An attorney representing the 17-year-old accused of killing two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, said he plans to sue Joe Biden and his campaign for libel on the behalf of his client.
Prosecutors say Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two protesters and wounded a third on the streets of Kenosha during an evening of unrest days after Jacob Blake was shot by police. Rittenhouse has been charged with multiple felonies, including first-degree intentional homicide. If convicted, he would be sentenced to life in prison.
Lin Wood, a member of Rittenhouse's legal team, tweeted and confirmed to Fox News he plans to sue the former vice president on his client's behalf over a video Biden posted to Twitter.
The tweet's caption reads: “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.” The video includes audio from the exchange during the first presidential debate when President Donald Trump was pressed to condemn white supremacists and militia groups.
About 12-seconds into the video, Rittenhouse is briefly shown when Wallace mentions the violence that has occurred in Kenosha and Portland.
In a tweet, Wood demanded a public retraction and said the video falsely accuses Rittenhouse of being a "white supremacist & militia member responsible for violence in Kenosha."
Wood is a defamation lawyer who represented falsely accused security guard Richard Jewell in the 1996 Olympic Park bombing case in Atlanta and is a lawyer for Sean Hannity, the Fox News host with close ties to President Donald Trump.
In a court hearing last week, Rittenhouse's attorneys revealed they plan to fight his return to Wisconsin to face homicide charges that could put him in prison for life.
Rittenhouse's attorneys have said he acted in self-defense and have portrayed him as a courageous patriot who was exercising his right to bear arms during a night of unrest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, who is Black. And his arrest has become a rallying point for some on the right, with a legal defense fund that has attracted millions in donations. But others see Rittenhouse as a domestic terrorist whose presence with a rifle incited the protesters.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
