How Citizen Journalism Saved Kyle Rittenhouse’s Life—LIVE from Americafest
On a special episode of The Charlie Kirk Show, we’re bringing you a conversation straight from the stage at TPUSA’s Americafest in December which brought together for the first time some of the men whose footage, testimony, and coverage of Kyle—Jack Posobiec, Drew Hernandez, and Elijah Schaffer—with Kyle himself to tell the story of that night in Kenosha and the show trial that was to follow. Charlie moderates and gets to the bottom of what Kyle may have planned for the legacy media networks who slandered an 18-year-old boy’s name. Much like Kyle himself, the litany of commentary here on the state of journalism, the Second Amendment, and our American way of Life doesn’t miss and you’re going to want hear all of it. Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Psyop on the American People00:08:10
Hey everybody, our conversation live from America Fest, Turning Point USA with Kyle Rittenhouse, Elijah Schaefer, Drew Hernandez, and Jack Pesobic live from Turning Point USA's America Fest.
If you want to email me directly, you can do so, freedom at charliekirk.com.
If you want to support our show directly, go to charliekirk.com/slash support.
That's charliekirk.com/slash support.
And I encourage you to get involved.
Get into the grassroots at TurningPointUSA at tpusa.com.
That's tpusa.com.
Buckle up, everybody.
Here we go.
Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.
Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.
I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.
Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.
I want to thank Charlie.
He's an incredible guy.
His spirit, his love of this country.
He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
That's why we are here.
So, first, I want to introduce our panel for this important conversation.
We want to start this way for a reason because citizen journalism is changing the country and has changed lives.
And the reason that the verdict happened the way it did in Kenosha is largely thanks to these three men on stage with me right now.
And I want to start with properly introducing them: Elijah Schaefer from The Blaze.
Does a great job.
Drew Hernandez, who testified in the trial, and Jack Pesobic from Turning Point USA, Human Events.
Let's start really quick.
Elijah, talk about the importance of citizen journalism when it came to what happened in Kenosha that one night.
Well, the importance is the fact that all of you guys here have a phone in your hand.
And while the media had billions of dollars of funding, they couldn't do what a millennial could do or just see with a phone in their hand.
My screen is cracked.
I have a fat Italian guy shirtless on the front screen, my friend eating chicken strips in Las Vegas using that phone, that device, that communist device of the company that hates us, and taking it out there and doing what the media won't do, which is to risk your life.
Because you have to take a risk to get value.
And you have to just be there because the media will never be in the right place at the right time because they're intentionally not telling the whole story.
They're liars.
They're sick.
They're demented.
But you are the truth tellers.
And that's why independent media is so important.
It's because we're the only ones still willing to tell the truth.
And that's what it takes.
Drew.
How's it going, Phoenix?
I just want to say this: this is a room that should not be filled with fear whatsoever.
Whatsoever.
Because what's happening in the United States of America is a disgrace.
This is a psyop on the American people, and they're using fear to do it across the entire board.
And we are not going to put up with it any longer.
You guys are the next generation.
Don't fall for all of these buzzwords that they put out there.
Everything's a phobia.
Everything's a phobia.
Be scared of this.
Be scared of that.
Now is the time where the American people who still care and love of this country stand up and say, I will not be afraid.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard.
Do we have any patriots out there in the audience here at Turning Point USA?
I've been here a couple days and I see this crowd.
I see people, they're in their 30s, they're in their 20s, they're in their teens.
The mainstream media does not want this to exist.
The ruling class does not want this to exist.
And they do not want citizen patriot independent journalists to be getting in on their scam, to be getting in on their influence operations of telling us the truth of what's going on in our world.
That is why they're trying to shut you down on social media.
That's why they are trying to disrupt our networks.
That's why they don't want us to talk to each other because they don't want us to be making human connections and human agency and having spirituality and God at our core where we can come together and say, no, we know the truth and we're not going to listen to your lies anymore.
Amen.
And Jack, you are covering the trial so amazingly, Drew.
Your testimony moved millions of people.
And Elijah, without your footage, I don't know if this young man would be walking free today.
I really believe that.
And it is something that we must all take a step back and say, if they can indict a young boy at the time, now a young man, for simply defending himself when his life was in danger, they can come after every single one of you.
So, ladies and gentlemen, please let's get loud for Kyle Rittenhouse.
Kyle, Kyle, welcome to Phoenix.
Thank you for having me, Charlie.
How's it going?
Kyle, I just got to say that what you went through, where they tried to destroy your life, the media try to destroy you.
The current president right now called you a white supremacist.
No fax.
And Kyle, the way that you kept, you held it all together.
You're a hero to millions.
And it's an honor to be able to have you here.
People have some very creative signs for you, Kyle.
So, Kyle, I guess the most obvious question is: how are you hanging in there?
I'm doing good, Charlie.
Ready to go on the mountain, get some snowboarding in.
That's the most important thing.
So, can I ask, is there anybody out there who wants to go snowboarding with Kyle?
So, Elijah, you covered this trial really closely.
What do you think are some of the big takeaways as we kind of look back at the overreaction when it came to Kyle and kind of some of the wisdom that we should probably try to derive from that?
What do we think about the prosecutor Binger?
He pointed a gun at people in the courtroom.
He's lecturing a young man about misuse of a firearm while misusing a firearm.
What an idiot.
Seriously, seriously.
And you know, what's interesting about this is they were hoping to get the same thing that a lot of trials have been getting, was that mob justice by lies in the media would force the jury to convict an innocent young man who was defending his life, exercising the Second Amendment that did nothing wrong.
Hey, you, my boy.
Thank you, Roger.
Listen, listen, listen.
I'm going to say this publicly: Kyle Rittenhouse didn't shoot black people.
We just have to say that because the fake news media cartel is still saying that right now to this hour.
People after the trial are calling me, calling my phone up after the testimony, saying, I had no idea that this kid didn't shoot a single black person.
I'm like, I know because he's not a crazy white supremacist active shooter that decided to show up to Kenosha to kill a bunch of black people and commit a hate crime.
Listen, this is why this is important.
Listen, this is a moment.
What happened with Kyle is a disgrace.
Total defamation.
Lies coming from the devil himself.
Kyle Didn't Shoot Black People00:03:20
This is what these people do.
They lie to millions of people and they use a sacrificial lamb in order to get their political appoint across.
It was never a peaceful protest in Kenosha.
It was not even a riot.
It was a crime scene.
What happened in Kenosha for three consecutive nights was a crime.
It's terrorism.
Bloody, violent terrorism.
I just want to add something to this.
A lot of people don't know this.
They focus on Kyle to cover up a domestic terrorist attack that took place over three days that was sanctioned by the local and state and federal governments, the deep state.
They burned down buildings.
People don't know this.
With children inside, they had to put signs out reminding people that there were babies living in buildings.
They took a brick to a man's head, an old man, a senior citizen who asked him not to burn down his building.
Guess what they did?
They took a brick, split his head open, nearly killed him, then lit his business that had been in his family for decades on fire.
And instead, they chose to focus on this man to sidestep the truth of what happened that night, which was an attack on the American people.
And thank God for people like Kyle Rittenhouse being there.
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What gets me is to this day, and Charlie mentioned it as well, the president of the United States, the current president, and they will call him a white supremacist.
But what did he do?
He went out and defended a car dealership that was owned by a couple of Indian immigrants to this country working out there, defending it from crazy white Antifa nut jobs who are trying to burn it down in the middle of the night, was asked to be there, and they'll lie about him.
And if they could do it to him, they can do it to all of your families.
And by the way, and the one thing that Elijah just said, not only was it sanctioned, but over at Human Events, what we did, we were able to uncover that the FBI that night, and this was unbeknownst to you, unbeknownst to anybody who was there that evening, they had an eye in the sky that very evening watching and surveilling Kyle and every single piece of it in high definition video.
And when we got the low definition video, we made a request and we said, could the FBI please give us the high definition video?
Uncovering FBI Surveillance Secrets00:08:53
And they told us it was lost.
They told us they couldn't find it.
They knew for 14 months.
They knew for 14 months that this was an attack on a young man, and they kept it hidden because they didn't want that narrative to come out until Turning Point USA and Human Events Daily uncovered the video and we showed the world the truth.
So Kyle, you have any plans to sue some media companies soon?
I don't know, Charlie.
I don't know, but some accountability's coming.
I'd be on the lookout.
Accountability will be coming.
Now, you had some conversations with Nicholas Sandman, didn't you?
Yeah, me and Nick talked for a little bit a couple weeks ago.
He would know a thing or two about suing a media company, that's for sure.
My turn may be next.
We don't know.
And so, Kyle, we have a whole audience and group of young people, and so many students looked at what you had to go through, going to trial every single day, having your whole life really kind of put into jeopardy.
What people don't know about Kyle Rittenhouse is, Kyle, you dropped out of high school to actually go support your family with an extra income, is that Kyle Rittenhouse was always looking to try to help people.
Is that nowhere in any intent could they have found in Kyle Rittenhouse anything but trying to always be the better person and the bigger person.
And Kyle, what was so amazing is throughout this entire process, you know, despite everything they threw at you, you know, you trusted it and you came out on top.
Talk a little bit about kind of just how that has developed you as a person over the last, you know, year, year and a half.
Well, it's helped me grow a lot.
It's helped me mature.
It's helped me mature.
Sorry, I'm new to this, if you can't tell.
But it's helped me mature.
We love you, Kyle.
Don't worry.
Give it up to Kyle Rittenhouse.
So it's helped me grow as a person.
And my mentors that have been in my life who's helped me through this, such as Dave, LT, Kenny, TC, guys who are here with me today protecting me.
They've helped guide me and make me the person I am today.
And I'm so thankful for them.
And Kyle, you know, being able to hang out with you and spend time with you, I'm always most fascinated by the stories of people that become well known that don't want to be well known.
That's always a very interesting thing.
And how you handle that and how you manage that.
And so for so many people in this room, you know, they want to be social media influencers or whatever, you just wanted to do the right thing.
And by wanting to do the right thing, you got thrown into the midst of all of this.
And while the case was proceeding and unfolding, talk about kind of what happened off camera a little bit.
Talk about the nights.
Talk about the meetings.
I mean, it was going through your head that the other side has the power that if they convinced 12 human beings, I could spend the rest of my life in jail for doing nothing wrong and defending myself.
How did you get through all of that?
I mean, that's enough to break most people.
Well, Charlie, those were really long days, especially during trial.
And there was a lot of prep that went into this, spending three, four hours at Mark Richards in a phenomenal attorney's office going through prep and preparing for trial and going home.
And during trial, I got maybe like six hours of sleep, the entire thing would have felt like.
But just trying to find something to decompress, if that's playing video games like Call of Duty Vanguard or.
Now, Kyle, they tried to hold that against you.
How dare you play Call of Duty?
Yeah, they tried to use that.
Oh, here plays Call of Duty.
See, they're going to try to indict all of you.
Yeah, right.
So you're not alone, pal.
How dare you?
So who plays Modern Warfare and who plays Cold War Vanguard?
I think it's about 50-50.
50-50.
I haven't played Call of Duty in like 10 years.
So it's like...
Well, I know what we're doing today, Elijah.
Charlie.
I want to say this real quick, Charlie.
He says he wants to go one-on-one.
He would beat me.
It's like, but this is what these people do, these hard authoritarian psychopaths.
They themselves are void of humanity.
They don't have a conscience.
So when they attack people like Kyle, they try to rob him of his humanity as well.
Whenever they target anybody, because they hate themselves, they pour that hatred on other people and they try and suck the life out of another human being in order to prove a political point.
And Kyle's a human.
This guy is a normal American, like growing up in the United States of America.
This has to be said.
He's not this crazy monster that's been painted in the media that is just bloodthirsty for like black and brown people.
Like we, we got to keep saying this because they keep saying this over and over again.
But I just wanted to make that point.
He's real.
He's not a hologram.
He's an actual person with a real heart and a real conscience.
So please support Kyle.
Yeah, you know, Kyle, I find it funny.
You and I have had a lot of conversations.
People don't know this, but you're a bit of like a meme lord yourself.
A lot of the memes we share, we can't put them on the street.
Wait, wait, Eliza.
They're so, no, they're so funny.
They're so, no, they're so funny.
And I love it.
And I love the humor in you.
And I love that about you.
And I find it just so interesting that this is when we talked with each other.
You know what the media was mad about?
Check this out.
I was contacted by journalists, by people, and they were mad that we humanized him.
That he looked like a human.
They couldn't control the narrative to make him look like a monster.
That, oh, he's an 18-year-old?
How dare he like pretty girls?
Any pretty girls in here that would date Kyle?
All right, see, there you go.
There you go.
Someone's got a kiss me sign over there.
I don't know.
He's around.
But I met, I met, you know, it's crazy because they're going, how dare you in the media make this look like he's a regular 18-year-old guy?
And it's like, yeah, because all the lies, all the slander, and all of the media coordination could not hide the truth that Kyle is an innocent young man, that he did not do anything wrong, and that he is just a normal person.
We took away that power from them.
And Kyle took it away by showing the world who he really was.
Well, and it's even a step further.
It's not only he didn't do anything wrong.
He did everything right.
That if, and we must say that he did everything right that night is that Kyle acted properly and morally and lawfully when someone tried to kill him.
Kyle did the right thing.
And he should be applauded for it.
They love you so much, they don't even know what to chant, dude.
There's just chants everywhere.
You know, we got let's go Brandon over here.
We love Kyle over here and USA.
We're all on the things.
So I'll spill, Kyle, I hope you don't mind if I spill a little bit of tea.
If it's okay, if it's okay.
No, no, no.
Because so people knew that when I was covering the trial day in, day out, minute in, minute out, the whole thing, you know, following on Twitter, doing epic day-long Twitter threads.
Well, you're up there obviously experiencing it.
I hope you know how many people you had supporting you during all of that.
And thank you to everybody out here.
Thank you guys so much.
But and I haven't ever actually had the opportunity to say this publicly as anybody, but I did actually get a very brief phone call with you.
I wouldn't say it was that brief.
It was about a two-hour conversation.
No, but it was the Saturday, right?
It was the Saturday before the trial closed.
And I'm sitting there and it's Saturday night.
It's late.
And I'm thinking, man, this is the night, the Saturday night before you are going to be put before a jury of 12, and they are going to judge you.
They are going to stand and judge you.
And we were talking and we built up.
We actually shared a love of when I was up in Kenosha, I got really involved in the local cuisine.
Waiving Rights Before Judgment00:14:49
I don't know if you guys know the best food in all of Wisconsin is Wisconsin cheese curds.
I kid you not.
If there's anyone out here who knows, no, you know what I'm talking about.
You know exactly what I'm talking about, right?
And I'm a Philly guy, but I'm telling you, man, I'm cheese curds.
Oof, Mars Cheese Castle, am I right?
Mars Cheesecastle all the way.
But then Kyle asked me, asked me a question.
All right, what do you ask me?
He goes, Jack, I know you're working with Turning Point USA.
I say, yeah, yeah, we're doing the podcast.
We're doing the show.
We got your back.
We're covering everything.
He said, well, I know you're doing an event in Phoenix, Arizona, down right around Christmas time.
And he said, I think I want to be down at Phoenix at that time.
And I'm thinking, but Kyle, but they're about to judge you.
He said, no, he's not even thinking about that.
You know what he asked me?
He said, Jack, I would love to come to America Fest and be with all the people there.
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So Kyle, one of the most moving moments, and I'll be honest, one of the most surprising moments for so many people is when you waived your Fifth Amendment rights and you decided to take the stand.
And this is an unusual thing in court proceedings.
Many lawyers advise against it.
And however, in your case, it seemed like the trial was going so well and this seemed to be a big risk.
Why did you decide to take the stand?
Because it was your decision in the end to wake up that day and say, I'm going to go and have this scumbag binger and lunchbox, right?
Try to try to destroy my life.
Talk about that.
Well, I wanted to tell my story.
I wanted to tell the world what happened in Kenosha, the truth, unlike what the prosecution tried to do.
That's why I took the stand.
And Kyle, talk about the prep that goes into that.
But I mean, I can't imagine what's going through your mind that if I say one misstatement, they're going to capitalize on it immediately.
Just knowing what Binger's going to ask me, just being three steps ahead of him at all times.
And also, though, he was, the thing that shocked us, Elijah and Drew as well, and you guys can get in on this, he was attacking you for trying to say that you're waiving your rights.
I mean, what's going through your head at this point?
You're like, I know law better than you, and I didn't even finish high school at the time.
So I'm sitting there on the stand, and then he starts asking about my post-arrest silence.
And I'm like, I'm not an attorney, but I don't think you could go down there.
I don't think you could ask somebody that.
And the judge came in.
And by the way, I wish we had more judges.
Don't get brazen with me.
Schrader?
Schrader?
Judge Schrader.
And by the way, it's not even a right versus left thing.
He just loved the law and the Constitution.
In fact, he was appointed by a left-wing governor, if I'm not mistaken.
He's supported by a Democrat.
Yeah, and he just, he appreciated the law.
He appreciated the process.
And then he went after Binger for like two minutes saying, I don't think you are.
Kyle, do you think they were trying to throw your case?
Absolutely.
I think so.
I thought they knew they were losing and they wanted a mistrial.
My favorite part of it, though, was don't get brazen with me.
Kyle, an interesting thing.
So if you guys know this, Kyle, we were talking one time.
I was nervous.
I was nervous for you, genuinely.
You know I was.
And I told you, I was like, I don't trust the justice system.
Do we really trust the justice system right now in this country?
No.
What about accountability for 2020?
What about accountability for the rioters at Kenosha, right?
Am I right?
We got to hold those people accountable.
There was another young teenage guy.
You asked me this.
You're like, didn't a guy in Kenosha point a gun at you and pull the trigger?
And I was like, yeah.
And I was like, where's the justice for that guy?
He still hasn't been charged, has he, Elijah?
No, he has not.
And I asked you, I go, I go, Kyle, I'm nervous.
I've seen what's happened here.
And I was like, I don't know if you're going to win.
Even if all the evidence is there, I'm just nervous for you.
Do you think you're going to win?
What did you tell me?
I don't remember, Elijah.
Oh, you told me you were going to win.
You said you said we're going to win.
We're going to have all the charges dropped and I'm going to walk free.
And you promised me that.
And guys, he is walking free.
Can we just give it up for Kyle Rittenhouse, a free man walking, sitting right here in front of us, showing us that justice is still alive in the great country of the United States of America?
So Drew, you testified.
And so Kyle's team reached out to you, if I'm not mistaken, or the prosecution.
Walk us through all of that.
And then also just tell the audience, what were you doing that night in Kenosha?
Yes, I'm going to say, Kyle.
So Drew, did you get our little message from your website we sent you trying to get in contact with you?
I got a lot of messages from a lot of people.
From Kyle's side, the prosecutors, everyone wanted to talk.
But here's the thing.
The truth had to be testified to.
Binger's an idiot.
Let's just say that publicly, okay?
I don't think he had any idea who he was dealing with.
But when you're dealing with someone that has the absolute truth on their side, they're unbeatable.
The only thing you can do is lie, right?
So the reason why I decided to testify.
It's not because I have some political bias.
It's because I was obviously there watching everything unfold in the trial, watching the mainstream media lie about Kyle, watching the prosecution peddle those lies in a so-called trial in the so-called justice system.
I knew that I not only had the eyewitness testimony, but I also had a lot of body cam footage.
Okay, there was body cam footage that the entire world didn't know existed of Kyle Rittenhouse de-escalating a situation with rioters outside of CarSource 2.
Remember that?
I do it.
And by the way, she was black.
And thank God for all these independent journalists, such as Elijah and Drew.
So give a round of applause to them for helping set me free because without these independent journalists, we would not be here today.
And Julio Rojas as well.
And I just wanted to end with this is this is what needs to be done because obviously thinking about this decision, thinking about should I do this?
Should I go forward?
Obviously, I'm a born-again Christian.
Jesus Christ receives all glory and honor to God for all of this.
But watching all this unfold, I mean, this is what I keep hearing, Charlie, in this particular conference, event, whatever you want to call it is.
It's no longer left or right.
It's good versus evil now.
Okay.
And so this is what people need to understand.
And I want to talk to people that identify on the left right now.
You may think you're on the right side of history, but that day is going to come where it's about, no, you either just obey or not.
And that's where we're heading.
So I want to just say this.
I hope what happened in this trial, the part that I was able to play and testify to the truth.
I hope that inspires every single one of you out here right now.
Because listen, there's so many people out here.
They're afraid to get canceled, afraid to get called a white supremacist, a racist, afraid to do the right thing.
But that's exactly what we need to do.
If you get put into position where nothing but fear fills your hearts, know that the opposite of that is to just do what is right and let God take care of the rest.
And look where we are right now.
Hey, Kyle, I just wanted to say this, though.
So that's pretty good advice.
Here's also some good advice too.
You and I met before in Kenosha before all this happened.
And I was talking to you.
You didn't know.
I had a gas mask on.
I was in disguise.
But while I was there, I was trying to talk to you and there was rioters trying to get out of the property.
What was our first interaction?
Like, what did you say to me?
I just got pepper sprayed.
Can you now leave?
Yeah, he's like, can you now leave?
And when a guy with an AR-15 in a riot asks you to leave, you probably should.
That's the other advice.
And guess what?
I didn't go for his gun, so I'm still here.
That's good advice as well, too.
That's good advice.
Don't try to steal a man's gun.
It's true, Story, but I'm going to say this.
I met this man, this young guy.
I met him, and his concern was, please leave, because he needed to go administer aid to people who had pepper sprayed him, people who were tearing down the city.
He went out and told me, you need to go because I need to go help other people.
And that shows character.
That shows restraint.
He didn't point a gun at me.
He didn't threaten me.
He didn't say anything.
Hey, I have a gun.
You need to leave because of that.
He just said, hey, I have a mission and I'm going to accomplish that mission.
I'm going to do that.
And that's what I saw that night.
That's what I saw the rest of the night.
That's what I saw through the trial is a man who accomplished his mission that he stood up to the challenges that were before him.
You stood up to people, Kyle.
You stood up to evil.
You stood up and defended yourself and you did what was right, like you said.
And all of us in this room know, I know that you didn't want to be in that situation.
You told me that, right?
You said, I didn't, now looking back on it, you said on the show, you're like, I'd say being 2020.
Yeah, I know, but I'm saying, I'm looking at it and I'm going, But right now, guys, we're in a tough spot in this country.
Are we not?
In a very tough spot.
The most fair and free election in American history, COVID, the BLM rights, lots of stuff going on that went out there.
And we have challenges, censorship, everything.
But let Kyle be an example that even if you're young, even if you're 17, even if all the odds are against you, that every institution is against you, that the truth will set you free.
And that Kyle stood on the truth.
He lives by the truth.
He accomplished his mission.
And he's here today because he was brave enough to stand up to so many evil people.
And Kyle, I respect you.
I've come to appreciate you and love you as a friend.
But most importantly, I look up to you honestly and genuinely as a man who would do something and would step up to the plate when very few would.
I want to tell you that here.
Thank you, Elijah.
Hey, everybody, Charlie Kirk here.
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I believe, Kyle, firmly God had his hand all over you that night and also throughout the trial.
I really believe that.
Kyle, talk a little bit about that.
And has faith played a role in this journey for you?
Absolutely, God.
I believe God's been with me every day through the trial and every day since August 25th.
He's helped me get through this.
I pray to him every single night.
I pray for strength.
I never prayed for an acquittal.
I just prayed for the strength to get through whatever happens to me.
It's beautiful.
And I would, you know, and Kyle, when you came over and we sat down with Charlie, we did the interview before, you know, and I said this to you that I don't know if people realize this, but, you know, I was in the military.
I've had some weapons training.
I've worked with, you know, SEALs and everything else.
And I had guys reaching out to me saying, they watched that video and they said, I don't know if I could do that.
I don't know if I could do what he did.
And I said, and I said, well, Kyle, what kind of training did you have on that AR-15?
You've been through courses, were you certified?
So Kyle, tell us, what kind of training did you have with the AR-15 prior to that evening?
I didn't have much training with that rifle.
I probably put maybe like 500 rounds through it, but I'm not like a rifle expert or something.
Patriots Defend Self-Defense Truth00:08:58
I just knew how to like the basics of it.
Advanced training whatsoever prior to that evening.
And when I heard that, I said that was divine providence that kept you alive through that night and I firmly believe I I do firmly believe that it was also divine providence that brought people like Drew and Elijah Bg on the scene Julio, everyone who was there that night to be there, to get that footage of what happened out,
because then that carried forward so that God could be with you in the courthouse and then in that jury room where those 12 they were touched by that truth and they were touched by your actions and touched by the words that you gave on that stand, that you walked up there and said, I was not attacking people, I was defending my home.
Just wanted to give a quick shout out to Richie Mcguinis as well from Daily Caller and Jorge Ventura and the work that they did.
I know they're not up here, but but but Richie Man, with the testimony of Richie, of course yeah, and and and, just just being there, I mean i'm telling you, if God had not intervened, I like I swear the only other person who has as many cameras chasing them in a moment is Kim Kardashian.
Okay, this guy had.
This guy had it.
He had the FBI and 4K.
I mean i'm jealous, right.
So it's like.
I mean he had every angle, every sidestep, people from all different political leanings.
I've never seen any event in in history of that that was getting that little mainstream media coverage, that had that many angles and that many pieces of evidence.
God's got your back Kyle, and he's got you destined for mighty things in this world.
This is just the beginning.
Now so many people ask Kyle and we touched on this a little bit earlier so you won, you're free.
Um, and to the great disgust of so many different people, to give an idea of what Kyle still has to go through, is that the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee congressman, Jerry Nadler, want to talk about this Kyle, the one that's calling for a DOJ investigation against me and completely lied on that twitter post.
Yeah, that guy, oh god.
So what are your thoughts on that Kyle?
You get free by a jury, your peers, and I would urge him to go back, watch the trial and look at the facts before he tweets.
That's the same Jerry Nadler that told Fleckus that, and the penguins.
It's a myth.
So Jerry Nadler is calling into a do for a DOJ investigation into and the DOJ already investigated me, i'm sure they did and you got exonerated.
But what is more important and Kyle, you can comment on this at you know, at your choosing, the rest of the panel, I know Will, will love to talk about this is that they keep on mentioning this on tv in a really bizarre way.
It's almost like an incantation, Kyle Rittenhouse, who brought a gun across state lines.
It's like, wait a second.
Why are they saying that?
Why are they saying that, Kyle?
You know that's a good question.
I have no idea, but it's just false.
That gun was in Wisconsin and it never left Wisconsin.
So I don't know what they're saying by that.
Well, and so it's not obviously it's a lie, but the more important point is that we know everybody that they want to come for our guns.
And we know that they're going to try to pass federal legislation and try to build consensus saying, you know what the real problem is?
This is what they say in Chicago all the time.
Anyone from Chicago, by the way?
Oh, 14 of you.
Welcome.
So I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago.
They say all of Chicago gun violence, 825 homicides a year, is because of state lines from Indiana gun laws.
What they're trying to do, everybody, is destroy states that have allowed themselves to have better gun laws and then be able to have federal gun registration.
Kyle, do you think the Second Amendment plays any role into this?
Do you think that there was broader things at play?
Well, I think my trial was an example of them trying to come after our Second Amendment rights, a right to defend ourselves and trying to take our weapons.
And Drew or Elijah, comment on this.
Talk about how they wanted this to try to be a reference point to try to build a consensus for federal gun laws.
Well, first, I'd like to say this.
We were only happened to be able to cover Kenosha, the riot, so quickly because we were in Chicago covering another riot as the other riot broke out.
And I have a confession.
I want to make this to you here.
I had to cross state lines to get to Kenosha as well.
Yeah, I know.
It's crazy.
People do that.
People do it, guys.
How many people cross state lines to come to America Fest?
How dare you?
Oh, wow.
Oh, no.
They're all on the list now.
How many of you carry weapons across state lines?
A lot of hands went up.
And to show you really what that even means, guys, like Kenosha, it's like a 45-minute car ride out of central Chicago, right?
We're not talking about anything crazy out there.
But honestly, what I knew about this, and people might not know this, but I've told you, is, you know, I had just saw my mom pass away right before this had happened.
And when I saw Joseph Rosenbaum, you know, dying, I knew he was dying.
People were trying to save his life.
And, you know, and I looked at the situation and I saw the people that were shot.
I interviewed Kyle before.
I knew what was happening.
I knew it was clear-cut self-defense.
I didn't know if Kyle was a Democrat or Republican, what his politics were anything.
I just, I saw someone use self-defense.
But I called the CEO of my company, Tyler Cardin, and I said, hey, man, I'm walking back.
And I said, I said, dude, hey, something bad just happened.
And I'm going to let you know that they're going to try to paint this as a lie.
They're going to say he was a white supremacist, but he shot white people.
And I knew what the narrative was going to be.
Can we not predict the narratives already?
Like, do we not know?
It's basically what the truth is.
Just do the opposite.
So if the truth is red, then they go blue.
And that says something.
Listen, I just, I want to say this is, you know, it wasn't just Kyle Rittenhouse on trial.
It was every single one of you.
You agree with that, Kyle?
100%.
It wasn't just Kyle on trial.
It's every single one of you.
Listen, if they can do this to Kyle, you're an adult now, but at the time, a kid that's just trying to live his life protecting his community.
Look at all the constitutional rights and freedoms that we get to live with here in the United States.
They're all being subverted.
Free speech, Second Amendment.
You go down the list.
Today it's Kyle Rittenhouse.
Tomorrow it's you.
This is why it's important for you guys to engage in your own communities, wherever you are, respectively.
This is why it's important to not be asleep.
This is why it's important to not just even rely on me, Elijah, Charlie Kirk, or Jack Pasilva.
This is you.
This is why we're here to get you guys engaged because today, yesterday it's Kyle.
Today it's you and every single one of you.
So I hope you guys are emboldened by what we've been able to do.
And you guys can take this, be inspired, and go to your own communities and do what needs to be done in the power of Christ.
So, Kyle, closing thoughts, you reflect back on this year, lessons you want to share with this audience, lessons for fellow 18-year-olds, 19-year-olds here.
You have lived a lifetime of pressure, stress, backlash, intimidation.
What do you have to share especially for the fellow members of your generation?
Always be humble and look at the positive in life and focus on today, not tomorrow.
You can only live one day at a time.
Amen.
And I'll just say one thing to the mainstream media that doesn't want us to have this panel, that doesn't want America Fest to exist, guess what?
We do exist.
We are going to be here.
And the next time that you try to turn another situation like Kyle Rittenhouse or someone else, you are going to have to go through Turning Point USA and Human Events and Drew Hernandez and Elijah Schaefer and Charlie Kirk and the Blaze and tens and thousands of patriots.
Every single one of us is going to be standing in your way.
And one last thing for all the media watching.
Kyle Rittenhouse is about to be super rich, so you better be careful about what you write.
God bless you guys.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for listening, everybody.
Email us your thoughts as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.
God bless you guys.
Speak to you soon.
For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk dot com.