Kyle Rittenhouse has complained that President Joe Biden won’t return his calls to “sit down and talk”.
Appearing on the conservative podcast The Jenna Ellis Show, Mr Rittenhouse slammed Mr Biden and the media while he again rejected claims that he’s a white supremacist.
Mr Rittenhouse was acquitted of all his charges last year after shooting two people dead and injuring a third during racial justice protests in 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Mr Rittenhouse said that he has been “all right” but that “it’s been a little difficult” because of “all the false narratives that were put out, where people called me a white supremacist, a murderer and racist, and all those other lies, I don’t know if somebody’s seen one of those articles or watched one of those news stories,” Mr Rittenhouse told Ms Ellis, who has served as a legal adviser to former President Donald Trump.
She was also part of the legal team that tried to overturn the 2020 election based on false claims of fraud.
The 19-year-old said he’s afraid to go grocery shopping or to take his dog out for fear of harassment prompted by what he says are the “false lies that were put out”.
Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber died in the 2020 shooting and Gaige Grosskruetz was wounded. Ms Ellis asked Mr Rittenhouse what he wanted people to be aware of concerning the event.
His defence counsel argued during the trial that the teenager shot the men in self-defence and that all three of the men Mr Rittenhouse shot had attacked him.
“I was attacked,” he said on the podcast. “I was 17 years old. I was attacked and had to defend myself. I’m not a racist. I’m not a white supremacist. I’m not a domestic terrorist. I’m not a murderer, and anybody who wants to sit down and have a conversation, I’m more than open.”
He said he wants to have a conversation with Mr Biden. Last month, Mr Rittenhouse told Fox News that “we’re definitely going to be holding him accountable,” referring to Mr Biden, who called Mr Rittenhouse a white supremacist during the 2020 campaign for the White House.
“I reached out to Joe Biden several times – crickets, nothing,” Mr Rittenhouse told Ms Ellis. “He still hasn’t replied. So it just shows how much of a man he is to not sit down and talk.”
Following Mr Rittenhouse being found not guilty, Mr Biden said the verdict made him “angry and concerned” but he nevertheless stood by the jury’s decision.
“I ran on a promise to bring Americans together, because I believe that what unites us is far greater than what divides us,” Mr Biden said in November after the ruling.
The Independent has reached out to the White House for comment.
“I believe everybody deserves a second chance, just how the Lord gives us second, third, fourth, fifth chances,” Mr Rittenhouse said on the podcast. “I believe we need fair representation — because I’ve experienced bad representation. I believe we need good attorneys out there that are willing to put up the tough fight, that are willing to walk into the courtroom against a prosecutor, that are willing to stand up for the Constitution and defend their client and just be a successful person.”
