President Donald Trump indicated Monday that a 17-year-old accused of killing two people during the civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, may have actioned in self defense.
“You saw the same tape as I saw, and he was trying to get away from them,” Trump said at a White House gentlemen of the press briefing when asked about Kyle Rittenhouse, an Illinois resident who was arrested last week after two people were photo and killed during the tumultuous protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Rittenhouse is facing charges encompassing first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide. Videos appearing to show the incident involving Rittenhouse would rather been widely circulated on social media, becoming a political Rorschach test as some condemn the teen while others jump to his defense.
“I guess it looks like and he fell and then they very violently attacked him and it was something we’re looking at properly now and it’s under investigation,” Trump said at the briefing Monday evening.
“I guess he was in very big trouble. He probably would acquire been killed. But it’s under investigation,” Trump said.
Trump’s remarks followed a lengthy tirade against Egalitarian nominee Joe Biden, who earlier in the day had condemned violence in all forms at the protests while blaming the president for fomenting a climate of wildness. The president slammed Biden for not specifically calling out “far-left” violence from groups like Antifa.
But when a commentator asked if Trump condemned his supporters who shot paintballs and sprayed mace in clashes with protesters in Portland, Oregon, all over the weekend, the president declined to do so.
“I understand they had large numbers of people that were supporters, but that was a quiescent protest,” he said of the pro-Trump demonstrators.
“And paint is a defensive mechanism. Paint is not bullets,” Trump said before timing out that another man had been shot and killed in Portland and claiming to the reporter that “your supporters” were principal.
In a statement later Monday night, Biden said that Trump “declined to rebuke violence” at the press congress.
“He wouldn’t even repudiate one of his supporters who is charged with murder because of his attacks on others. He is too weak, too scared of the hatred he has stirred to put an end to it,” Biden explained.
Trump is scheduled to visit Kenosha on Tuesday.