During his closing argument in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Monday, Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger praised the mob of antifa rioters as heroes, claiming that they only chased Rittenhouse because he’d just shot the convicted child rapist Joseph Rosenbaum.
“Every day, we hear about heroes who stop active shooters,” he said. “That’s what was going on here, and that crowd was right. And that crowd was full of heroes,” the prosecutor said.
In fact, prior to the initial shooting, the intimidating mob was stalking the teen before he was forced to defend himself on the night of August 25, 2020.
The prosecution has made a point of portraying Rittenhouse as an “active shooter” in an attempt to justify the mob’s violent actions toward him.
The lone surviving antifa rioter, Gaige Grosskreutz used the terminology to describe the 17-year-old that night.
“I think the most important thing to remember is that Kyle Rittenhouse was an active shooter,” Grosskreutz, a witness for the prosecution, testified last Monday. “He murdered two men, and he attempted to murder me.”
The prosecution appeared to try to put the term into the mouth of a witness for the defense on Tuesday.
Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney James Kraus asked freelance photojournalist Nathan DeBruin if he had used the term while giving them his deposition.
“In my office, you said that you were fearful of an active shooter?” Krause asked.
After a confused pause, DeBruin responded, “I don’t recall that.”
“You don’t remember saying that, um, you thought they were trying to stop an active shooter?” Krause persisted.
“No,” DeBruin replied confidently.
“Do you think they were trying to stop an active shooter?” Krause asked.
“They were trying to stop the person who was running,” DeBruin said, adding that at that point, he didn’t even know what had happened.
DeBruin had earlier testified that the prosecutors had tried to make him change his statement—that Krause had tried to put words in his mouth,” and made him “uncomfortable.”
Although Binger argued that Rittenhouse had no reason to believe convicted child rapist Joseph Rosenbaum would actually disarm him, he said in his closing argument that the antifa mob was “entirely reasonable” in their attempt to disarm Rittenhouse.
He argued that Rittenhouse was to blame for choosing to flee Rosenbaum into a group of parked cars, rather than an open field. And he said that Rittenhouse “callously” ignored Rosenbaum’s plight as he fled the crowd after the first shooting.
Binger argued that Rittenhouse did “nothing to demonstrate to the crowd that he isn’t a threat to kill again,” saying he should have fired warning shots. Therefore, he said, the actions of the mob of rioters who chased him were “entirely reasonable.” He added that “the crowd has the right to stop another shooting,” and was right to chase Rittenhouse, supposedly to stop him.
Binger said that some people in the crowd were exercising their First Amendment rights, and that “most reasonable people” had left the streets by 11:45 p.m. He portrayed Rittenhouse as an interloper from “some other community.” (Rittenhouse is from Antioch, Illinois, though his father lives in Kenosha.) And he called Rittenhouse and other guards “wannabe soldiers, acting tough, trying to manufacture some personal connection to this event, furthering their own personal agenda.”
During another bizarre moment during his closing statement, Binger picked up an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and held it in a shooting position with the barrel pointed in the jury with his finger on the trigger guard, in flagrant violation of firearm safety etiquette.
“And then raises his left hand to the gun and points,” Binger said while picking up the rifle. “This is what we see in the video. Him putting the fire extinguisher on the ground and then raising the gun.”
Look at this goofball with his finger on the trigger pointed at a courtroom full of people. pic.twitter.com/th5eARTaPT
— Shane B. Murphy (@shanermurph) November 15, 2021
Less than three weeks after Alec Baldwin shot two people with a gun an assistant told him was unloaded, Kenosha ADA says same thing then w/o clearing it, breaks every single rule of firearm safety by pointing it at the jury while pulling the trigger for dramatic effect. 🤦♂️ #2A pic.twitter.com/7bJb4pbyfF
— Sam Rogers (@RealSamRogers) November 15, 2021
Spot the difference pic.twitter.com/5RSFIqMT31
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 15, 2021
Binger based his dubious claim that Rittenhouse had pointed his weapon at the violent rioters prior to the shootings on a single frame of a blurry, and highly disputed piece of grainy drone video footage that never should have been admitted into court. The footage actually shows Rittenhouse holding his gun in the downward position, as he normally did.
🚨BREAKING: New Video Analysis shows Kyle did not point rifle at anyone before he was chased pic.twitter.com/6eSnjMpiJn
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) November 15, 2021
Live coverage of the defense’s closing argument (with lawyer commentary) below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7YXd2M5E-8