President Joe Biden told reporters Friday that “the jury system works” after he was asked about Kyle RIttenhouse being found not guilty on all charges stemming from a pair of fatal shootings in Wisconsin last year.
Biden was asked whether he stood by his “past comments equating him to white supremacy,” referring to a post by Biden on Twitter in 2020 criticizing his opponent for not condemning white supremacy that included a video that had an image of Rittenhouse.
“I stand by what the jury has concluded,” Biden said.
Biden, who was returning to White House after completing his physical Friday morning, told reporters he had not watched the trial and had just learned of the verdict, but “the jury system works and we have to abide by it.”
Rittenhouse, 18, had been charged with reckless homicide in the slaying of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and intentional homicide in the death of Anthony Huber, 26, on Aug. 25, 2020, during protests over the shooting days earlier of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white Kenosha police officer.
The case had become politicized shortly after Rittenhouse’s arrest, as he was hailed as a hero in the right-wing media for taking action against protesters.
The judge presiding over the case, Bruce Schroeder, had urged jurors to put their personal politics aside ahead of deliberations, telling them to “pay no heed to the opinions of anyone, even the president of the United States, or the president before him.”
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., hailed the jury’s finding and called for peace in his state.
“I believe justice has been served in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. I hope everyone can accept the verdict, remain peaceful, and let the community of Kenosha heal and rebuild,” Johnson said in a statement.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
