Tulsi Gabbard Defends Kyle Rittenhouse: 'Just a Foolish Kid'

Former Hawaii Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has defended "foolish kid" Kyle Rittenhouse while attacking those who have attempted to portray the 18-year-old as a white supremacist in the aftermath of the shootings in Kenosha last year.

Rittenhouse is on trial accused of a number of offenses, including first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide, after shooting and killing Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber during Black Lives Matter protests in the Wisconsin city in August 2020, as well as injuring Gaige Grosskreutz.

On Thursday, the day the defense rested its case in the trial, Gabbard defended Rittenhouse as a "foolish kid" in a tweet, while dismissing those describing the then 17-year-old as an extremist vigilante.

"With no evidence, MSM [mainstream media] & antifa-loving politicians immediately labeled Rittenhouse a white supremacist terrorist. It's obvious now that he was just a foolish kid who felt he needed to protect people & the community from rioters & arsonists because the government failed to do so," Gabbard tweeted.

In a video that accompanied the tweet, Gabbard added: "The prosecutor in the Rittenhouse trial obviously didn't do due diligence before making the decision to prosecute. This tragedy never would have happened if the government had simply carried out its responsibilities to protect the safety, lives and property of innocent people."

Rittenhouse's defense team has dismissed all suggestions that race or white supremacy had anything to do with the defendant traveling from his hometown of Antioch, Illinois, to join up with the Kenosha protests, which broke out after Black man Jacob Blake was shot several times by a white police officer.

The defense repeatedly argued that Rittenhouse was in Kenosha that night in order to protect the city from the protesters as well as to provide medical assistance to those who may have been injured during the disorder.

While right-wing militia groups were found to have encouraged violence at the Kenosha protest on social media, Facebook said it found no evidence that Rittenhouse had followed or was invited to any of those pages.

In October 2020, Rittenhouse's former attorney Lin Wood said he planned on suing Joe Biden after he used an image of Rittenhouse to highlight Donald Trump's refusal to "disavow white supremacists" in one of his campaign videos.

"To say that Kyle is a white supremacist and militia member who was responsible for the violence in Kenosha is a lie," Wood previously told Newsweek. "That lie prejudices Kyle's constitutional right to a fair trial and damages his reputation."

Ahead of the trial, Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder ruled that the prosecution can't make any attempts to link Rittenhouse to the far-right Proud Boys, a group that has embraced the defendant as a hero in the wake of the shooting.

In January, Rittenhouse was seen drinking and being serenaded by members of the Proud Boys at a bar in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, soon after he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Gabbard has been contacted for further comment.