Fox hosts Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Greg Gutfeld vigorously defended Kyle Rittenhouse, supporting his self-defense claim

• Fox News hosts and guests have defended Kyle Rittenhouse, who is on trial for murder.
• They said he acted in self-defense in killing two people at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Fox News hosts and panelists are mounting a vigorous defense of Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager on trial for murder after shooting dead two people during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year.

Fierce partisan debate has swirled around the trial, in which Rittenhouse has testified that he was acting in self-defense when he killed the two men and wounded a third.

Prosecutors are arguing that Rittenhouse was a vigilante who intended to kill those he shot.

Rittenhouse has been hailed as a hero by some conservatives, and on Fox News some hosts have taken up his cause, arguing that his actions were a fair response to a breakdown of law and order in Kenosha.

Violent scenes shook the town, not far from Chicago, in summer 2020 in the aftermath of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, who was left partially paralyzed.

-Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) November 11, 2021

Greg Gutfeld, a host of "The Five:, said Thursday of Rittenhouse: "He did the right thing. He did what the government should have done, which was to make sure these dirtbags - these violent, disgusting dirtbags - weren't roaming the streets. It is clear. They were looking for blood."

The network's top-rated host, Tucker Carlson, has devoted long sections of his show to the case this week.

"How exactly are we surprised when a 17-year-old lifeguard from Illinois decides to step in?" Carlson asked.

Much of the focus of the trial so far has been on video of the shootings, and whether they match Rittenhouse's account of events.

-nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) November 11, 2021

Sean Hannity interviewed Rittenhouse's mother, Wendy Rittenhouse, on Thursday and asked her about a lawsuit her son had filed against Joe Biden, claiming that the president falsely portrayed him as a white supremacist.

"I have yet to see any evidence whatsoever that he is such a person," Hannity said.

Rittenhouse's alleged political affiliations have long been a subject of controversy.

He was pictured after being released on bail with members of the far-right Proud Boys group, flashing a hand signal associated with the white power movement.

Mark Pitcavage, a senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism, told NPR last year that Rittenhouse was not affiliated with any national militia groups, but was appeared to be involved with local self-styled vigilantes.

The Fox News coverage is the culmination of more than a year of conservative support for Rittenhouse, with gun rights advocates and opponents of the Black Lives Matter movement helping to vast sums for his legal defense, reported the AP.

Some liberals, meanwhile, have portrayed him as a right-wing extremist, radicalized by online propaganda, who set out to kill.

Kenosha was the scene of several nights of unrest and rioting in August 2020, after police shot Jacob Blake while attempting to arrest him.

Rittenhouse, who was then aged 17, travelled from his home in Illinois armed with a semiautomatic weapon he possessed illegally to the protests, claiming he travelled to protect small businesses from being ransacked and to administer first aid.