CHICAGO (CBS) — Just hours after declaring in November that he would not vote for former President Donald Trump, conservative activist Kyle Rittenhouse on Friday walked back his previous comments, calling them “ill-informed and unproductive.”
“I stand behind Donald Trump 100% and encourage every gun owner to join me in returning him to the White House,” Rittenhouse wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Rittenhouse has since become an outspoken gun rights advocate he was acquitted of all charges for shooting three peopletwo of whom were killed in August 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during protests over the police killing of Jacob Blake.
Rittenhouse posted on X on Thursday that he would write to 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 at upholding the Second Amendment.”
Rittenhouse later shared a post from Dudley Brown, president of the National Association for Gun Rights, who criticized Trump’s support for a number of gun control measures during his first term, including raising the minimum age for purchasing weaponsextended background checks, laws that allow courts to order the confiscation of firearms of someone who is considered a danger to the public and his government 2018 Bump Stock BanThe Trump Administration’s Bump Stock Ban was overturned by the Supreme Court in June.
On Friday afternoon, Rittenhouse changed his mind and said he now plans to vote for Trump.
“Over the past 12 hours, I have had a number of productive conversations with members of Trump’s team and I am confident that 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 shooting after his attorneys argued he acted in self-defense. Trump has defended Rittenhouse’s actions.
Rittenhouse has since moved on a series of speaking engagements promoting the right to bear armsand sell a book about his trial.
“If you can’t be completely uncompromising 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 are going to be eroded and eroded every day.”
