https://globalnews.ca/news/7310331/fact-check-donald-trump-kyle-rittenhouse-video/
President Donald Trump
is not waiting for a trial to sort out what happened on the streets of
Kenosha, Wisconsin, where prosecutors say a 17-year-old with a
semi-automatic rifle fatally shot two men on a night of protest and
violence. He’s giving an account at odds with the authorities who
charged Kyle Rittenhouse with homicide.
TRUMP, asked if was going to condemn the actions of
vigilantes like Rittenhouse: “We’re looking at all of it. And that was
an interesting situation. You saw the same tape as I saw. And he was
trying to get away from them, I guess; it looks like. And he fell, and
then they very violently attacked him. And it was something that we’re
looking at right now and it’s under investigation. But I guess he was in
very big trouble. He would have been — I —he probably would have been killed.” — news conference Monday before traveling to Kenosha on Tuesday.
THE FACTS: His implication that Rittenhouse only
shot the men after he tripped and they attacked him is wrong. The first
fatal shooting happened before Rittenhouse ran away and fell.
Trump
did not say whom he meant by “they” — the two men he shot or others in
pursuit of him. But he spoke in defense of a vigilante who opposed
racial-justice protesters, who authorities say was illegally carrying a
semi-automatic rifle and who prosecutors accuse of committing
intentional homicide.
According to the criminal complaint released by prosecutors, victim
Joseph Rosenbaum was shot and killed first, after following Rittenhouse
into a parking lot, where Rosenbaum threw a plastic bag at the gunman
and tried to take the weapon from him.
Rittenhouse then ran down the street and was chased by several people
trying to stop him and shouting that he just shot someone, according to
the criminal complaint and cellphone video footage.
He tripped
and fell. Anthony Huber, who was carrying a skateboard, was shot in the
chest after apparently trying to wrest the gun from Rittenhouse, the
complaint said. A third man was shot and injured.
Rittenhouse’s lawyer said he acted to defend himself.
