White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki refused to answer on Tuesday whether President Joe Biden would ever apologize to Kyle Rittenhouse for remarks that he made about the then-17-year-old which comes after a jury acquitted Rittenhouse of all charges last week.
“Would the President ever apologize to the acquitted Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse for suggesting online and on TV, that he is a white supremacist?” a reporter asked.
“Well, let’s be clear what we’re talking about here. This is about a campaign video released last year that used President Trump’s own words during a debate, as he refused to condemn white supremacists and militia groups, and President Trump, as we know from history, and as many of you covered, didn’t just refuse to condemn militia groups on the debate stage, he actively encouraged them throughout his presidency,” Psaki claimed. “So, you know, what we’ve seen are the tragic consequences of that, when people think it’s okay to take the law into their own hands, instead of allowing law enforcement to do its job and the president believes in condemning hatred, division, and violence. That’s exactly what was done in that video.”
The reporter then brought up an interview that Biden gave with CNN in 2020 where Biden said:
I don’t know enough to know whether that 17-year-old kid, exactly what he did, but allegedly he’s part of a militia coming out of the state of Illinois. Have you ever heard this president say one negative thing about white supremacists? Have you ever heard it? That’s the reason I got back in this race because what happened in Charlottesville
“The President also gave an interview where he said this Rittenhouse was ‘part of a militia coming out of Illinois. Have you ever heard of this President, referring to Trump, say one negative thing about white supremacists?'” the reporter said. “These are all things, none of this was proven in the trial and Kyle Rittenhouse is saying that the President had actual malice in defaming his character. Is that what happened here?”
Psaki avoided directly answering the question, saying, “The President spoke to the verdict last week.”
“He has obviously condemned the hatred and division and violence we’ve seen around the country by groups like the Proud Boys and groups that that individual has posed in photos with, but beyond that, I’ll leave it to his comments around the verdict,” she added.
WATCH:
.@pdoocy: "Will the president ever apologize the Kyle Rittenhouse for suggesting that he is a white supremacist?"
Jen Psaki: It's Trump's fault. pic.twitter.com/0Uw0Oig1n6
— MRCTV (@mrctv) November 23, 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
REPORTER: Would the President ever apologize to the acquitted Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse for suggesting online and on TV, that he is a white supremacist?
JEN PSAKI, PRESS SECRETARY: Well, let’s be clear what we’re talking about here. This is about a campaign video released last year that used President Trump’s own words during a debate, as he refused to condemn white supremacists and militia groups, and President Trump, as we know from history, and as many of you covered, didn’t just refuse to condemn militia groups on the debate stage, he actively encouraged them throughout his presidency. So, you know, what we’ve seen are the tragic consequences of that, when people think it’s okay to take the law into their own hands, instead of allowing law enforcement to do its job and the president believes in condemning hatred, division, and violence. That’s exactly what was done in that video.
REPORTER: But if, you’re saying that it was just a campaign video, it wasn’t. The President also gave an interview where he said this Rittenhouse was ‘part of a militia coming out of Illinois. Have you ever heard of this President, referring to Trump, say one negative thing about white supremacists?’ These are all things, none of this was proven in the trial and Kyle Rittenhouse is saying that the President had actual malice in defaming his character. Is that what happened here?
PSAKI: The President spoke to the verdict last week. He has obviously condemned the hatred and division and violence we’ve seen around the country by groups like the Proud Boys and groups that that individual has posed in photos with, but beyond that, I’ll leave it to his comments around the verdict.