Andrew Harnik/AP Photo
- A US Capitol Police officer excoriated the “hypocrisy” of prominent right-wing figures’ response to the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict.
- Fox News’ Laura Ingraham criticized LeBron James for having “mocked [Kyle Rittenhouse’s] emotional testimony.”
- But Ingraham mocked Dunn and other officers’ harrowing January 6 testimonies as political performances.
A Capitol Police officer said on Wednesday that it was “disheartening” to see prominent figures on the right hailing Kyle Rittenhouse as a “hero” and expressing sympathy for his emotional state, while mocking those who defended the Capitol during the deadly January 6 insurrection.
“Kinda disheartening to see how some prominent people, prop Kyle Rittenhouse up as a hero, yet the brave men and women who fought and defended the Capitol on 1/6 have to continue to fight just for the TRUTH to be told about that day,” US Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn tweeted.
“I have been called every name in the book since my testimony,” he added, referring to his emotional July testimony to the January 6 House Select Committee, during which he repeatedly broke down in tears. “A political pawn, a sellout, a fake cop, a disgrace to the badge, Pelosi puppet, hell even a local Police Union put out a statement attacking me while I was running for Chairman of our Police Union.”
“Its sad to see some of the same people who said these things, praise Rittenhouse or just remain silent,” Dunn continued. Fox News host Laura Ingraham “gave Sgt. Gonell, Michael Fanone and myself actor awards for showing emotion during our testimony…. But Rittenhouse??? #HypocrisyReeks”
The day after Dunn, Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, and Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges testified to the January 6 committee, Ingraham mocked their harrowing testimony as political performances.
Ingraham slammed Gonell’s testimony as the “best exaggerated performance,” and gave Dunn “the award for blatant use of party politics when facts fail.” She gave Fanone, who was nearly beaten to death by Trump supporters and suffered a heart attack from the encounter, the award for “best performance in an action role.”
But on her show last week following the Rittenhouse verdict, Ingraham criticized “billionaire celebrities” like LeBron James who “mocked the defendant’s emotional testimony.”
Rittenhouse killed two people and wounded another during antiracism protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse was acquitted on all five counts last week following a bitterly fought homicide trial that captured national attention.
Several prominent right-wing pundits and hosts expressed sympathy for Rittenhouse during the trial, where he cried on the witness stand, and broke down in sobs and collapsed into his seat following his acquittal. One far-right group dubbed him “Saint Kyle,” while some Republican lawmakers went as far as to jockey with one another to offer him internships in Congress.
But antiracism activists and left-leaning hosts derided the verdict as another example of white vigilantism going unchecked and garnering sympathy.
MSNBC’s Joy Reid noted that the Rittenhouse trial “reminded a lot of people” of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings in 2018. Kavanaugh “cried his way through the hearings,” Reid said, adding, “His tears turned out to be more powerful. In America, there’s a thing about both white vigilantism and white tears, particularly male white tears.”
Ingraham on her show last week insisted that “acquittal was the only verdict that made any sense.”
“But to the left, the acquittal of Rittenhouse only proves what they thought about America all along,” Ingraham said as Fox played footage of Rittenhouse crying and collapsing in the courthouse. “That it’s a horrible, awful, racist place where life is fundamentally unfair.”
A spokesperson for Fox did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
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