Tipsheet

7 Unreal Moments from the Rittenhouse Prosecutor's Closing Argument

Spencer Brown
Spencer Brown  |  November 15, 2021 4:15 PM

After Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder read through nearly 40 pages of jury instructions on Monday, Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger began the prosecution's closing argument in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse. 

Stretching on for more than two hours, Binger's closing argument meandered through a selectively chosen set of facts that defied logic, ignored reality, and seemed at times unbelievable. 

1. At one point in his argument, Binger sounded like a CNN reporter when he characterized the violent rioters that were laying siege to Kenosha as a "crowd full of heroes." As Townhall's Julio Rosas covered in August 2020, the BLM and Antifa rioters who razed Kenosha were anything but heroes. 

Compare Binger's description with the reality of what Julio captured on video and reported — including the burning of an American flag, shouts of "death to America," and attempts to breach a fence around the courthouse in which the trial is now taking place:

2. Then there was the moment Binger pointed a rifle at people in the crowded courtroom with his finger fully on the trigger. I mean... you don't have to be a firearm expert to know you don't pick one up and aim it at a crowd with your finger on the trigger.

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3. Binger also tried to make the argument that as an individual, "you lose the right to self-defense when you're the one who brought the gun," attempting again to invalidate Rittenhouse's self-defense claim but apparently forgetting Rittenhouse wasn't the only one with a gun in Kenosha that night. 

As many pointed out, one of the individuals shot by Rittenhouse — Gaige Grosskreutz — brought a gun himself, and pointed it at Kyle Rittenhouse, something Grosskreutz said himself on the witness stand.

4. At one point, Binger used this picture in court to illustrate... what a fistfight looks like? Then he said "you people have probably been in bar fights!” to the jury. 

As Katie rightfully points out, data from the FBI shows that fists are used to kill more people each year than rifles. Those chasing and threatening Rittenhouse had not only fists but firearms, chains, skateboards, and more. 

5. In a list of actions he thinks Rittenhouse should have taken on the night at issue, Binger insisted that Rittenhouse should have fired off warning shots as he... ran away? He should have left his gun behind to be picked up and used by violent rioters? Or surrendered himself to the crowd chasing him through town?

Among other bad ideas, Dana Loesch pointed out firing warning shots is not legally sound, nor is it a safe practice.

In fact, another man who fired warning shots amid the riots in Kenosha faced charges for such action.

6. Then there was the way Binger mocked Kyle Rittenhouse in a condescending evaluation of the defendant's "performance as a medic that night."

7. And last but not least, Binger's attempted character rehabilitation for Rosenbaum that he offered with a sarcastic tone to make light of Rosenbaum's actions the night of the riots that included arson, swinging a metal chain, and throwing the n-word around.

As Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy pointed out, the likely reason for the prosecutor's confounding closing argument is likely because he's failed to adequately prove the defendant is guilty of the crimes charged.