmen who are “actively recruiting” Mr Rittenhouse should be expelled.

“Just being real: every day it feels more and more dangerous coming to work,” she said on Twitter on Saturday.

“Not only do these members fuel violence,” she said. “Now they’re actively recruiting someone whose sole qualification is killing people standing up for Black lives and getting away with it. They must be expelled.”

High-profile attorney Lin Wood, who briefly worked on the Rittenhouse case, has reportedly threatened to sue Mark Richards, a defense attorney for Rittenhouse, after he called Mr Wood an “idiot” in a recent interview with CNN.

“You know, Lin Wood and I went head-to-head and, you know, he’ll probably sue me for it, but he’s an idiot who let [Mr Rittenhouse] talk to The Washington Post while he was under charges for murder,” Mr Richards told CNN on Friday.

Mr Richards also accused Mr Wood and John Pierce, another previous attorney for Mr Rittenhouse, of “trying to whore this kid out for money, for their own causes” and “raising tons of money on him.”

According to Newsweek, Mr Woods wrote an email to Mr Richards saying: “You publicly stated in an interview on CNN that I was an idiot. False, I am not.”

“You should be ashamed of denigrating me and #FightBack for our legal and good faith efforts to help Kyle,” he added, according to Newsweek. “Demand is hereby made that you immediately retract and correct your false accusations against me. If you do not do so, I will prove that you are right on one point you made on CNN – I will sue you.”

Fox News personality Tucker Carlson is set to air an interview with Kyle Rittenhouse on Monday at 8pm EST, marking the teenager’s first public remarks following his acquittal on Friday.

Mr Carlson posted a brief clip, in which Mr Rittenhouse says “I had to do it. I was just attacked, I was dizzy, I was vomiting, I couldn’t breathe.”