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WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump on Monday sided with a 17-year-old accused of killing two people during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, saying the accused gunman was trying to escape and was reportedly killed by the protesters had he not opened fire.
Trump will visit Kenosha on Tuesday, the site of protests against police brutality and racism since Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot seven times by police on Aug. 23 and paralyzed.
On the third night of protests, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse shot three protesters, two of them fatally, with an assault rifle.
“He was trying to get away from them … And then he fell down and then they attacked him very violently,” Trump said in a briefing.
“I guess he was in big trouble … They probably would have killed him.”
Rittenhouse has been charged as an adult with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder, and his attorney has said he plans to argue in self-defense.
The Republican president, who has made law and order a central issue in his re-election campaign, refused to condemn the violent acts of his supporters and criticized what he called riots and anarchy carried out by “left” protesters.
Former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden, Trump’s opponent in the Nov.3 election, accused the president of fueling the violence with his rhetoric and insisted that the rioters and looters be brought to justice.
“Tonight, the president refused to rebuke the violence. He would not even repudiate one of his supporters who is accused of murder for his attacks on others. He’s too weak, too scared of the hatred he’s aroused to end it, ”Biden said in a statement.
Trump suggested that the violence would escalate if Biden won and accused the former vice president of surrendering to a left-wing mob.
“In America, we will never surrender to the rule of the mafia, because if the mafia rules, democracy is dead,” Trump said.
The shooting of Blake, 29, in front of three of his children in Kenosha, a predominantly white city of about 100,000 people on Lake Michigan, has sparked a new wave of protests across the country.
The summer of protests ignited after video footage showed a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of a black man, George Floyd, for nearly nine minutes.
Floyd later died, and the officer who was fired was charged with murder.
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told reporters that Trump planned to inspect the damage in Kenosha and meet with business owners, ignoring calls from some state and local leaders to forgo the visit.
Trump said he would not meet with Blake’s family.
