Kyle Rittenhouse’s mother Wendy Rittenhouse appears alongside Sean Hannity on Fox News Channel on Thurs., Nov. 11, 2021. (Image via Fox News Channel screengrab.)
Kyle Rittenhouse’s mother took to the proverbial airwaves Thursday night to call out President Joe Biden and praise Judge Bruce Schroeder, the judge overseeing her son’s first-degree intentional homicide trial.
Wendy Rittenhouse appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News Channel program to accuse Biden of defaming her son. Her claim echoed comments from former Rittenhouse attorney Lin Wood, who last year threatened to sue Biden and his campaign over a tweeted video that contained an image of Kyle Rittenhouse amid an audio track from a presidential debate which involved questions about “White Supremacists” and “Proud Boys.”
After playing a clip of Kyle Rittenhouse breaking down on the witness stand and hearing Wendy Rittenhouse say she wished she could have hugged her son in that moment, Hannity remarked that then-candidate Biden “and other elected officials that don’t know anything” about Kyle Rittenhouse referred to the defendant as a “white supremacist.”
“I have yet to see any evidence whatsoever that he is such a person,” Hannity said.
Kyle Rittenhouse appears in an evidence photo making what prosecutors have argued is a “white power” symbol while wearing a shirt which reads “free as fuck” while out on bail. The photo was not shown to the jury.
Wendy Rittenhouse recalled watching the “President Kennedy — candidate — debate” where Trump was asked to denounce white supremacists by Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace.
She accused then-candidate and current president Biden of a civil tort.
“President Biden don’t know my son whatsoever,” Wendy Rittenhouse told Hannity. “He’s not a white supremacist. He’s not a racist. He did that for the votes, and I was so angry for a while at him, and what he did to my fa — son — he defamed him.”
Kyle Rittenhouse appears in an evidence photo making what prosecutors have argued is a “white power” symbol while he was out on bail. The photo was not shown to the jury.
Hannity then played video of people attacking Kyle Rittenhouse on Aug. 25, 2020, shortly before Rittenhouse fired and killed one person and injured a second. The video was recorded after Rittenhouse shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum but before he shot two other individuals, killing Anthony Huber and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz.
Wendy Rittenhouse said she was “scared,” “frightened,” and “thought my son was going to die that night.”
Hannity then noted that some testimony indicated that Rittenhouse was trying to “de-escalate” the situation.
The Fox News opinion host then said the prosecution’s “star witness,” Grosskreutz, “admitted on the stand under oath that he aimed a loaded gun at your son before your son shot him.”
“That would seem to me a classic case of self defense,” Hannity said, without acknowledging that initial aggressors or people who provoke attacks are generally not entitled to invoke the privilege of self defense.
“When I look at the video of that guy pointing a gun to my son’s head, I thought, ‘he’s going to die,'” Wendy Rittenhouse said in response. “This guy just put — pointed his gun at his head, and I — it look a long time to just to — just to grasp on — that he was alive. And knowing that he’s with me, I’m grateful, and I’m relieved that he’s okay, but he has a lot of healing to do because he does have nightmares from this.”
In an image enhanced by a defense expert, Kyle Rittenhouse (right, on the ground) is, according to the defense, being attacked and in fear of his life. (Image via evidence photo/the Law&Crime Network.)
Hannity then praised the judge for dressing down the prosecution on multiple occasions. He said he was “astonished” that the prosecution commented on “post arrest silence” and asked Wendy Rittenhouse if her son “received a fair trial.”
“The judge is very fair,” the defendant’s mother responded. “People that I talked to that lives in Kenosha all their lives, they told me that Judge Schroeder is a very fair judge, and he doesn’t allow no nonsense in his courtroom.”
Hannity asked Wendy Rittenhouse about the jury.
“They’ve been keeping a close eye on every evidence, every testimony, and they’re paying good attention what’s been said that’s the truth,” she said.
After bolstering claims by the defense that Kyle Rittenhouse was only in Kenosha to render aid, Hannity then turned to the question of whether Wendy Rittenhouse thought her son would choose to enter another similar situation if he had the chance to do so in the future.
Kyle Rittenhouse speaks to Richie McGinniss of the Daily Caller on Aug. 25, 2020. The recording was entered into evidence on Nov. 4. 2021, in Rittenhouse’s trial. Rittenhouse said he was wearing gloves and carrying a small first aid kit along with his AR-15-style rifle in order to care for anyone injured. (Image via screengrab from the Law&Crime Network.)
“He probably would do it again, because that’s the type of person he is,” the teen’s mother said as the screen showed happy family photos of the defendant. “He always wants to help people. Even since he was a little boy, that’s all he wanted to do was help people. It doesn’t matter if it was raking leaves for the neighbors, talking to them, or just being goofy. That’s how I raised him was to help people.”
Hannity then said he was hesitant to predict the outcome but said the prosecution put on a “horrific case.”
Hannity did not mention evidence and video referenced by prosecutors at trial — and testimony from Rittenhouse himself — that indicated the defendant pointed his gun at people who were not threatening his life or the lives of other people on Aug. 25, 2020. Rittenhouse said he was only pointing his gun at others prior to the shooting “as a joke” and attempted to evade accusations by the state that he was a first aggressor. Rather, the defendant continuously testified that those who attacked him were the initial aggressors — and Hannity did not probe the matter with the defendant’s mother. Hannity also didn’t mention FBI aerial surveillance video that prosecutors said showed Rittenhouse chasing Rosenbaum before Rosenbaum chased Rittenhouse.
A still frame from an FBI surveillance plane shows who prosecutors say was Kyle Rittenhouse (framed by a square) running toward Joseph Rosenbaum (framed by a circle). Moments later, their positions reversed; Rosenbaum ran after Rittenhouse before Rittenhouse eventually killed Rosenbaum. (Image via evidence exhibit/the Law&Crime Network.)
Watch the interview below:
Read Law&Crime’s continuing coverage of the Rittenhouse case here.