Kyle Rittenhouse's next legal fight: Ex-lawyers want $2million in bond money

Kyle Rittenhouse is a free man after he was acquitted of murder in Kenosha on Friday, but the next legal battle could involve his former lawyers who are now demanding to be repaid their portion of the $2million in bond money.

Rittenhouse, 18, was acquitted by jurors on all charges – two counts of homicide, one count of attempted homicide for wounding a third man, and two counts of recklessly endangering safety – after killing two people during protests marred by arson, rioting and looting on August 25, 2020, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

Two attorneys who helped raise the bond money to get Rittenhouse released from jail after his arrest last year now want their cash back, but the 18-year-old Antioch, Illinois resident’s family is refusing.

John Pierce of the Los Angeles-based law firm Pierce Bainbridge represented Rittenhouse at the time that his firm wrote a $2million check springing him from jail in late November of last year.

Pierce was brought onto the Rittenhouse legal team by famed Atlanta defamation lawyer Lin Wood.

Together, Wood and Pierce formed a nonprofit called the #FightBack Foundation.

Using the social media hashtag #FightBack, they managed to raise around $2million, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Wood then left the Rittenhouse legal team in order to help then-President Donald Trump contest the election results in court.

The Rittenhouse family then fired Pierce in February. The family has accused both Lin and Pierce of diverting money meant to help Rittenhouse.

By law, bond should be returned to whoever posted it after the trial is over. In this case, it appears to be Pierce’s law firm.

But Wood claims that his #FightBack Foundation is the one that raised the money and thus should get the cash.

Former child actor Ricky Schroder and My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell have also been credited with making donations toward Rittenhouse’s legal fund.

Mark Richards, the criminal defense lawyer who represented Rittenhouse at trial, believes a legal battle is brewing over the bond money.

‘I suspect there will be a fight over that,’ Richards told Kenosha News.

‘John Pierce is the person who posted the bond. All that money was raised on behalf of Kyle.

‘Lin Wood and FightBack say they are entitled to it.’

Richards added: ‘There was half a million dollars I think that came directly from [Kyle’s mother] Wendy Rittenhouse from money she raised.

‘So there’s going to be a fight over that, and I’m just thankful there will be a fight over it.’

Could Kyle Rittenhouse SUE Biden? Kenosha teen ‘has a defamation case against president for calling him a white supremacist’ before murder trial says expert who helped Nicholas Sandmann reach settlement

Rittenhouse, who was found not guilty on all charges Friday in a controversial trial that has divided the nation, may possibly have a defamation case against President Joe Biden over reference to ‘white supremacists’ in a video, experts said. 

The video was posted in a September 2020 tweet, which could now possibly cause Biden legal trouble, according to lawyer Todd McMurtry, who helped Nicolas Sandmann sue news outlets for upward of $800 million for defamation. 

The now-19-year-old famously settled with CNN and The Washington Post after they deemed him a racist when he was seen in viral video footage wearing a MAGA hat.

Biden, 79, tweeted on September 30, 2020: ‘There’s no other way to put it: the President of the United States [Donald Trump] refused to disavow white supremacists on the debate stage last night.’ 

Although Trump was not asked specifically about Rittenhouse’s actions on the debate stage at the time, the 18-year-old was featured in the tweeted video holding a rifle in the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020.

‘What you take from this tweet is that Kyle Rittenhouse was using his rifle and engaging in white supremacist misconduct, so it’s actionable,’ McMurtry told Fox News on Friday after Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges against him.

The lawyer admitted the 18-year-old was ‘not necessarily going to win’ but it is ‘actionable.’ 

Civil rights lawyer Leo Terrell warned Biden on Fox News that the now-president couldn’t justify his remarks and that he’s ‘going to have to pay for and justify’ his actions. 

Biden released a statement following the verdict Friday, saying: ‘While the verdict in Kenosha will leave many Americans feeling angry and concerned, myself included, we must acknowledge that the jury has spoken.’ 

The president also said he knew ‘we’re not going to heal our country’s wounds overnight’ but he remains ‘committed’ to doing ‘everything in my power to ensure that every American is treated equally.’ 

Vice President Kamala Harris also told reporters that the ‘verdict speaks for itself.’

‘It’s clear, there’s still a lot more work to do,’ she said before boarding Air Force One in Columbus, Ohio. 

McMurtry also argues that Sandmann and Rittenhouse have similar cases: both were minors when the event occurred and were private figures at the time. 

Although household names now, without being public figures or celebrities beforehand, Rittenhouse and Sandmann only have to prove Biden’s negligence, instead of a higher burden of proof actual malice, the lawyer said.

Sandmann has also encouraged Rittenhouse to sue media outlets for defamation as well. 

‘The parallels between me and Rittenhouse are impossible not to draw,’ Sandmann wrote in an op-ed for DailyMail.com. ‘The attacks on Kyle came from the national news media, just as they came for me.

‘So every single label on Kyle as a ‘terrorist’, ‘white supremacist’, and ‘school shooter’ in the streets of Kenosha, will only ever be withdrawn after the damage has been done.

‘So, if Kyle is prepared to take on another burden in his early life, with the acceptance that it might result in nothing, I answer, give it a shot and hold the media accountable,’ he wrote for DailyMail.com. 

Sandmann sued CNN after it covered the viral moment of him staring down a Native American playing traditional music on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial while the teen wore a MAGA hat.   

He also won a lawsuit against the Washington Post in June 2020 for an undisclosed amount.  

Sandmann told Sean Hannity on Fox News Channel that he is still currently suing six media outlets and the proceedings are ongoing.  

McMurtry thinks Rittenhouse may have a case against MSNBC.  

‘I think Rittenhouse may be able to do the same thing when commentators on MSNBC say he’s a school shooter, a white supremacist, even a vigilante.

‘Lots of media people said he was a murderer, and I think that’s actionable because that suggests that he committed a crime, and we now know that he didn’t. When you just throw this stuff out there, you take risks.’ 

Rittenhouse’s mother Wendy also spoke to Hannity shortly after her son cried on the stand. 

When asked about Biden referring to son as a white supremacist, she said: ‘When I saw that, I was in shock, I was angry. President Biden doesn’t know my son.’ 

She later claimed that Biden ‘did it for the votes’ and that he ‘defamed’ her son.  

She also admitted her son ‘had nightmares from this’ and has ‘a lot of healing to do.’   

Rittenhouse was acquitted by jurors on all charges – two counts of homicide, one count of attempted homicide for wounding a third man, and two counts of recklessly endangering safety – after killing two people during protests marred by arson, rioting and looting on August 25, 2020, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

Rittenhouse will also appear on Fox Monday to talk with Tucker Carlson and it was revealed that Fox Nation filmed a documentary during his trial that will air in December.  

‘Self defense is not illegal’: Kyle Rittenhouse says jury came to ‘correct verdict’ in Tucker Carlson documentary made DURING trial 

 Carlson revealed Friday that there was a Fox Nation crew filming for a Tucker Carlson Original documentary that will appear on the streaming platform in December. 

He will also sit down with Rittenhouse this Monday during Fox News Channel primetime for the young man’s first televised interview following his not guilty verdict.

But Rittenhouse’s lawyer, Mark Richards, told CNN he ‘did not approve of that,’ referring to the film crew being with Rittenhouse during the trial, and even ‘threw them out of the room several times.’ 

‘I don’t think a film crew is appropriate for something like this, but the people who were raising the money to pay for the experts and to pay for the attorneys were trying to raise money and that was part of it, so I think, I don’t want to say an evil but a definite distraction was part of it,’ he told Chris Cuomo Friday. 

‘I didn’t approve of it but I’m not always the boss.’

Rittenhouse, 18, was found not guilty Friday of all charges against him after a highly publicized, contentious trial that has split the nation. 

He smiled in the backseat of an SUV as he was driven away from the Kenosha courthouse after being declared not guilty, later commenting that ‘self-defense is not illegal.’

Tucker himself referred to the verdict Friday as ‘a wonderful moment,’ praising the jury and insisting ‘all of us should be celebrating.’ 

The film crew and upcoming documentary raise questions about just what influence Carlson – one of the nation’s most-watched cable news hosts and highly influential conservative commentator – had on Rittenhouse in the lead-up to and during the trial, and whether or not Rittenhouse was or will be paid for the documentary. 

‘It’s the stuff that keeps you up at night, like… once you finally do get to sleep, your dreams are about what happened and you’re waking up in a dark, cold sweat,’ Rittenhouse begins in the trailer for the Fox Nation documentary that was posted Friday mere hours after the verdict.

‘You had dreams about what happened?’ someone can be heard asking Rittenhouse.

‘Every single night,’ the teen says. ‘… I’m alive, but what would have happened, like what if I wasn’t alive, or what if I did let Mr. [Joseph] Rosenbaum steal my gun?’

Rittenhouse faced life in prison if convicted on the most serious charge for using an AR-style semi-automatic rifle to kill two men – Anthony Huber and Rosenbaum – and wound a third, Gaige Grosskreutz. 

‘Almost every outcome is either me getting seriously injured or hurt or dead,’ Rittenhouse says in the trailer. 

‘Those are just the dreams I have on a daily basis,’ he adds, with the preview then cutting to footage of the verdict being read on Friday. 

The teen had collapsed in tears and hugged his attorney as the jury in his double murder trial acquitted him of all charges after four days of deliberation and weeks of testimony. The verdict came in at 12:15 p.m. Friday in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  

‘The jury reached the correct verdict,’ Rittenhouse told Fox News.

‘Self-defense is not illegal. I am glad they reached the correct verdict.’ 

He added: ‘It’s been a tough journey but we made it through. We made it through the hard part.’    

The vindicated teen will sit down with Fox News Channel for his first TV interview on Monday at 8 p.m. ET, Carlson said. 

Part of the interview will air that evening, while the remaining portion will be included in Tucker Carlson Originals, the news network said.

Carlson has publicly sympathized with Rittenhouse in the past. 

‘People in charge from the governor of Wisconsin on down refused to enforce the law,’ he said in August 2020.

‘They stood back and watched Kenosha burn. So are we really surprised this looting and arson accelerated to murder? How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?’ 

Outside the court on Friday, Richards said his client was feeling a ‘huge sense of relief’ at the verdict.

‘He is on his way home, he wants to get on with his life,’ Richards said. ‘He has to get on with his life the best he can.’ 

The lawyer said he believed the Rittenhouse family would move out of the area because of the number of death threats they have received.

‘Kyle is in counseling for PTSD. He doesn’t sleep at night,’ he said. 

‘Eventually some anonymity will come back to him but I don’t think he will continue to live in this area,’ his lawyer continued.

‘I think it’s too dangerous,’ Richards added. He explained that Rittenhouse has had security following him around the clock ‘since this happened.’ 

He said Rittenhouse and his team have received a ‘scary’ amount of death threats. 

Richards revealed that the defense team had two mock trials, one with Rittenhouse giving testimony and one without, and it was clear from the jury reaction that he had to go on the stand. 

He also said the jury deliberations were longer than any other case he had been involved in.

Now that Rittenhouse has been acquitted in the killings, his lawyer said the teen plans to become a nurse. 

Protesters march in NYC, looting erupts in Chicago and a RIOT is declared in Portland after Kyle Rittenhouse acquittal 

Police in Portland were forced to declare a riot after protestors turned violent, clashing with officers and smashing windows, as looting and protests erupted overnight in major cities following Kyle Rittenhouse’s not-guilty verdict. 

Masses of people gathered coast-to-coast Friday night to decry Rittenhouse’s acquittal in protests that reflected the divisiveness and anger stoked by the high-profile case.  

Hours after the verdict, police in Portland were forced to declare a riot after about 200 protestors turned destructive, damaging the front gate of the Multnomah County Justice Center and clashing with officers.   

‘Due to violent, destructive behavior by a significant part of the crowd, the gathering in downtown Portland is a RIOT. All participants are instructed to proceed away to the WEST,’ the Portland Police Bureau wrote on Twitter.

According to police, rioters threw objects at officers, smashed the rear window of a police car as well as windows from the city print shop and spray-painted the justice center building with graffiti that read ‘all cops are Kyles, no justice, no peace’, FOX 12 reported.  

Protestors were warned they would be arrested and were subject to force if they remained in the area. 

In total, one person was arrested for a warrant and five citations and 17 warnings were issued, FOX 12reported.   

The high profile case has riled the nation and led to Republican senator Tom Cotton to call on President Joe Biden to publicly apologize to Rittenhouse for suggesting the teen was a white supremacist during his presidential campaign. 

Biden tweeted a video where he featured an image of Rittenhouse alongside footage of white supremacist groups. 

‘Joe Biden needs to publicly apologize to Kyle Rittenhouse,’ Cotton tweeted.

In Chicago looters broke into a Neiman Marcus and a Game Stop on the Southside as protest went on in the downtown area.  

FOX 32 reported that 15 males stormed into a Mag Mile Neiman Marcus store, stealing merchandise and escaping in three separate vehicles. 

Overhead footage shows a South Side GameStop store with broken glass and merchandise on the ground, but police did not confirm if it was a looting, FOX 32 reported.

In New York City, hundreds gathered outside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to express their fury in the verdict as similar events unfolded across the nation.

Scores of people were seen marching through New York about 7 p.m. carrying signs that branded Rittenhouse as a ‘racist killer’ and the judicial system as biased.

‘The message is that when you stand up for black liberation, when you stand up for black lives, no matter who you are you automatically become a target of the system,’ Na-Lakan Masego, a protester, told CBS New York. 

Another speaker at the rally said the jury’s verdict was a blow to the entire nation.

‘By allowing Kyle Rittenhouse to walk away, this entire country – this government – has slapped us all in the face for the millionth time,’ he told the crowd. ‘We cannot allow them to continue treating us like we do not exist because they hurt us.’ 

Kenosha itself remained largely quiet as the night wore on.

A crowd of around 40 people gathered at the courthouse but remained peaceful. Many carried signs, including one saying ‘Welcome to AmeriKKKa.’

A middle-aged man, wearing a Stars and Stripes hat tried to provoke the crowd with a sign saying ‘Rittenhouse Rules!’ 

One young woman was arrested after she scrawled the words ‘White supremacists are cowards’ and ‘Judge Schroeder must go’ on the courthouse steps. She was referring to the trial’s judge, Bruce Schroeder.

Police, who had largely stayed out of sight as the crowd grew, swooped in quickly and hauled her away.