Jan. 6 defense attorney says Proud Boys went to DC to 'defend vulnerable demonstrators ... not unlike what Kyle Rittenhouse did'

• A defense attorney for an accused January 6 rioter said the Proud Boys were defending demonstrators "not unlike what Kyle Rittenhouse did."
• During his trial, Rittenhouse claimed he was asked to defend a local business in Wisconsin amid civil unrest.

A defense attorney for an accused January 6 rioter said the Proud Boys went to Washington, D.C. to defend demonstrators "not unlike what Kyle Rittenhouse did."

In a brief filed on behalf of accused rioter Zachary Rehl, defense attorney Jonathon Moseley claimed that the Proud Boys went to D.C. to defend "vulnerable demonstrators" from anti-fascists, akin to what Kyle Rittenhouse claimed to have done during civil unrest in August 2020 following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

"Actually, the Proud Boys primarily came to Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, to patrol the perimeter of the crowds and the places where crowds were gathered to defend vulnerable demonstrators against violent attacks from ANTIFA, not unlike what Kyle Rittenhouse did in Kenosah, Wisconsin," Moseley wrote in the brief asking for portions of the charges against Rehl to be dropped.

"What they actually planned to do and did was to make sure that the defenseless Trump supporters in the gun free zone of D.C. did not get jumped and stabbed by the rioters who had run amok all during 2020," Moseley went on in the brief, which was first reported by NBC Washington's Scott MacFarlane.

Rittenhouse, 18, was acquitted of the five charges against him stemming from when he fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and injured Gaige Grosskreutz. Rittenhouse said he acted in self-defense after the men attacked him.

Rehl stands accused of conspiracy, disorderly conduct, and obstruction of an official proceeding, among other things.