Donald Trump Jr refuses to condemn Kyle Rittenhouse double killings

Donald Trump Jr refused this week to condemn an Illinois teenager who has been charged with shooting dead two Black Lives Matter protesters who were demonstrating against the police shooting of Jacob Blake last month. 

Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, told authorities that he traveled from Illinois to the Kenosha protests to protect businesses and people.

Instead, on August 25, Rittenhouse fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber who tried to wrestle the AR-15 style rifle from the teen, authorities said. Gaige Grosskreutz was also shot in the arm, but he survived. 

One other person was also shot. Rittenhouse faces several charges, including first-degree intentional homicide, but his attorney says the shootings were done in self defense.

During an interview with Extra that aired on Tuesday, Trump Jr told host Rachel Lindsay Abasolo: ‘If I put myself in Kyle Rittenhouse’s [shoes], maybe I shouldn’t have been there — he’s a young kid, I don’t want 17-year-olds running around the street with AR-15s — maybe I wouldn’t have put myself in that situation, who knows,’ President Donald Trump’s son said. 

‘But we all do stupid things at 17,’ Trump Jr added. 

The remarks came just days before Trump Jr appeared in Hendersonville, North Carolina, to campaign for his father. 

During the rally, Trump Jr talked about strong support for his father’s campaign heading into November and criticized Democrats, particularly Joe Biden. 

Trump Jr also spoke about the importance of local elections in North Carolina and voiced his support for Republican congressional candidate, Madison Cawthorn. 

‘I think you have a Congressional race there that’s very winnable and good, but it’s obviously tightened up with the redistricting that’s taken place,’ Trump Jr said. 

‘So, we’re definitely doing what we can to help Madison get over the line. It’s not just about the presidency, you need Congress to be able to help initiate the policies Donald Trump delivered for America with the first time.’ 

Trump Jr’s remarks about Rittenhouse were similar to those from the president who claimed that Rittenhouse was ‘violently attacked’.

President Trump called the shootings an ‘an interesting situation’ that is ‘under investigation’.

Witness accounts and cellphone video show that the shootings took place in two stages: Rittenhouse first shot Rosenbaum, then jogged away, stumbled and fell in the street, and opened fire again on Huber and Grosskreutz as members of the crowd closed in him. 

After the gunfire, with his AR-15-style rifle over his shoulder and his hands in the air, Rittenhouse walked toward police vehicles that kept going past him, even as a witness shouted: ‘He just shot them!’

Police Chief Daniel Miskinis has explained the response as officers dealing with a chaotic scene. 

Rittenhouse, a sometime lifeguard, later turned himself in, his lawyers said, and is now jailed on homicide charges. 

While prosecutors call his conduct criminal, his lawyers say he defended himself against a mob trying to disarm and hurt him. They and other supporters portray him as a hero who stood up to lawlessness.