December 4, 2023 • 21 mins
In this episode, Kyle Rittenhouse, who gained national attention following a shooting incident during the Kenosha protests in 2020, joins Lisa. He discusses his challenging upbringing, his perspective on the media, and his experiences during and after the incident. Rittenhouse also shares his views on the Jacob Blake case, the perceived pattern of left-leaning politicians supporting violent criminals, and his support for the Second Amendment. He reflects on his own legal battles, the potential biases in the justice system, and the emotional toll of his experiences. He emphasizes his desire to live a normal life free from harassment. New episodes fo The Truth with Lisa Boothe debut every Monday & Thursday.
Follow Clay & Buck on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuck
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So I've got an interesting one for you today. Some
on the left have called him a white supremacist, some
on the right have called him a hero, but he's neither.
Kyle Rittenhouse was just seventeen years old when he went
to Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August twenty fifth, twenty twenty. His
goal was to protect local businesses, to potentially provide aid
to those around him, and instead he ended up in
(00:21):
a scenario where he was fighting for his life, where
he had to exercise his right to self defense. He
is innocent in the eyes of the law. Take yourself
back to when you were seventeen, how many stupid situations
did you get yourself in. Look, I don't think Kyle
Rittenhouse should have gone out that day, but he was
also seventeen years old. I think he went out truly
with the intention to protect his community. I also believe
(00:44):
in the right to self defense, and I believe that's
what he was doing, and so does the law. What
does Kyle Rittenhouse have to say about all of this?
We're going to hear from him in his own words
talking about his book Acquitted, where he tells his life
story and he explains exactly what happened both August twenty fifth,
twenty twenty, and in the days after, Stay tuned for
(01:05):
Kyle Rittenhouse. Well, Kyle, it's nice to meet you. I
appreciate you making the time. I imagine this is a
busy time.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
For you, absolutely, so thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
You know, obviously you wrote this book to give people
better insight into who you are, because you know you've
been misrepresented in the media. But who was Kyle Rittenhouse
before August twenty fifth, twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Well, I talk about that quite a bit a bit
in my book, Lisa. I talk about growing up with
a drug addict dad, growing up homeless as a child,
and living on government subsidized housing while I had a
mom who was working eighty hours a week so she
could put food on the table. That's who I was.
I was a kid who was put in to unpredictable
(01:54):
circumstances and put in challenging times and trials that we
that most Americans face every day. And I wrote wrote
about that in my book. I also wrote about how
I was a police explorer and a fire cadet, and
how I had an urge to help people. And that's
essentially what brought me down to the riots in August
twenty fifth.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Who are you now? How would you describe yourself now?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I would describe myself today as a difficult question. I've
never been asked that one, But if I had to
describe myself, I would say I try to live as
normal of a life as possible, whatever normal means. I
work in nine to five. I've been doing a lot
of interviews lately to talk about my book and to
(02:38):
help share my story. But that's who I am. I'm
a person who wakes up in the morning and I
go to work, just like everybody else.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
What's it been like to relive all of this in
writing the book.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
It's been an interesting journey. It's been It's been difficult
at times because we've had to go back and watch
all all the videos and and relive everything that happened,
and watched the trial and talk about in detail my
entire life.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
What have you learned about the media and all of this.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Well, I learned that the media will say whatever they
want to push their own narrative, and they are watching
you like a hawk. Twenty four seven. Just the other day,
I accidentally liked to post on Twitter from a friend
of mine, and Newsweek wrote a hip piece article on
it just because I accidentally like something, And I think
that's absolutely ridiculous that they do that.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
In hindsight, Why do you think you went that night
in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Well, I went to Kenosha, Wisconsin to help people and
provide medical aid and put out fires because I was
asked to be there. With hindsight being twenty twenty as
it always is, if I would have known, I would
have been attacked and put on trial and forced to
defend myself. I wouldn't have gone. It wasn't worth it. It
doesn't change the thing fact that I defended myself, but
(04:02):
it wasn't worth it.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I think one thing that doesn't get discussed as much is,
you know, the politicians in Wisconsin failed. I mean, it
should have never gotten that bad that you know, the
community should have been protected from the beginning. Well, why
do you think that never gets focused on of how
these elected officials failed the community?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Well, a lot of elected officials like to lie to
their constituents and say what they want to hear and
then deliver on another thing, and then they're bought out
by lobbyists and paid for and essentially just do a
lot of this for money, when in reality it shouldn't
be done for money. It should be done for the
people and for their best interests, not for big companies
(04:42):
and lobbyists.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I guess you know, what have you learned about politicians
through all this?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I learned that very few of them can be trusted,
and they all have their own motive and their own
their own agenda to push. And that's what I've learned.
And I learned you can't trust any of them, and
you really need to do your research on them because
a lot of times they'll just say what you want
to hear.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Take us through in your own words, because you know,
obviously the media has painted a picture. You know, Take
us through in your own words. What happened on August
twenty fifth, twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Well, on August twenty fifth of twenty twenty, I was
there in Kenosha helping people, providing first aid, and I
was going to put out a fire at a CarMax
that we were protecting to put out fires, and I
was ambushed by several people and forced to defend myself
against Joseph Roe's mom, then chased down and had to
(05:39):
defend myself a second time against three other attackers, one
being jump kick Man, the other being Anthony Huber, who
hit me in the back of the head with the
skateboard while I was on the ground, and the third
be engaged grocers who put a gun in my face
while I was also on the ground.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
What do you think would have happened if you hadn't
have defended yourself.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Oh, I'd be dead. I would one hundred percent be
dead if I didn't defend myself.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, I think a lot of times in these situations,
you know, it's hard for anyone to know what it's
like to have to make a split sef decision. I
mean we see this with police officers very often who
get condemned for using lethal force. It's almost impossible for
people to put themselves in that situation of the kind
of decisions you have to make in you know, a
(06:22):
split second. I mean, you didn't really have time to
think about you know what this all would lead to.
I mean, it was a split second decision you had
to make.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Absolutely everything happened within a total of like three minutes
from the first shooting to when I turned my when
I walked to the police line. People don't realize how
fast that happened. And of course in a courtroom you
could slow everything down and go frame by frame and
go through all the details, and it seems like this
was this long event, when in reality, it was this
(06:51):
very short, quick event of where I had to defend myself.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
You know, obviously you said you regretted going that night.
I think most people would say, you know, why was
he there as a seventeen year old? But you know
you were seventeen. Not everyone makes the best decisions when
you're seventeen years old. I can't imagine the fear that
you were going through when you know, you realize that, okay,
I'm under attack, I could die, you know, take us
(07:16):
through that absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
So I was terrified. I knew if I didn't defend myself,
I wouldn't be going home and I would be dead.
And I did what I had to do to protect myself.
I was scared and terrified for my life.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
What's it like when you were awaiting trial, you know,
not not knowing how this jury would come down on
these charges against you. I mean, I imagine you know,
that's just got to be so anxious and scary to
be awaiting your fate in the hands of a jury,
and you have no idea which way they could go,
(07:53):
particularly in this environment, in this world.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Well, I just had to trust in God. I had
to trust in whatever happened was going to happen. No
matter what. God plan is the right plan, and he
would keep me safe and protected.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Did you Was there any part of you when the
jury came down that you thought that it could go
in the other direction.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
I didn't actually think about that much. I was just
I was so nervous for the verdict because it could
have gone any direction. The jury could have voted any
single way. They could have decided I was guilty or
not guilty, and thank god they made the right verdict
to declare me not guilty. But I didn't focus on
that much because they would have just ate me up
too much.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
You also had some civil lawsuits filed against you as well.
Are you still fighting those?
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yes? I am. I'm fighting three civil lawsuits at the moment.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
And you've also threatened to tosue the media. What's the
status of that. On these defamation lawsuits.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
We looked into it. Defamation is near impossible to prove,
and they consider me a public figure, so I have
a higher bar to prove, and essentially the media can
say whatever they want about me.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
You know, I think people you know forget well. Campaigning
for president, you know, Joe Biden used images of you
in a campaign video. That must have been pretty alarming
for you to have seen.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Oh that ticked me off. Like to see the former
vice president and now current president using my face in
his campaign video to gain voters and making something that
was non political political, it really ticks me off.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Take a quick commercial break more with Kyle Rittenhouse. On
the other side, you had supported President Trump and attended
a rally. How much of that do you think came
into play in some of the public slander that you've experienced.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I wasn't very political before everything happened. A lot of
people will say I was, but I didn't really know
much about politics. President Trump came and supported me from
the beginning, and that's why I like President Trump. But
it didn't have a really play into why I went
down there. But I think they, the media and other
(10:05):
politicians saw it as this kid is a kid who
went to a Trump rally. He's this maga person. We're
going to rail against him. Even though I was seventeen,
because if I was on the other side, they would
have probably came to my defense.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
I think what's particularly frustrating as well is, you know,
those riots were following the death of Jacob Blake, a
man who after you know, through investigation, you know, he
pulled a knife on police officers, she showed up at
a woman's house to revictimize her. You know, that's who
these people came out to defend and to riot for.
And we also have seen people like Kamala Harris praised
(10:42):
Jacob Blake as well. You know, the Governor Tony Ivers,
you know, governor of Wisconsin, you know, came out and
supported him as well. So I mean talk about that.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I didn't really pay attention to the Jacob Blake case much.
I know what happened a little bit, but I was
focus on my own things going on at the time,
and you'll notice I didn't. I do notice a pattern
with these left leaning politicians. They come to support these
violent criminals who do bad things, and sometimes bad things
(11:16):
do happen to them, and we do need to support
them because that's what we need to do. But when
they do the bad thing, we don't need to support
them and encourage them for doing bad things.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Tony Evers. I mean, you know, we've seen cases of
self defense in the country. You know Daniel Penny, you know,
currently facing trial for what happened in New York City.
Why do you think there's such an animus against the
right to self defense?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Because I think the government wants complete control and they
want to take that right from us, and we can't
let them. We have to vote them out and put
politicians in place that will support the right to self defense,
who will support the Second Amendment, and who won't throw
you in prison for defending yourself.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Why do you think these kinds of riots that we
saw in the summer of twenty twenty, and you know
we're seeing some of it now, you know, these pro
Palestinian riots. Why do politicians allow for some of these
violent riots to take place.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I think it puts fear into other voters who aren't outrioting.
I think other everyday people see, oh, while the world
is burning down, if we don't vote for this left
leaning politician, we're just going to have more riots than
the riots aren't going to stop. Because if you notice
a pattern, they always flow up during an election cycle.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Why do you think the Second Amendment is so despised
by so many Americans?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
That's a good question. I have no idea. The Second
Amendment was written by our founding fathers and it was
very intentional what they wrote, and I think it should
stay that way. I think our founding fathers they wrote
our Constitution very intentionally, and our politicians' jobs are to
protect the Concertstitution and make sure that the Constitution has
(13:02):
followed through with. But we have politicians like Gavin Governor
Gavin Newsom, Newsom who's trying to introduce a twenty eighth
Amendment on firearms and that essentially dissolves the Second Amendment
and that can't be stood for that's unconstitutional.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
If you had to sum up everything that's happened to you,
what have you learned from all of this?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Learn who you can trust, learn who you let into
your circle, and to always think before you do something.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
What's been the response from, you know, family and having
to battle through this.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
My family has been very supportive during the trials and stuff.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
You know, and I know a lot's been made of
Oh well, you know, you're trying to profit off of this,
you know, with the book. But what have been the
costs in having to defend yourself in court and in
with these civil cases as well, that the financial costs.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Millions of dollars have been paid to lawyers to keep
me out of jail and to help fight these civil lawsuits,
and I still have legal debt.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
What have you learned about the legal process through all
of this?
Speaker 2 (14:11):
That lawyers are expensive. Lawyers are very, very expensive, and
that the legal system will try to mess with you
every way possible to throw you in prison, and they'll
try to make it to where you can't defend yourself,
and then if you do win, they'll draw you in
civil lawsuits and try to bankrupt you and take every
(14:31):
financial asset you have.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Do you think you know when people say justice is blind,
is it?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
It can be? It can be blind in sometimes in
some ways I think a lot of people. I think
our court system works in an extent. It worked for
me in the criminal case. Our justice system worked. I
shouldn't have been prosecuted, but the jury got it right.
They looked at the facts and they did not let
public opinion or bias sway them to voting guilty. They
(14:59):
voted the correct verdict, not guilty. But there's other cases
such as Daniel Perry to where the jury voted guilty
when there was an overwhelming amount of self defense claims
in his trial, and in my opinion, I believe he
acted in self defense.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
If your case was tried in a different state, a
different part of the country, what do you think the
outcome would have been.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
That's a good question. I thought about that a lot
until the Daniel Perry situation, because I thought, Hey, if
this happened in Texas, I would never have been tried.
But Daniel Perry, who had a similar situation, he was
tried and he was found guilty. So it was a
very difficult thing to see. But it made me think like, wow,
(15:48):
maybe if this did happen in a more conservative state,
I would have still been put on trial, because it
all depends on the DA of that county.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, and we've seen people like you know, George Soros
trying to elect some of these progressive das. What do
you think that means for the future of the country.
You know, how concerned are you about the you know,
justice system as we move forward as a country with
some of these progressive das.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Well, it's very scary. It's a very scary thing to
say that George Soros wants to have these left leaning
and bad district attorneys elected, because then it means that
he practically has full control of the judicial system. And
(16:35):
it's scary to see. It's scary to see what will
happen if that is the case, and how the DA's
that are elected by him will twist the law and
throw innocent people in prison.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Quick break stay with us some on the rate, Have
you know, sort of made you a full hero to
some degree? Why do you think that is?
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I don't know. I'm not a hero at all. I'm
not a hero. I'm not a villain.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
I'm just a person, you know, and talking do it
and seeing you know, your interviews and reading up about you.
There does not seem to be any case to be
made that you went there that night looking to harm
people or looking to you know, kill people, or anything
like that. What's the toll on a human being to
have to take the life of another person.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Well, I deal with emotional trauma every single day. I
deal with PTSD and nightmares and anxiety when I go
out into public. It's a huge toll that a lot
of people don't realize.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Are you seeking therapy and trying to work through that.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
There are some people I talk to and there are
ways that I do work through this. I have a
service dog who has been a great help, and he
comes with me everywhere. You probably hear him in the background.
He's moving around, ready to go outside and play. Some ball.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Dogs are sent from God. I think we don't. We
don't deserve them. There I have a dog as well.
There are grazing creature, the amazing creatures. What do you
want for the rest of your life? Obviously your life's
been turned upside down. Obviously this is not the life
you thought you would have. What do you want to
do with your life?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I just want to live free from harassment. I just
want to live my life and live free from people
harassing me and coming up to me and like, just
move on. That was the goal with the Buck, is
to get my story out there once and for all,
and just to be able to move on after these
civil lawsuits.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I think most people, you know, look, I work in
the public eye, and I certainly have not experienced the
kind of harassment that you've experienced. But I don't think
most people understand kind of what that is like, you know,
take us through what you've had to experience in terms
of that harassment, in terms of that vitriol being aimed
in your direction.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I've experienced good and bad harassment. I've experienced death threats
a countless number almost every single day. I experienced people
coming up to me when I have my mouth filled
with food I'm at a restaurant asking to take pictures.
I was out with the friend yesterday and we were
(19:12):
out at the beach and playing with my dog in
the water, and I've had people come up to me there.
It's just very difficult to go outside and to not
be recognized.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
You've done a lot of interviews so far on the book,
and there's been a lot written about it. Is there
anything people are missing that you want to get out
there that you wish people would report on from the
book and from your life.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah. The left wing media keeps reporting on the book
in a way that is terrible, and they haven't even
read the book based on reading their articles, so I
encourage them to read the book because they got a
lot wrong. Especially MSNBC. Their article they wrote a couple
of days ago is absolutely ridiculous, saying I'm doing this
for political power, if you just picked up the book
(19:55):
and read it, you would know that this isn't about
political power.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Well, I did most accidentally call MSCMS thirteen a few
times on Fox my accident, but maybe but maybe somewhat accurate. Yeah, yeah,
because you faced it an onslaught of character assassination by
so many people. What's it like to be labeled something
you know you're not.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
It's aggravating. I see it every single day. I have
constant media attacks, and it's just disgusting that the media
can say some stuff, say the stuff about me and
just get away with it. Like they just constantly double
down and say these terrible, terrible false lies about me,
(20:41):
and I think they know their lies, and then they
label it as opinion. But it still hurts my character
and still makes people want to hurt me or attack
me and puts my safety at risk.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Is there anything else you'd like to leave us with
before we go.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Well, Lisa, I just want to say thank you for
having me on to discuss my new book. If anybody's
interested in ordering a copy, you can go to rittenhousebook
dot com and pre order a copy. You can also
pre order a signed version where I'll be hand signing
every single copy that shipped out that's pre ordered for sign.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Kyle Rittenhouse, appreciate you taking the time to talk about
your new book Acquitted.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Thank you, Lisa.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
It was Kyle Rittenhouse talking about his new book Acquitted
and talking about what he went through the young age
of seventeen. He was seventeen. Then. Want to thank you
at home for listening every Monday and Thursday, but you
can listen throughout the week. I want to thank my producer,
John Cassio for putting the show together. Until next time.
So I've got an interesting one for you today. Some
on the left have called him a white supremacist, some
on the right have called him a hero, but he's neither.
Kyle Rittenhouse was just seventeen years old when he went
to Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August twenty fifth, twenty twenty. His
goal was to protect local businesses, to potentially provide aid
to those around him, and instead he ended up in
(00:21):
a scenario where he was fighting for his life, where
he had to exercise his right to self defense. He
is innocent in the eyes of the law. Take yourself
back to when you were seventeen, how many stupid situations
did you get yourself in. Look, I don't think Kyle
Rittenhouse should have gone out that day, but he was
also seventeen years old. I think he went out truly
with the intention to protect his community. I also believe
(00:44):
in the right to self defense, and I believe that's
what he was doing, and so does the law. What
does Kyle Rittenhouse have to say about all of this?
We're going to hear from him in his own words
talking about his book Acquitted, where he tells his life
story and he explains exactly what happened both August twenty fifth,
twenty twenty, and in the days after, Stay tuned for
(01:05):
Kyle Rittenhouse. Well, Kyle, it's nice to meet you. I
appreciate you making the time. I imagine this is a
busy time.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
For you, absolutely, so thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
You know, obviously you wrote this book to give people
better insight into who you are, because you know you've
been misrepresented in the media. But who was Kyle Rittenhouse
before August twenty fifth, twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Well, I talk about that quite a bit a bit
in my book, Lisa. I talk about growing up with
a drug addict dad, growing up homeless as a child,
and living on government subsidized housing while I had a
mom who was working eighty hours a week so she
could put food on the table. That's who I was.
I was a kid who was put in to unpredictable
(01:54):
circumstances and put in challenging times and trials that we
that most Americans face every day. And I wrote wrote
about that in my book. I also wrote about how
I was a police explorer and a fire cadet, and
how I had an urge to help people. And that's
essentially what brought me down to the riots in August
twenty fifth.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Who are you now? How would you describe yourself now?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I would describe myself today as a difficult question. I've
never been asked that one, But if I had to
describe myself, I would say I try to live as
normal of a life as possible, whatever normal means. I
work in nine to five. I've been doing a lot
of interviews lately to talk about my book and to
(02:38):
help share my story. But that's who I am. I'm
a person who wakes up in the morning and I
go to work, just like everybody else.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
What's it been like to relive all of this in
writing the book.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
It's been an interesting journey. It's been It's been difficult
at times because we've had to go back and watch
all all the videos and and relive everything that happened,
and watched the trial and talk about in detail my
entire life.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
What have you learned about the media and all of this.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Well, I learned that the media will say whatever they
want to push their own narrative, and they are watching
you like a hawk. Twenty four seven. Just the other day,
I accidentally liked to post on Twitter from a friend
of mine, and Newsweek wrote a hip piece article on
it just because I accidentally like something, And I think
that's absolutely ridiculous that they do that.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
In hindsight, Why do you think you went that night
in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Well, I went to Kenosha, Wisconsin to help people and
provide medical aid and put out fires because I was
asked to be there. With hindsight being twenty twenty as
it always is, if I would have known, I would
have been attacked and put on trial and forced to
defend myself. I wouldn't have gone. It wasn't worth it. It
doesn't change the thing fact that I defended myself, but
(04:02):
it wasn't worth it.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I think one thing that doesn't get discussed as much is,
you know, the politicians in Wisconsin failed. I mean, it
should have never gotten that bad that you know, the
community should have been protected from the beginning. Well, why
do you think that never gets focused on of how
these elected officials failed the community?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Well, a lot of elected officials like to lie to
their constituents and say what they want to hear and
then deliver on another thing, and then they're bought out
by lobbyists and paid for and essentially just do a
lot of this for money, when in reality it shouldn't
be done for money. It should be done for the
people and for their best interests, not for big companies
(04:42):
and lobbyists.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I guess you know, what have you learned about politicians
through all this?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I learned that very few of them can be trusted,
and they all have their own motive and their own
their own agenda to push. And that's what I've learned.
And I learned you can't trust any of them, and
you really need to do your research on them because
a lot of times they'll just say what you want
to hear.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Take us through in your own words, because you know,
obviously the media has painted a picture. You know, Take
us through in your own words. What happened on August
twenty fifth, twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Well, on August twenty fifth of twenty twenty, I was
there in Kenosha helping people, providing first aid, and I
was going to put out a fire at a CarMax
that we were protecting to put out fires, and I
was ambushed by several people and forced to defend myself
against Joseph Roe's mom, then chased down and had to
(05:39):
defend myself a second time against three other attackers, one
being jump kick Man, the other being Anthony Huber, who
hit me in the back of the head with the
skateboard while I was on the ground, and the third
be engaged grocers who put a gun in my face
while I was also on the ground.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
What do you think would have happened if you hadn't
have defended yourself.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Oh, I'd be dead. I would one hundred percent be
dead if I didn't defend myself.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, I think a lot of times in these situations,
you know, it's hard for anyone to know what it's
like to have to make a split sef decision. I
mean we see this with police officers very often who
get condemned for using lethal force. It's almost impossible for
people to put themselves in that situation of the kind
of decisions you have to make in you know, a
(06:22):
split second. I mean, you didn't really have time to
think about you know what this all would lead to.
I mean, it was a split second decision you had
to make.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Absolutely everything happened within a total of like three minutes
from the first shooting to when I turned my when
I walked to the police line. People don't realize how
fast that happened. And of course in a courtroom you
could slow everything down and go frame by frame and
go through all the details, and it seems like this
was this long event, when in reality, it was this
(06:51):
very short, quick event of where I had to defend myself.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
You know, obviously you said you regretted going that night.
I think most people would say, you know, why was
he there as a seventeen year old? But you know
you were seventeen. Not everyone makes the best decisions when
you're seventeen years old. I can't imagine the fear that
you were going through when you know, you realize that, okay,
I'm under attack, I could die, you know, take us
(07:16):
through that absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
So I was terrified. I knew if I didn't defend myself,
I wouldn't be going home and I would be dead.
And I did what I had to do to protect myself.
I was scared and terrified for my life.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
What's it like when you were awaiting trial, you know,
not not knowing how this jury would come down on
these charges against you. I mean, I imagine you know,
that's just got to be so anxious and scary to
be awaiting your fate in the hands of a jury,
and you have no idea which way they could go,
(07:53):
particularly in this environment, in this world.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Well, I just had to trust in God. I had
to trust in whatever happened was going to happen. No
matter what. God plan is the right plan, and he
would keep me safe and protected.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Did you Was there any part of you when the
jury came down that you thought that it could go
in the other direction.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
I didn't actually think about that much. I was just
I was so nervous for the verdict because it could
have gone any direction. The jury could have voted any
single way. They could have decided I was guilty or
not guilty, and thank god they made the right verdict
to declare me not guilty. But I didn't focus on
that much because they would have just ate me up
too much.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
You also had some civil lawsuits filed against you as well.
Are you still fighting those?
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yes? I am. I'm fighting three civil lawsuits at the moment.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
And you've also threatened to tosue the media. What's the
status of that. On these defamation lawsuits.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
We looked into it. Defamation is near impossible to prove,
and they consider me a public figure, so I have
a higher bar to prove, and essentially the media can
say whatever they want about me.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
You know, I think people you know forget well. Campaigning
for president, you know, Joe Biden used images of you
in a campaign video. That must have been pretty alarming
for you to have seen.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Oh that ticked me off. Like to see the former
vice president and now current president using my face in
his campaign video to gain voters and making something that
was non political political, it really ticks me off.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Take a quick commercial break more with Kyle Rittenhouse. On
the other side, you had supported President Trump and attended
a rally. How much of that do you think came
into play in some of the public slander that you've experienced.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I wasn't very political before everything happened. A lot of
people will say I was, but I didn't really know
much about politics. President Trump came and supported me from
the beginning, and that's why I like President Trump. But
it didn't have a really play into why I went
down there. But I think they, the media and other
(10:05):
politicians saw it as this kid is a kid who
went to a Trump rally. He's this maga person. We're
going to rail against him. Even though I was seventeen,
because if I was on the other side, they would
have probably came to my defense.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
I think what's particularly frustrating as well is, you know,
those riots were following the death of Jacob Blake, a
man who after you know, through investigation, you know, he
pulled a knife on police officers, she showed up at
a woman's house to revictimize her. You know, that's who
these people came out to defend and to riot for.
And we also have seen people like Kamala Harris praised
(10:42):
Jacob Blake as well. You know, the Governor Tony Ivers,
you know, governor of Wisconsin, you know, came out and
supported him as well. So I mean talk about that.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I didn't really pay attention to the Jacob Blake case much.
I know what happened a little bit, but I was
focus on my own things going on at the time,
and you'll notice I didn't. I do notice a pattern
with these left leaning politicians. They come to support these
violent criminals who do bad things, and sometimes bad things
(11:16):
do happen to them, and we do need to support
them because that's what we need to do. But when
they do the bad thing, we don't need to support
them and encourage them for doing bad things.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Tony Evers. I mean, you know, we've seen cases of
self defense in the country. You know Daniel Penny, you know,
currently facing trial for what happened in New York City.
Why do you think there's such an animus against the
right to self defense?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Because I think the government wants complete control and they
want to take that right from us, and we can't
let them. We have to vote them out and put
politicians in place that will support the right to self defense,
who will support the Second Amendment, and who won't throw
you in prison for defending yourself.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Why do you think these kinds of riots that we
saw in the summer of twenty twenty, and you know
we're seeing some of it now, you know, these pro
Palestinian riots. Why do politicians allow for some of these
violent riots to take place.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I think it puts fear into other voters who aren't outrioting.
I think other everyday people see, oh, while the world
is burning down, if we don't vote for this left
leaning politician, we're just going to have more riots than
the riots aren't going to stop. Because if you notice
a pattern, they always flow up during an election cycle.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Why do you think the Second Amendment is so despised
by so many Americans?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
That's a good question. I have no idea. The Second
Amendment was written by our founding fathers and it was
very intentional what they wrote, and I think it should
stay that way. I think our founding fathers they wrote
our Constitution very intentionally, and our politicians' jobs are to
protect the Concertstitution and make sure that the Constitution has
(13:02):
followed through with. But we have politicians like Gavin Governor
Gavin Newsom, Newsom who's trying to introduce a twenty eighth
Amendment on firearms and that essentially dissolves the Second Amendment
and that can't be stood for that's unconstitutional.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
If you had to sum up everything that's happened to you,
what have you learned from all of this?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Learn who you can trust, learn who you let into
your circle, and to always think before you do something.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
What's been the response from, you know, family and having
to battle through this.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
My family has been very supportive during the trials and stuff.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
You know, and I know a lot's been made of
Oh well, you know, you're trying to profit off of this,
you know, with the book. But what have been the
costs in having to defend yourself in court and in
with these civil cases as well, that the financial costs.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Millions of dollars have been paid to lawyers to keep
me out of jail and to help fight these civil lawsuits,
and I still have legal debt.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
What have you learned about the legal process through all
of this?
Speaker 2 (14:11):
That lawyers are expensive. Lawyers are very, very expensive, and
that the legal system will try to mess with you
every way possible to throw you in prison, and they'll
try to make it to where you can't defend yourself,
and then if you do win, they'll draw you in
civil lawsuits and try to bankrupt you and take every
(14:31):
financial asset you have.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Do you think you know when people say justice is blind,
is it?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
It can be? It can be blind in sometimes in
some ways I think a lot of people. I think
our court system works in an extent. It worked for
me in the criminal case. Our justice system worked. I
shouldn't have been prosecuted, but the jury got it right.
They looked at the facts and they did not let
public opinion or bias sway them to voting guilty. They
(14:59):
voted the correct verdict, not guilty. But there's other cases
such as Daniel Perry to where the jury voted guilty
when there was an overwhelming amount of self defense claims
in his trial, and in my opinion, I believe he
acted in self defense.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
If your case was tried in a different state, a
different part of the country, what do you think the
outcome would have been.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
That's a good question. I thought about that a lot
until the Daniel Perry situation, because I thought, Hey, if
this happened in Texas, I would never have been tried.
But Daniel Perry, who had a similar situation, he was
tried and he was found guilty. So it was a
very difficult thing to see. But it made me think like, wow,
(15:48):
maybe if this did happen in a more conservative state,
I would have still been put on trial, because it
all depends on the DA of that county.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, and we've seen people like you know, George Soros
trying to elect some of these progressive das. What do
you think that means for the future of the country.
You know, how concerned are you about the you know,
justice system as we move forward as a country with
some of these progressive das.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Well, it's very scary. It's a very scary thing to
say that George Soros wants to have these left leaning
and bad district attorneys elected, because then it means that
he practically has full control of the judicial system. And
(16:35):
it's scary to see. It's scary to see what will
happen if that is the case, and how the DA's
that are elected by him will twist the law and
throw innocent people in prison.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Quick break stay with us some on the rate, Have
you know, sort of made you a full hero to
some degree? Why do you think that is?
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I don't know. I'm not a hero at all. I'm
not a hero. I'm not a villain.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
I'm just a person, you know, and talking do it
and seeing you know, your interviews and reading up about you.
There does not seem to be any case to be
made that you went there that night looking to harm
people or looking to you know, kill people, or anything
like that. What's the toll on a human being to
have to take the life of another person.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Well, I deal with emotional trauma every single day. I
deal with PTSD and nightmares and anxiety when I go
out into public. It's a huge toll that a lot
of people don't realize.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Are you seeking therapy and trying to work through that.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
There are some people I talk to and there are
ways that I do work through this. I have a
service dog who has been a great help, and he
comes with me everywhere. You probably hear him in the background.
He's moving around, ready to go outside and play. Some ball.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Dogs are sent from God. I think we don't. We
don't deserve them. There I have a dog as well.
There are grazing creature, the amazing creatures. What do you
want for the rest of your life? Obviously your life's
been turned upside down. Obviously this is not the life
you thought you would have. What do you want to
do with your life?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I just want to live free from harassment. I just
want to live my life and live free from people
harassing me and coming up to me and like, just
move on. That was the goal with the Buck, is
to get my story out there once and for all,
and just to be able to move on after these
civil lawsuits.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I think most people, you know, look, I work in
the public eye, and I certainly have not experienced the
kind of harassment that you've experienced. But I don't think
most people understand kind of what that is like, you know,
take us through what you've had to experience in terms
of that harassment, in terms of that vitriol being aimed
in your direction.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I've experienced good and bad harassment. I've experienced death threats
a countless number almost every single day. I experienced people
coming up to me when I have my mouth filled
with food I'm at a restaurant asking to take pictures.
I was out with the friend yesterday and we were
(19:12):
out at the beach and playing with my dog in
the water, and I've had people come up to me there.
It's just very difficult to go outside and to not
be recognized.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
You've done a lot of interviews so far on the book,
and there's been a lot written about it. Is there
anything people are missing that you want to get out
there that you wish people would report on from the
book and from your life.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah. The left wing media keeps reporting on the book
in a way that is terrible, and they haven't even
read the book based on reading their articles, so I
encourage them to read the book because they got a
lot wrong. Especially MSNBC. Their article they wrote a couple
of days ago is absolutely ridiculous, saying I'm doing this
for political power, if you just picked up the book
(19:55):
and read it, you would know that this isn't about
political power.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Well, I did most accidentally call MSCMS thirteen a few
times on Fox my accident, but maybe but maybe somewhat accurate. Yeah, yeah,
because you faced it an onslaught of character assassination by
so many people. What's it like to be labeled something
you know you're not.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
It's aggravating. I see it every single day. I have
constant media attacks, and it's just disgusting that the media
can say some stuff, say the stuff about me and
just get away with it. Like they just constantly double
down and say these terrible, terrible false lies about me,
(20:41):
and I think they know their lies, and then they
label it as opinion. But it still hurts my character
and still makes people want to hurt me or attack
me and puts my safety at risk.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Is there anything else you'd like to leave us with
before we go.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Well, Lisa, I just want to say thank you for
having me on to discuss my new book. If anybody's
interested in ordering a copy, you can go to rittenhousebook
dot com and pre order a copy. You can also
pre order a signed version where I'll be hand signing
every single copy that shipped out that's pre ordered for sign.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Kyle Rittenhouse, appreciate you taking the time to talk about
your new book Acquitted.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Thank you, Lisa.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
It was Kyle Rittenhouse talking about his new book Acquitted
and talking about what he went through the young age
of seventeen. He was seventeen. Then. Want to thank you
at home for listening every Monday and Thursday, but you
can listen throughout the week. I want to thank my producer,
John Cassio for putting the show together. Until next time.
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Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
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