Fewer than 12 hours after his original statement on X, Kyle Rittenhouse retracted his comment about planning to write in Ron Paul because “Trump wasn’t pro-gun enough.”
“Hello, I’m Kyle Rittenhouse, the outreach director for Texas Gun Rights. Many individuals are upset about my announcement that I would be writing in Ron Paul for President, and that is indeed true. I will write in Ron Paul,” Rittenhouse stated in a video posted on his X account.
He further elaborated in the video on why he chose not to support Donald Trump for president.
“Unfortunately, Donald Trump had poor advisors, leading him to take unfavorable positions on the Second Amendment, which is my concern. If you cannot be fully uncompromising on the Second Amendment, I won’t vote for you and will opt for a write-in candidate,” Rittenhouse asserted. “We need strong advocates for the Second Amendment, or our rights will be progressively undermined. I stand by my decision, and I have no regrets.”
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Rittenhouse added in his post, “You must uphold your principles.”
He later reiterated, “No compromise means no compromise.”
However, less than 12 hours later, Rittenhouse pinned a new post at the top of his X account, stating he had discussions with Trump’s team and was retracting his earlier comments.
“In the past 12 hours, I’ve had a series of productive discussions with members of Trump’s team, and I’m confident he will be the strong ally gun owners need to uphold our Second Amendment rights,” Rittenhouse mentioned.
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“My comments from last night were misguided and unproductive. I’m fully supportive of Donald Trump and urge every gun owner to join me in helping him return to the White House,” he continued.
Ron Paul is a former politician who represented Texas’s 22nd congressional district from 1975 to 1977 and again from 1979 to 1985, as well as for Texas’s 14th congressional district from 1997 to 2013, as detailed on his biography from Congress.
Rittenhouse became a national figure after fatally shooting two individuals and injuring a third during civil unrest in Kenosha on August 25, 2020.
His defense argued that the then-17-year-old acted in self-defense after being attacked from behind while shooting Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26 during the riots that followed the police shooting of a 29-year-old Black man, Jacob Blake. Both Rosenbaum and Huber died.
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Donald Trump on Hannity: comments after meeting with Kyle Rittenhouse (Fox News)
In 2021, jurors in Kenosha, Wisconsin found Rittenhouse not guilty on all charges. Had he been convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, he would have faced a mandatory life sentence.
President Biden stated he “didn’t watch the trial” but supports “what the jury concluded.”
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“While the verdict in Kenosha may leave many Americans feeling angry and concerned, including myself, we must recognize that the jury has spoken. I ran on a promise to unite Americans, believing that our common ground is far greater than our differences,” Biden mentioned in a prior statement after the verdict. “I understand that healing our country’s wounds won’t happen overnight, but I remain committed to ensuring every American is treated equally, with fairness and dignity under the law.”
He also emphasized that “violence and destruction of property have no place in our democracy.”
Fox News’ Audrey Conklin, Jiovanni Lieggi, and Peter Doocy contributed to this report.
