Kyle Rittenhouse's attorney says it's 'disgusting' that Republicans are trying to trade on his client's 'celebrity'
- Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges after he shot three people, two fatally, during protests in 2020.
- His attorney told Insider that some GOP lawmakers are "trying to profit" on his client's acquittal."
Kyle Rittenhouse's criminal defense attorney told Insider that he thinks it is "disgusting" that some prominent Republicans have tried to cash in on his client's acquittal.
"There's a lot of people trying to profit on this, and I don't think people should," said Mark Richards, who represented Rittenhouse in his Kenosha homicide trial, during a phone call.
A jury on Friday acquitted Rittenhouse of all charges relating to the August 25, 2020, incident where he shot three people with an AR-15 style semiautomatic rifle, killing two and injuring the other, during protests against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Rittenhouse had been charged with fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and injuring Gaige Grosskreutz and was also charged with recklessly endangering two other men.
Insider's Bryan Metzger reported that Republican lawmakers praised the jury's verdict.
Rep. Paul Gosar said on Twitter that he would "arm wrestle" Rep. Matt Gaetz in order to "get dibs for Kyle as an intern." Gaetz said on Wednesday that he was interested in hiring Rittenhouse as an intern.
And Rep. Madison Cawthorn posted a video on Instagram live that included text that read "KYLE: IF YOU WANT AN INTERNSHIP, REACH OUT TO ME."
"They're raising money on it and you have all these Republican congressmen saying come work for me," Rittenhouse's attorney told Insider. "They want to trade on his celebrity and I think it's disgusting."
Richards also spoke negatively of Donald Trump Jr. tweeting that a gun rights organization would "award" Rittenhouse with an AR-15.
"Gun Owners of America is sending Kyle Rittenhouse an AR-15. Sign the card in support of Kyle. Americans have a fundamental right to defend themselves and to keep and bear arms. The verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial is a recognition of those rights," Trump Jr. said in a since-deleted tweet.
Richards told Insider: "He's an idiot. I don't have to expand on that because it speaks for itself."
The New York Times reported that political fund-raisers, across the political spectrum, were basing appeals to donors on the Rittenhouse trial.