Twitter Reacts: Will Trump Pardon Wisconsin Shooter Kyle Rittenhouse?

With the launch of a website seeking funds for the release of Wisconsin shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, social media was abuzz about the possibility of a presidential pardon.

The 17-year-old is charged with killing two people and injuring a third during protests in Kenosha, Wisc., over police brutality. He faces charges as an adult in Wisconsin and awaits trial at a juvenile detention facility in his home state of Illinois.

The website, FreeKyleUSA, is soliciting funds for Rittenhouse’s defense. As of Wednesday, the campaign had raised about $64,000 toward its $2 million goal.

A Twitter profile created only this month, @freekyleusa, is selling shirts that read “self-defense is a right, not a privilege,” a direct quote from a Rittenhouse attorney, to support the fund-raising effort.

Reporting in the Washington Post finds the marketing campaign is unprecedented in legal defense. Jeff Neslund, a civil rights attorney in Chicago, told the Post it could influence a potential jury pool.

“You’re going to have a lot of people who want to be on this jury to help this kid because they have an agenda, so prosecutors will have a tougher time to do their homework to flush those people out,” he said.

Since his arrest in August, Rittenhouse has become something of a folk hero for the far right. The launch of the new website and Twitter handle prompted questions about a possible presidential pardon following Trump's recent string of controversial clemency grants.

A Twitter user going by the name Grande Capo, who identifies as a Black Lives Matter activist, stated from the handle @VolLinxx that Trump was planning on pardoning Rittenhouse.

The comment sparked a debate over whether the president has the authority to pardon someone convicted in state courts. The Constitution provides the president with the power to pardon only “offenses against the United States,” limiting his reach to federal crimes.

Apart from murder charges, Rittenhouse faces an additional charge related to the possession of a dangerous weapon. His attorney, however, argues that state law in Wisconsin runs afoul of the constitutional provision regarding militias, NBC News reported.

Rittenhouse is also accused of transporting weapons across state lines, which would fall under federal law. That in theory could be an avenue for a potential presidential pardon, though presumably Rittenhouse would still be tried at the state level on the other charges.

Trump has been largely silent on the issue, speaking usually only in defense of his decision to send the National Guard to Kenosha to quiet the protests. The Rittenhouse issue, however, was included under the #PardonGate thread on Twitter.

On Tuesday, the president granted pardons to George Papadopoulos, a former campaign advisor who pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with senior Russian officials, and Alex van der Zwaan, a Dutch lawyer who was also convicted in connection with the probe into Russian election interference.

Full pardons were also granted to four members of the private security firm Blackwater, who received in one case a life sentence for opening fire on a crowded square in Iraq. The shooting left 14 Iraqi civilians dead and wounded 17 others in an incident that tarnished the U.S. reputation over the war in Iraq. The founder of Blackwater, Erik Prince, is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

In late November, Trump pardoned Michael Flynn, a former national security advisor. Flynn was at the Oval Office over the weekend making the case for martial law to extend the president’s term despite his election defeat.