Shortly after he was found not guilty in his highly publicized homicide trial, 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse received multiple internship offers from GOP representatives. North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn posted an Instagram story in which he celebrated Rittenhouse’s acquittal and encouraged Americans to “be armed, be dangerous, and be moral.”
“Kyle, if you want an internship reach out to me,” he captioned the story.
Ahead of Friday’s verdict, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz told conservative outlet Newsmax he was open to bringing Rittenhouse on his team.
“You know what, Kyle Rittenhouse would probably make a good congressional intern,” Gaez said. “We may reach out to him and see if he’d be interested in helping the country in additional ways.”
But Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar made it clear he’s willing to put up a fight to hire Rittenhouse first.
“Justice was served for Kyle Rittenhouse and he is fully exonerated ...” he tweeted.”I will arm wrest [Gaetz] to get dibs for Kyle as an intern.”
The post came shortly after the U.S. House of Representatives voted to censure Gosar for publishing an edited anime video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The Rittenhouse case became politicized immediately after he was arrested for fatally shooting two white men and wounding a third. The incident took place last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin, amid demonstrations sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, said he traveled from his Illinois home to Kenosha with the intention of protecting business buildings during the unrest. He was equipped with an AR-15-style rifle and a first-aid kit.
During the BLM protests on Aug. 25, Rittenhouse opened fire on three men: 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum, 26-year-old Anthony Huber, and 27-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz, who was the only victim to survive the shooting. Rittenhouse’s legal team argued he had acted in self-defense—a claim prosecutors failed to disprove.
The defendant was facing charges of intentional, reckless, and attempted homicide, as well as reckless endangerment. He was found not guilty on all counts.
