Watching the Kyle Rittenhouse interview with @TVAshleigh. He is exceptionally well coached. Striking that he expresses no emotions about killing 2 men & injuring a 3rd. He has a set answer he repeats. His only nightmares per this interview, are about the dead men "attacking" him.
Banfield keeps coming back and gently but firmly trying to elicit some sort of regret from him about killing two people, but he gives her nothing. Maybe it's because of potential civil litigation against him by the families of the dead, but it's striking. nbcnews.com/news/us-news/k…
If you know anyone who's been in combat, you know that taking a life leaves a person with profound and deep regret, even if they believe they had to do it. Yet Banfield also strikes out when she asks if Rittenhouse has any feelings of empathy for the families of the dead men.
Rittenhouse does tell Banfield that if he had it to do it over again, he wouldn't have gone to Kenosha; in his telling, because of what happened to HIM there. I suspect that is the right answer to give, if one day you may have to face the dead men's families in court.
Banfield also asks Rittenhouse about Donald Trump, who promoted the shooting as an act of heroism. And Trump this week revealed that Rittenhouse visited him at Mar-a-Lago after the trial and referred to him as a "Trump fan" who with his mom asked to visit. axios.com/trump-kyle-rit…
Rittenhouse also talks about firing his initial lawyers, Lin Wood and John Pierce, calling Wood "insane," citing "Q-anon stuff," saying they tried to take back the $2 million they raised for him just as the case ended and revealing it was Pierce who set up the Proud Boyz meetup.
He also says he didn't know who the Proud Boyz were when he went to the bar (he was still 17 at the time but it's legal in Wisconsin for 17-year-olds to be in a bar if they're with a parent or guardian...and his mom took him...) and says he didn't know what the 👌symbol meant.
Here is the full interview.
One other notable thing: in the interview, Rittenhouse refers to his supporters as “fans” and deftly touts his fundraising page. He says he doesn’t want to be a cause but seems quite comfortable in the role. He had O.J. Simpson’s jury consultant and looks like media training too.
He also claims he thinks a Black person in his position would have achieved the same legal outcome and resources. Banfield pushes back on that, but he stays on message: that the entire case was merely about the right of self-defense, with no larger implications or meaning.
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