After the horrific shooting and killing of Jacob Blake, Donald Trump plans to visit Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
Trump says Rittenhouse shot at protesters out of self defence.
Donald trump is defending the teenager accused of killing two protesters with an illegal firearm, suggesting that he acted in self-defense. The US president stated that 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse “probably would have been killed” if he hadn’t taken action during the chaotic scenes in Kenosha, Wisconsin last week.
Black Lives Matter demonstrators took to the streets following the police shooting of black man Jacob Blake, 29, and clashes with law enforcement and armed vigilantes ensued. Trump also said “He was trying to get away from them I guess, it looks like, and he fell, then they very violently attacked him.”
Trump continued, “It was something that we are looking at right now and it’s under investigation, but I guess he was in very big trouble. He probably would have been killed. It’s under investigation.”
The Republican president has also failed to condemn his supporters who fired paint pellets during a confrontation with counter-protesters in Portland, Oregon, over the weekend. Trump said he understood it was a “peaceful protest”, adding, “Paint as a defensive mechanism, paint is not bullets.”
“Your supporters, and they are your supporters indeed, shot a young gentleman who – and killed him, not with paint, but with a bullet. And I think it’s disgraceful,” he told a CNN reporter.
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Trump is going to visit Kenosha on Tuesday but has no plans of meeting the family of Mr. Blake who was shot seven times in the back by the police. The father-of-three was gunned down in front of his kids last Sunday and has been left paralyzed from the waist down.
Trump is reportedly opposed to the family’s wishes of having attorney Ben Crump, who also represented the family of George Floyd attend any meetings. However, Mr Blake’s uncle, Justin Blake, told CNN the family did not want to meet the president because he’s a “racist”.
Instead, Trump will visit law enforcement officials, the White House has confirmed. Despite encouragement from state and local leaders, including Democratic Governor Tony Evers, to forgo travel there while the city seeks to heal, Trump will still be making the trip.
Among the unauthorized ‘militia’ who took to the streets last Tuesday night, claiming they were helping police defend their city, was Rittenhouse, who traveled from Antioch, Illinois with his AR-15 assault rifle.
The teen fell while running through the street before being struck over the head by protester Anthony Huber with a skateboard. Rittenhouse is accused of shooting dead Huber as well as Joseph Rosenbaum and injuring a third. He was arrested the following day and is being charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one of first-degree attempted homicide and misdemeanor charge for possession of a dangerous weapon by a minor.
On Monday morning he tweeted without his insistence on having the National Guard respond to demonstrations “there would be no Kenosha right now”. Wisconsin is a crucial battleground for the elections in November, with Trump having won the state by a point in 2016. Democratic rival Joe Biden currently leads the state polling by 3.5 points, according to reports.
The former vice president is accusing Trump of stoking violence with his rhetoric, while insisting the rioters and looters be prosecuted. “Tonight, the president declined to rebuke violence. He wouldn’t even repudiate one of his supporters who is charged with murder because of his attacks on others. He is too weak, too scared of the hatred he has stirred to put an end to it,” Biden stated.
Trump suggested violence would increase if Biden won and accused him of surrendering to the left-wing mob. “In America, we will never surrender to mob rule, because if the mob rules, democracy is indeed dead,” Trump said.
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