Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old boy who shot three people apparently in self-defense during the riots in Kenosha and who has been falsely branded a “white supremacist,” left the Kenosha County jail on Friday after posting $2 million bail. He raised the money through a crowdfunding effort thanks, in part, to My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell.
“KYLE RITTENHOUSE IS OUT OF JAIL,” L. Lin Wood, Rittenhouse’s attorney, announced on Twitter Friday. “God bless ALL who donated to help [Fight back] raise required $2M cash bail. Special thanks to Actor Ricky Schroder & Mike Lindell for putting us over the top. Kyle is SAFE. Thanks to ALL who helped this boy.”
KYLE RITTENHOUSE IS OUT OF JAIL.
God bless ALL who donated to help #FightBack raise required $2M cash bail.
Special thanks to Actor Ricky Schroder @rickyshroder1 & Mike Lindell @realMikeLindell for putting us over the top.
Kyle is SAFE.
Thanks to ALL who helped this boy.
— Lin Wood (@LLinWood) November 20, 2020
Rittenhouse crossed the border from Illinois into Wisconsin during the riots in Kenosha in late August. He brought an AR-15 with him, telling reporters on the ground he traveled there to protect property and to help people amid the unrest. He provided medical assistance to rioters whom police hit with pepper spray. Yet later on in the night, he allegedly shot three people, seemingly in self-defense.
Rittenhouse was arrested on suspicion of intentional homicide. He is accused of fatally shooting 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum and 26-year-old Anthony Huber, and of wounding Gaige Grosskreutz.
The New York Times analyzed Rittenhouse’s movements throughout the night and found that in both of the shootings, the boy was acting in self-defense.
Rittenhouse arguably should not have traveled to Kenosha, but he has also been subjected to false accusations after that fatal night of August 25.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) described Kyle Rittenhouse as a “17 year old white supremacist domestic terrorist,” claiming he “shot and killed 2 people who had assembled to affirm the value, dignity, and worth of Black lives.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) retweeted the accusation.
CNN host Ana Navarro-Cardenas claimed that “Innocent people, who had nothing to do with the police shooting in Wisconsin, are being targeted and terrorized AND MURDERED by white supremacist teen-agers with big-a** guns.”
Following these accusations, Wood — who represented Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann in defamation lawsuits after legacy media outlets like CNN and The Washington Post smeared him — took Rittenhouse’s case.
In September, Wood announced he would sue the campaign of Democratic nominee Joe Biden for libel after the campaign released an ad that appears to have branded Rittenhouse a “white supremacist.”
Todd McMurtry, Wood’s colleague, argued that Biden “had defamed Kyle Rittenhouse by suggesting on this video that he is a White Supremacist. The [Left] just will not stop. I am working on the retraction demand now for Mr. Biden and his campaign.”
Some on the Right have cheered Rittenhouse as a hero, and it does seem the boy has been misunderstood and wrongly demonized. It appears he shot in self-defense, but the case is ongoing. Rittenhouse does not seem to be a violent threat, so it is a good thing he was able to post bail. A court hearing has been scheduled for December 3.
Editor’s Note: Want to support PJ Media so we can continue telling the truth about the Biden-Harris campaign? Join PJ Media VIP TODAY and use the promo code LAWANDORDER to get 25% off your VIP membership.
Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member