WATCH — Kyle Rittenhouse Lawyer: ‘I’m Glad’ My Client Shot Joseph Rosenbaum

Defense attorney Mark Richards told the jury in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Monday afternoon that he was “glad” that his client, Kyle Rittenhouse, had shot his first attacker, Joseph Rosenbaum, because he defended himself and protected the community.

“Kyle shot Joseph Rosenbaum to stop a threat to his person,” Richards said. “And I’m glad he shot him, because if Joseph Rosenbaum had gotten that gun, I don’t believe for a minute that wouldn’t have used it against somebody else.”
Richards was presenting the closing argument in the defense, after prosecutor Thomas Binger had made the first part of his presentation earlier that day. (The prosecution will be given a chance to rebut the defense arguments before the trial ends.)

Rosenbaum also had a criminal record as a convicted chid molester, which Richards did not specifically mention.

The defense was generally able to discuss Rosenbaum’s character because the prosecution had described him as an innocent bystander, whose violent acts — including setting fires and threatening people by using the “N word” — posed no real threat.

Binger had argued that Rosenbaum, like other participants in the Black Lives Matter riots on Aug. 25, 2020, was a concerned citizen trying to stop what he perceived as an “active shooter,” even stating the crowd had the “right” to chase Rittenhouse.

Richards argued that Rittenhouse had acted in self-defense, and noted there was no evidence that the defendant was a “white supremacist looking for trouble,” as the media and politicians had claimed in the immediate aftermath of events.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.