Kyle Rittenhouse Fears for Future If 'They Take Me Down' in Legal Battle
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Kyle Rittenhouse is seen on set of "Candace" on January 24, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Episode will air on Tuesday January 25, 2022.
Kyle Rittenhouse, who killed two men during unrest in Kenosha when he was 17 and was later acquitted of murder, has complained on a rightwing television streaming channel about two new lawsuits filed against him in connection with the August 2020 shootings.
Talking about the civil lawsuits filed by the father of one of the men he shot dead, John Huber, and by another man he shot who survived, Gaige Grosskreutz, on Real America's Voice, Rittenhouse said: "If they can do this to me, a 20-year-old kid who has no financial assets [...] they can do this to anybody. They can do this to somebody who has established a career, who has money, and take all their money."
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He added: "If they take me down, they will take the rest of us down with them."
A clip of the interview on Real America's Voice was shared on Twitter by attorney Ron Filipkowski.
Rittenhouse's rant on the rightwing news streaming channel is the latest in a series of similar appearances the 20-year-old has made since the two lawsuits were allowed to proceed against him, as he complains of being unable to finance his legal costs.
In early February, a wrongful death lawsuit filed in 2021 by John Huber, accusing Kenosha law enforcement of conspiring with Rittenhouse to create the conditions that led to his son's death, was allowed to proceed by a Wisconsin federal judge.
In the same month, Grosskreutz filed a lawsuit against Rittenhouse and Kenosha law enforcement in the U.S. District Court for the District of Eastern Wisconsin, seeking relief in the form of economic damages for "emotional distress, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, and other pain and suffering."
The lawsuits follow a trial that, in November 2021, acquitted Rittenhouse of all charges—intentional homicide, reckless homicide, attempted intentional homicide and two counts of recklessly endangering safety—on the grounds that he acted in self-defense, claiming he opened fire because he feared for his life.
On August 25, 2020, as unrest unfolded in Kenosha following the police shooting of Black man Jacob Blake, Rittenhouse walked into the crowd at a protest embracing an AR-15 assault-style rifle. He later claimed he did so with the intention of protecting private property from looting and acting as a medic.
He then opened fire against 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum, 26-year-old Anthony Huber, and Grosskreutz. Grosskreutz was shot in the arm.
Rittenhouse has complained about being put under the stress of a civil lawsuit after being acquitted, condemning the lawsuits as an attempt to strip Americans of their Second Amendment right to self-defense. He has also repeatedly lamented not being able to pay the legal fees to defend himself against the lawsuit, and even appeared on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show to ask people to help him financially.
A fundraising campaign on Christian crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo asking for support to help Rittenhouse pay for his legal fees has raised over $200,000, with donations surging after his appearance on Carlson's show. His goal is to reach a total of $500,000.
Newsweek has contacted Rittenhouse via his official Twitter account for comment.
