One of the big takeaways from Kyle Rittenhouse’s interview with Tucker Carlson, which aired Monday night, was that he and his lawyers were gearing up to stick it to the liberal media and the radical politicians with defamation lawsuits. He wouldn’t go into detail, but it was clear he was setting the groundwork for what many, included Nicholas Sandmann, were urging him to do.
Along with calling the liberal media’s comments about him a “disgrace to this county,” Rittenhouse teased what his legal team was working on after Carlson asked him pointedly about the possibility of “holding some of these liars to account, do you plan to do that?” And according to Rittenhouse, there was movement behind the senses:
RITTENHOUSE: I have really good lawyers who are taking care of that right now. So, I'm hoping one day, there will be some -- there will be accountability for their actions that they did.
CARLSON: Okay, so you're intent on not -- you're not going to let that go.
RITTENHOUSE: Like I said, I have really good lawyers who are handling that.
The other hints came when he strategically dropped versions of the word “defame” in two key instances throughout the interview. The first came when he was responding to President Biden’s accusation that he was a white supremacist.
“Mr. President, if I could say one thing to you, I would urge you to go back and watch the trial and understand the facts before you make a statement,” he said. After Carlson noted it was a big deal that the leader of the free world would use the smear against a child, Rittenhouse added: “No, it is actual malice, defaming my character for him to say something like that.”
The second strategic usage came with Carlson wondering: “Do you feel like your life has been destroyed by this?” And Rittenhouse voiced his fears about what his life will be like now:
I feel my life has been extremely defamed by it. I don't think I would be able to go out and get a job and not have to deal with harassment. But I'm at a place now where I have to have people with me because people want to kill me just because I defended myself and they're too ignorant to look at the facts of what happened.
“I see some of the threats. Some of the things people say, it's absolutely sickening,” he added.
Rittenhouse also said that the stuff the media was saying about him was “sickening” and a “disgrace to this country”:
RITTENHOUSE: Yes. It's actually quite hysterical how nobody can go back and look at the facts of the case. He crossed state lines. False. He's a white supremacist. False. None of that is true. And the lies that they can just get away with spreading. It's just sickening. And it's a disgrace to this country.
CARLSON: So, you before this, I mean, you're 17 years old. So you're probably not, you know, watching cable news all day or, you know, deeply into politics. Maybe you were, but did you know how dishonest media coverage of events could be?
RITTENHOUSE: I didn't. I've never seen something so polarizing in my life. When it's just -- it's obvious self-defense.
“This wasn't a political case. It shouldn't have been a political case. It was made a political case. This had nothing to do with race. And the ways people are twisting this, it is just sickening,” he said.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson Tonight
November 22, 2021
8:27:13 p.m. Eastern(…)
KYLE RITTENHOUSE: I'm not a racist person. I support the BLM movement. I support peacefully demonstrating. And I believe there needs to be change. I believe there's a lot of prosecutorial misconduct, not just in my case, but in other cases. And it's just amazing to see how much a prosecutor can take advantage of somebody -- Like, if they did this to me, imagine what they could have done to a person of color who doesn't maybe have the resources I do or it's not widely publicized, like my case.
CARLSON: What did you make of the President of the United States calling you a white supremacist?
RITTENHOUSE: Mr. President, if I could say one thing to you, I would urge you to go back and watch the trial and understand the facts before you make a statement.
CARLSON: That's not a small thing to be called that.
RITTENHOUSE: No, it is actual malice, defaming my character for him to say something like that.
CARLSON: What -- I mean, why do you think -- and it is not simply Biden who said that. It is a lot of people on television have said that a lot. Dozens of people have said that. I'm sorry to tell you, in case you haven't seen it.
RITTENHOUSE: Yes. It's actually quite hysterical how nobody can go back and look at the facts of the case. He crossed state lines. False. He's a white supremacist. False. None of that is true. And the lies that they can just get away with spreading. It's just sickening. And it's a disgrace to this country.
CARLSON: I couldn't agree more. So, you before this, I mean, you're 17 years old. So you're probably not, you know, watching cable news all day or, you know, deeply into politics. Maybe you were, but did you know how dishonest media coverage of events could be?
RITTENHOUSE: I didn't. I've never seen something so polarizing in my life. When it's just -- it's obvious self-defense. If you look at the case, you look at the facts, no matter what your opinion is, or where you stand it. This wasn't a political case. It shouldn't have been a political case. It was made a political case. This had nothing to do with race. And the ways people are twisting this, it is just sickening.
CARLSON: I think a lot of people watching have reached the same conclusion, and they would like to see you, you know, help make this better by holding some of these liars to account, do you plan to do that?
RITTENHOUSE: I have really good lawyers who are taking care of that right now. So, I'm hoping one day, there will be some -- there will be accountability for their actions that they did.
CARLSON: Okay, so you're intent on not -- you're not going to let that go.
RITTENHOUSE: Like I said, I have really good lawyers who are handling that.
(…)
8:46:24 p.m. Eastern
CARLSON: Do you feel like your life has been destroyed by this?
RITTENHOUSE: I feel my life has been extremely defamed by it. I don't think I would be able to go out and get a job and not have to deal with harassment. But I'm at a place now where I have to have people with me because people want to kill me just because I defended myself and they're too ignorant to look at the facts of what happened.
CARLSON: Do you feel the threats?
RITTENHOUSE: I do. I see some of the threats. Some of the things people say, it's absolutely sickening.
CARLSON: Are you confident that the government will protect you from these threats? Because that's, of course, the government's job.
RITTENHOUSE: I hope so. But we all know how the FBI works.
(…)
