The mother of Kyle Rittenhouse claimed President Biden “defamed” her son when he tweeted a video suggesting the Illinois teen is a white supremacist.
“When I saw that, I was shocked, I was angry,” Wendy Rittenhouse told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday night.
“President Biden don’t know my son whatsoever, and he’s not a white supremacist. He’s not a racist. And [Biden] did that for the votes,” the mother fumed.
“And I was so angry for a while at him and what he did to my son, he defamed him,” she added.
Biden, a presidential candidate in September 2020, had tweeted that “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,” referring to President Donald Trump.
The post, which includes a 50-second clip, refers to a question Fox News host Chris Wallace asked Trump during a presidential debate about whether he was willing “to condemn white supremacists and militia groups” in the wake of unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and other American cities.
The clip includes an image of Rittenhouse, 18, wielding a semi-automatic rifle.
The teen is on trial — charged with intentional homicide for killing Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, as well as attempted homicide for wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, during chaotic protests in Kenosha over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Prosecutors have argued that Rittenhouse was the instigator of the violence, while his lawyers have claimed he acted in self-defense.
The teen’s defense rested its case Thursday and closing arguments are expected on Monday.
