Joe Biden Backpedals on Former Rittenhouse Take, Says He Supports the Verdict

by Debra Heine

 

After Kyle Rittenhouse, 18, was fully acquitted on Friday of all charges related to the shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin that left two Antifa agitators dead, and a third wounded, Joe Biden took the opportunity to praise the jury system.

The prosecution set out to paint the teen as a reckless vigilante who shouldn’t have been in Kenosha, and who had acted with “no regard for life.” The defense argued that the teen had acted purely in self defense, as virtually all of the evidence had showed.

In the end, the jury found Rittenhouse not guilty of all the the homicide and intentional homicide counts in the shootings of Anthony Huber, Joseph Rosenbaum and of Gaige Grosskreutz.

“I stand by what the jury has concluded. The jury system works and we have to abide by it,” Biden said.

Biden later put out a formal statement from the White House, claiming to be angry and concerned by the verdict.

“While the verdict in Kenosha will leave many Americans feeling angry and concerned, myself included, we must acknowledge that the jury has spoken,” Biden said Friday afternoon. “I ran on a promise to bring Americans together, because I believe that what unites us is far greater than what divides us. I know that we’re not going to heal our country’s wounds overnight, but I remain steadfast in my commitment to do everything in my power to ensure that every American is treated equally, with fairness and dignity, under the law.”

The president went on to say “I urge everyone to express their views peacefully, consistent with the rule of law. Violence and destruction of property have no place in our democracy. The White House and Federal authorities have been in contact with Governor Evers’s office to prepare for any outcome in this case, and I have spoken with the governor this afternoon and offered support and any assistance needed to ensure public safety.”

Biden’s statement Friday stands in stark contrast to his previous harsh take on the case, in which he suggested Rittenhouse was a “white supremacist” who was in Kenosha as part of a militia.

Following the August 2020 shooting, the then-presidential candidate told CNN’s Anderson Cooper: “I don’t know enough to know whether that 17-year-old kid, exactly what he did, but allegedly he’s part of a militia coming out of the state of Illinois.”

Biden used the tragic incident as a sounding board to attack then-President Donald Trump as a supporter of white supremacists “carrying torches with their veins bulging.”

“Have you ever heard this president say one negative thing about white supremacists? Have you ever heard it? That’s the reason I got back in this race because what happened in Charlottesville,” Biden said. “People coming out of the woods carrying torches, their veins bulging!”

Biden also put out a campaign ad defaming Rittenhouse as a white supremacist.

In his ongoing effort to paint President Trump as a racist supporter of white supremacism, Biden on Sept. 30, 2020 tweeted out a video montage of alleged white supremacists that included an image of then 17-year-old Rittenhouse carrying an AR-15 rifle in Kenosha during the August 25 riot.

“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,” Biden tweeted.

At the time, attorney L. Lin Wood vowed to sue Joe Biden on Rittenhouse’s behalf over the smear.

“Biden/Harris Campaign & @JoeBiden only needed to spend 11 minutes to know their accusations against Kyle Rittenhouse were blatantly false PRIOR to publication of video falsely accusing Kyle,” Wood tweeted. “See you in court, Joe. That is a promise. I keep my promises.”

Fox News’ Peter Doocey asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki why Biden suggested that Rittenhouse was a white supremacist before all the facts were known. Psaki refused to answer the question.

“What I’m not going to speak to right now is anything about an ongoing trial, nor [Biden’s] past comments,” she said, knowing full well that the remarks were indefensible.

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Update:

GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called on Biden to apologize for defaming Rittenhouse “to score political points,” and do it quickly before left-wing agitators use his words to fuel more violence.

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Debra Heine reports for American Greatness.
Photo “Joe Biden” by Gage Skidmore CC BY-SA 2.0. Background Photo “Kyle Rittenhouse” by PBS NewsHour.

 

 

 

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