Kyle Rittenhouse Is on Trial for Murder. Matt Gaetz Says He’d Be a Good Intern.

On Wednesday, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) said that he’d be interested in hiring Kyle Rittenhouse as a congressional aide, referring to the 18-year-old gunman currently on trial for killing two individuals and seriously injuring a third during an uprising against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Gaetz made the comments as he was speaking on Newsmax.

“You know what, Kyle Rittenhouse would probably make a good congressional intern,” Gaetz claimed. “We may reach out to him and see if he’d be interested in helping the country in additional ways.”

Gaetz said that Rittenhouse “deserves a not guilty verdict,” and that he hopes “he gets it.”

In August 2020, Rittenhouse left his home in Antioch, Illinois, and traveled to an uprising in Kenosha, Wisconsin with a military-style rifle, claiming he wanted to “protect businesses.” Rittenhouse secured the gun through What many consider a straw purchaseHe asked an older friend to purchase and store the weapon on his behalf, as he was not yet 18. Rittenhouse took the gun from the homeowner without his permission on the night of the shooting.

Rittenhouse welcomed him to Kenosha. shot and killed two individuals taking part in the demonstrationJoseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber, and Gaige Grosskreutz, who were both injured. A jury is currently on day three of deliberatingWhether he is guilty of attempted murder or murder.

Given Rittenhouse’s record of right-wing activism, it makes perfect sense that Gaetz would regard Rittenhouse as a ideal congressional intern. defended “stand your ground” gun laws that empower self-appointed neighborhood patrols to terrorize and kill Black and Brown people with impunity. That’s not the only thing that Gaetz and Rittenhouse have in common, however: both men have posed for picturesWith members of the Proud Boys, a far right white supremacist organization known for inciting violence at demonstrations.

Rittenhouse has had violent tendencies in past, including threatening to shoot people outside a CVS drug storeSeveral weeks before the Kenosha shooting.

Gaetz was also weighed in Jacob Chansley sentenceTrump loyalist, who participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6. Gaetz described Chansley, who left a note threatening then-Vice President Mike Pence and other lawmakers after violently barging his way into Congress, as a “relatively harmless, nonviolent vegan.”

Gaetz is currently under investigationFor allegedly violating federal laws on sex trafficking in 2019, and possibly having sex with an underage girl. Gaetz’s communications with Joel Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector, reveal that Gaetz paid Greenberg $900. Greenberg used this money to pay three separate sex workers.

It seems that the Republican congressman knew where the payments were going. This suggests that he was involved at least with one of the women who received the payments. In the memo line to Greenberg within the payments, Gaetz wrote “hit up” and included the name of one of the sex workers Greenberg later paid.