Rep. Greene files legislation without co-sponsors to award Rittenhouse a Congressional Gold Medal
14th District Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-rome, introduced a bill this week “to award a Congressional Gold Medal to Kyle H. Rittenhouse, who protected the community of Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a Black Lives Matter (BLM) riot on August 25, 2020.”
The Congressional Gold Medal is Congress’s highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions.
The bill has no co-sponsors, and is unlikely move forward.
Rittenhouse, 18, was acquitted on charges concerning an incident where he fatally shot two protesters in Kenosha and wounded a third.
“Kyle Rittenhouse deserves to be remembered as a hero who defended his community, protected businesses, and acted lawfully in the face of lawlessness. I’m proud to file this legislation to award Kyle Rittenhouse a Congressional Gold Medal,” Greene said in a statement published by The Hill.
The perception of the verdict in the Rittenhouse trial is starkly divided along partisan lines.
The Washington Post reported that a spokesperson for Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who offered Rittenhouse an internship, said “we are concerned that awarding Kyle with a Congressional Gold Medal will give him a big head during the internship with our office.”
Another Congressional representative Madison Cawthorn, R-north Carolina, has also offered Rittenhouse an internship following the verdict.
The Hill reported that former President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Rittenhouse visited him at his resort in Florida shortly after being found not guilty.
“He wanted to know if he could come over and say hello because he was a fan,” Trump said in an appearance late Tuesday on Fox News. “(He’s) really a nice young man and what he went through. .. That was prosecutorial misconduct.”
The former president and Rittenhouse flashed twin thumbs-up signs in a photo widely circulated on social media on Tuesday night.