Kyle Rittenhouse’s mother said President Joe Biden “defamed” her son in suggesting he is a white supremacist.
“He is not a white supremacist. He is not a racist,” Wendy Rittenhouse told Fox News host Sean Hannity Thursday night, her first interview since her son testified in his own defense in his homicide trial.
The comments stemmed from a video Biden tweeted in September 2020 when he was a presidential candidate, which included an image of Rittenhouse carrying AR-15 rifle with the caption: “There’s no other way to put it: the President of the United States refused to disavow white supremacists on the debate stage last night.”The post targeted former President Donald Trump for refusing to condemn white supremacists and militia groups during the Sept. 29 presidential debate.
“I was in shock. I was angry. President Biden don’t know my son, whatsoever,” Wendy Rittenhouse said. “… He did that for the votes. I was so angry for a while at him and what he did to my son.”
Rittenhouse, 18, is on trial, for fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, during civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Aug. 25, 2020, spurred by the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
The image used in Biden’s post was from the night of the shooting.
Rittenhouse took the witness stand this week where he claimed he acted in self-defense. He sobbed uncontrollably during testimony Wednesday, prompting Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder to call for a recess.
The defense rested its case in the prominent trial Thursday. Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday.
