Kyle Rittenhouse’s attorney accused prominent Republicans of trying to profit off his client, calling it “disgusting.”
Rittenhouse, 18, was charged with homicide, attempted homicide and reckless endangering for killing two men and injuring a third with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle during a night of protests in August last year over the shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Rittenhouse traveled from his home in nearby Antioch, Illinois, to join other armed civilians on the streets, carrying a weapon that authorities said was illegally bought for him because he was underage.
A jury on Friday acquitted Rittenhouse of all charges after Rittenhouse and his lawyers successfully argued that he had acted in self-defense during a confrontation.
Rittenhouse’s attorney Mark Richards has since called out those trying to use Rittenhouse’s acquittal for their own ends. “There’s a lot of people trying to profit on this, and I don’t think people should,” Richards told Insider.
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz said he was hoping for a not guilty verdict because Rittenhouse “would probably make a pretty good congressional intern.”
Kyle Rittenhouse is not guilty and deserves a not guilty verdict.
In fact, he’d make a great Congressional Intern. https://t.co/WcldfhfdIx pic.twitter.com/GwaLBFJ5Hi
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) November 18, 2021
Justice was served for #KyleRittenhouse and he is fully exonerated. As I said last year, obviously self-defense.
I will arm wrestle @mattgaetz to get dibs for Kyle as an intern. https://t.co/kon65IB1d9
— Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) November 19, 2021
Rep. Paul Gosar later tweeted that he would “arm wrestle” Gaetz to “get dibs for Kyle as an intern.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Madison Cawthorn went live on Instagram to praise the verdict. “KYLE: IF YOU WANT AN INTERNSHIP, REACH OUT TO ME,” a caption posted on the video said.
Richards accused the Republicans of attempting to “trade on [Rittenhouse’s] celebrity.”
“They’re raising money on it and you have all these Republican congressmen saying come work for me,” he said. “They want to trade on his celebrity and I think it’s disgusting.”
Richards also issued a rebuke to Donald Trump Jr. for encouraging people to support a gun rights organization that said it would “award” Rittenhouse an AR-15 for his “defense of gun rights.”
In a tweet that has since been deleted, Trump Jr. wrote: “Gun Owners of America is sending Kyle Rittenhouse an AR-15. Sign the card in support of Kyle. Americans have a fundamental right to defend themselves, and to keep and bear arms. The verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial is a recognition of those rights.”