Kyle Rittenhouse says he was an Andrew Yang fan but is now 'trying to stay out of politics' after his trial

• Rittenhouse told Fox News he was an Andrew Yang supporter before the furor over the Kenosha shooting.
• He said he was then attracted to Trump's policies.

Kyle Rittenhouse said he used to be a fan of the former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, but that he was "trying to stay out of politics" now that his trial is over.

Rittenhouse was last week acquitted of all charges in his homicide trial last Friday. He was on trial for fatally shooting two men and injuring a third during civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last August.

Since the shooting, Rittenhouse has become somewhat of a right-wing hero, and was pictured in January flashing a hand sign associated with white supremacy. After his acquittal he posed for photos with former President Donald Trump, who called him a "really good young guy."

But in an extensive interview with the Fox News host Tucker Carlson released Wednesday, Rittenhouse said he used to be a Yang fan.

"I'm going to get a lot of hate for this but I was a pretty big Andrew Yang supporter before all this," he told Carlson.

"Were you really?" Carlson said. "You were part of the Yang Gang?"

"I was part of the Yang Gang," Rittenhouse said, adding Yang was "a good dude."

When approached for comment. a spokeswoman for Yang’s political action committee, The Forward Party, told Insider: “Americans are more polarized than ever. Electoral reform is our priority in order to help people choose the right tools instead of the wrong ones, be those firearms or extremism.”

In a separate interview with NewsNation Now, which was aired Wednesday, Rittenhouse said he had no idea that the "OK" hand sign he flashed in January was associated with white supremacy. He also said that he didn't know that the men he posed with were associated with the Proud Boys.

Rittenhouse previously accused President Joe Biden of defaming him by suggesting he was a white supremacist in a tweet last year.

In his interview with Carlson, Rittenhouse went on to say that he then became attracted to Trump because of his stance on policing.

"I wasn't really into politics. I didn't know much about Trump. I didn't know much about Biden. I went to a Trump rally because Trump supports the police. He's a businessman. That's what I liked about Trump. I didn't know much about politics. I was just a 17-year-old kid," he said.

"But you liked Andrew Yang," Carlson said.

"I liked Andrew Yang. I liked his policy a little bit," Rittenhouse said.

Rittenhouse then said he had "been trying to stay out of politics" since his trial ended.