Kyle Rittenhouse, the 18-year-old recently acquitted of felonies from his role in the summer 2020 Kenosha riots, described how President Joe Biden calling him a white supremacist is “actual malice.”
“It’s actual malice, defaming my character for him to say something like that,” Rittenhouse said on Monday's "Tucker Carlson Tonight." “Mr. President, if I could say one thing to you, I would urge you to go back and watch the trial and understand the facts before you make a statement.”
Rittenhouse explained how many reporters and news organizations made false statements and assumptions about him and his character.
“It’s actually quite hysterical how nobody can go back and look at the facts of the case. He crossed state lines, false. He’s a white supremacist, false. None of that is true, and the lies that they can just get away with spreading is just sickening and it’s a disgrace to this country.”
Below is the transcript of Tucker Carlson Tonight:
Kyle Rittenhouse: “I’m not a racist person, I support the BLM [Black Lives Matter] movement, I support peacefully demonstrating, and I believe there needs to be change.
“I believe there’s a lot of prosecutorial misconduct -- not just in my case, but in other cases -- and it’s just amazing to see how much a prosecutor can take advantage of somebody.
“Like if they did this to me, imagine what they could’ve done to a person of color who doesn’t maybe have the resources that I do or is not widely publicized like my case.”
Tucker Carlson: “What did you make of the president of the United States calling you a white supremacist?”
Rittenhouse: “Mr. President, if I could say one thing to you, I would urge you to go back and watch the trial and understand the facts before you make a statement.”
Carlson: “That’s not a small thing to be called that.”
Rittenhouse: “No, it’s actual malice, defaming my character for him to say something like that.”
Carlson: “Why, I mean, why do you think, and it’s not simply Biden who said that, it's -- a lot of people on television have said that, a lot. Dozens of people have said that, I’m sorry to tell you, in case you haven’t seen it.”
Rittenhouse: “It’s actually quite hysterical how nobody can go back and look at the facts of the case. He crossed state lines, false. He’s a white supremacist, false.
“None of that is true, and the lies that they can just get away with spreading is just sickening and it’s a disgrace to this country.”
Carlson: “I couldn’t agree more. So before this, I mean you’re 17 years old, so you’re probably not watching cable news all day or, you know, deeply into politics or maybe you were. Did you know how dishonest media coverage of events could be?”
Rittenhouse: “I didn’t. I’ve never seen something so polarizing in my life when it's just -- it’s obvious self-defense. If you look at the case, you look at the facts, no matter what your opinion is or where you stand.
“This wasn’t a political case, it shouldn’t have been a political case, it was made a political case. This had nothing to do with race and the ways people are twisting this, it’s just sickening.”
Carlson: “I think a lot of people watching have reached the same conclusion and they would like to see you, you know, help make this better by holding some of these liars to account. Do you plan to do that?”
Rittenhouse: “I have really good lawyers who are taking care of that right now. So I’m hoping one day there will be accountability for their actions that they did.”
Carlson: “Okay. So you’re intent -- you're not going to let that go?”
Rittenhouse: “Like I said, I have really good lawyers who are handling that.”
Megan Williams is a CNSNews intern and junior at Hillsdale College. She is majoring in Rhetoric and Public Address with a Journalism minor. She is the assistant opinions editor for the Hillsdale Collegian and enjoys covering local events, from concerts to conventions. Born and raised in Southern California, Megan is excited to experience D.C. and grow as a journalist with CNSNews.