Rittenhouse Defense Lawyer Rips MSNBC, CNN For Missing ‘Basic Facts’: ‘It Makes Me Angry’

Mark Richards, who successfully defended Kyle Rittenhouse against murder charges last week, slammed MSNBC and CNN on Sunday for botching “basic facts” of Rittenhouse’s case.

Richards appeared on NewsNation’s “Banfield” on Sunday with host Ashleigh Banfield to talk about the trial after Rittenhouse was cleared of five felony charges last week. A Wisconsin jury acquitted Rittenhouse after the teen killed two men and wounded a third in self-defense last year during violent riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The defense attorney ripped into the media, specifically pointing to the networks MSNBC and CNN for their biased portrayal of the case and omission of facts.

“I can say this: much of the coverage at the beginning was wrong. The trial proved that,” Richards said. “Just in the last two weeks, you know, you people may not believe this, but I watch MSNBC, CNN. I’m not a big Fox guy. And when I hear Joe Scarborough saying my client shot his gun 60 times, that’s wrong. When I hear some guest host on Joy Reid say my client drove four hours to go to a riot with his AR, that’s wrong. It’s false.”

“It makes me angry that they can’t take the time to at least get the generic, basic facts correct because it didn’t fit in the story they wanted to tell,” he said.

Richards took over Rittenhouse’s defense from Rittenhouse’s prior defense team led by attorneys Lin Wood and John Pierce, who Rittenhouse has now accused of using his case to fundraise for themselves. Richards said he advised against filing defamation suits against the media and public figures for false claims about Rittenhouse because the teen’s murder trial was too important.

“I can say this, that when I got involved in this case and there were a couple of other prominent lawyers who were involved and trying to make some calls and I said, ‘Look, all of your riches and civil lawsuits are going nowhere if this kid gets found guilty of anything, so let’s worry about what’s important.’ And ultimately no actions were filed by Kyle or on behalf of Kyle while I was representing him,” Richards said.

Rittenhouse lawyer Mark Richards on @BanfieldonNN
goes after CNN and MSNBC for their false reporting about the case: “It makes me angry that they can’t take the time to at least the generic basic facts correct because it didn’t fit the story they wanted to tell.” pic.twitter.com/YhBjYPhvJ2

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) November 21, 2021

Rittenhouse appears to be moving forward with defamations suits, though it is unclear who the teen intends to target. He told Fox News host Tucker Carlson in an interview that aired Sunday evening that “I have really good lawyers who are taking care of that” when Carlson asked him about holding “liars to account.”

Rittenhouse’s mother made similar statements in an interview with Fox News. As The Daily Wire reported:

In an interview with Fox News, Wendy Rittenhouse discussed the next “chapter” in her son’s life, and noted that there are people who want to “hurt him.”

The family also disclosed to the network that they’re exploring “legal action against people who they believe slandered Kyle Rittenhouse.”

“It’s gonna take time, ya know,” Wendy said of her son moving past the trial. “He wants to go to school, he wants to play with his dog Milo, but it’s gonna be different for him, because there’s gonna be people out there who want to hurt him.”

“It’s over,” she added, “but there’s another chapter in our lives.”

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