As Biden Refuses to Apologize for His Rittenhouse Smear, Trump Meets with Kyle

OPINION | This article contains the author's opinion.

Joe Biden is doubling down on his smears against Kyle Rittenhouse despite the not-guilty verdict in the teenager’s trial.

Biden, who said he is “angry and concerned” following the verdict, falsely claimed Rittenhouse is a white supremacist over a year ago.

“It’s actual malice,” Kyle Rittenhouse said, adding that he has really good lawyers looking into it. “Defaming my character for him to say something like that,” Rittenhouse said during an interview with Fox News.

In September 2020, then-candidate Biden shared an image of Rittenhouse along with a caption that read, “There’s no other way to put it.”

“The President of the United States refused to disavow white supremacists on the debate stage last night,” Biden said of Trump’s defense of Rittenhouse.

Rittenhouse was found not guilty on grounds of self-defense, which Trump correctly predicted over a year ago. “That was an interesting situation,” Trump said at the time. “You saw the same tape as I saw.”

“He was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like, and he fell,” Trump said about Rittenhouse. “But I guess he was in very big trouble,” Trump added. “He would’ve been — he probably would’ve been killed, but it’s under, it’s under investigation.”

Following the not-guilty verdict, Fox News reporter Peter Doocy pressed White House press secretary Jen Psaki on the issue.

She attempted to dodge the question about whether Biden would apologize to Rittenhouse after he was found not guilty of murder.

Psaki responded, “He [Biden] has obviously condemned the hatred and the division and violence we’ve seen around the country by groups like the Proud Boys and groups that that individual has posed for photos with.”

Psaki then blamed President Donald Trump of “actively” encouraging white supremacists and militia during his presidency. Watch the clip:

“What we have seen are the tragic consequences of that when people think it’s ok to take the law in their own hands instead of allowing law enforcement to do its job,” she said.

Despite Psaki’s claim, prosecutors were unable in court to show Rittenhouse’s alleged links to Proud Boys, according to NBC.

“There is nothing in this evidence that would support that the shootings were race-based,” Attorney Cory Chirafisi explained. “We are hoping to try this case on the facts,” which the judge agreed to.

Rittenhouse says he was “set up” when taking a photo with individuals who were linked to Proud Boys. “I thought they were just a bunch of construction dudes based on how they looked,” Rittenhouse explained.

He says his lawyer was responsible and fired over the issue.

Here’s Biden post in 2020:

In the meantime, Trump invited Rittenhouse to Mar-a-Lago this week after a jury found he acted in self-defense against a band of criminal adults in Kenosha last year.

Here’s the photo they took together: