Kyle Rittenhouse backtracks after claiming he won't vote for Trump, calls earlier criticism "ill-informed"
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Just hours after he claimed he wouldn't vote for former President Donald Trump in November, conservative activist Kyle Rittenhouse backtracked on Friday, calling his previous comments "ill-informed and unproductive."
"I'm 100% behind Donald Trump and encourage every gun owner to join me in helping send him back to the White House," Rittenhouse wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Rittenhouse has become an outspoken supporter of gun rights since he was found not guilty of all charges for shooting three people, killing two of them in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020 during protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Rittenhouse on Thursday posted on X that he would write in former Congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul.
In a subsequent video defending his choice, Rittenhouse said he could not support Trump because he is "bad on the Second Amendment."
Rittenhouse later shared a post from National Association for Gun Rights president Dudley Brown, who criticized Trump's support for a number of gun control measures during his first term, including raising the minimum age for gun purchases, expanded background checks, red flag laws that allow courts to order the seizure of firearms from someone deemed a danger to the public, and his administration's 2018 ban on bump stocks. The Trump administration's bump stock ban was overturned by the Supreme Court in June.
By Friday afternoon, Rittenhouse reversed course, and said he now plans to vote for Trump.
"Over the past 12 hours, I've had a series of productive conversations with members of the Trump's team and I am confident he will be the strong ally gun owners need to defend our Second Amendment rights," Rittenhouse wrote.
In 2021, Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges in the Kenosha shootings after his attorneys argued he was acting in self-defense. Trump has defended Rittenhouse's actions.
Rittenhouse has since gone on a series of speaking events promoting the right to bear arms, and selling a book on his trial.
"If you cannot be completely un-compromisable on the Second Amendment, I will not vote for you," Rittenhouse said of his decision not to vote for Trump. "We need champions for the Second Amendment or our rights would be eaten away and eroded each day."