House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) called for the federal government to intervene in the case of Kyle Rittenhouse on Friday after a jury found Rittenhouse not guilty on all counts stemming from him shooting three men during a riot last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
“This heartbreaking verdict is a miscarriage of justice and sets a dangerous precedent which justifies federal review by DOJ,” Nadler wrote in a tweet. “Justice cannot tolerate armed persons crossing state lines looking for trouble while people engage in First Amendment-protected protest.”
Top responses to Nadler included:
- Dan McLaughlin, National Review: “White Congressman who represents Wall Street district calls for retrial of criminal defendant acquitted of shooting three white men.”
- Dana Loesch, radio host: “The Chairman of the Judiciary Cmte just lied by calling Rittenhouse an ‘armed person crossing state lines.’ His gun was never in Illinois. His dad lives in, and Rittenhouse works in, Kenosha, 20 min away from his mom’s house in Antioch. This is an irresponsible ploy to incite.”
- Matthew Kolken, attorney: “Democrats are inciting a riot.”
- Ken Cuccinelli, former Virginia Attorney General: “This astounding act of legislative tyranny comes from the man currently Chairing the House Judiciary Committee! If anyone needs a reminder why Patrick Henry and so many others have valued a jury system so highly, look no farther than this vile tweet.”
- Matt Whitlock, political strategist: “Genuinely baffled by the Democrat messaging here. They wanted a clearly innocent kid to get charged with murder to make up for what they see as other injustices in the system. What would that accomplish?”
The Daily Wire reported:
Rittenhouse, who is now 18, lives in Antioch, a northern suburb of Chicago about 15 miles from Kenosha. On August 25 of last year when he was 17, Rittenhouse decided to patrol the downtown Kenosha area alongside other armed men in order to protect a used car dealership from looting and vandalism. The city had devolved into rioting over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man, by a white Kenosha police officer.
Rittenhouse took a medical kit and armed himself with a Smith & Wesson M&P15, which is an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle that police say his friend illegally bought for him.
While guarding the used car dealership, he was chased by protesters and ended up fatally shooting two people, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and injuring a third, Gaige Grosskreutz. The defendant and the three men he shot are all white.
He was arrested and charged with five felony charges and one misdemeanor charge. The most serious charge was intentional homicide, Wisconsin’s top murder charge, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. The others were reckless homicide, attempted homicide, two counts of reckless endangerment, and being a minor illegally in possession of a firearm.
On Monday, the judge dismissed the misdemeanor firearm charge, which was considered the easiest charge for the state to prove. Previously, Rittenhouse was also charged with violating curfew, but that charge was dismissed last week by the judge as well.
This report has been updated to include additional information.