Kyle Rittenhouse ā acquitted November of charges relating to killing two men in self-defense during the Kenosha, Wisconsin, riots in 2020 ā revealed in a recent interview that his next legal action would be against his former lawyers.
Rittenhouse shared the news about his litigation plans during a Dec. 8 interview with BlazeTVās Glenn Beck, where the two discussed Rittenhouseās life before the shooting, his relationship with his mother, the lengthy legal battle behind his acquittal and his plans for the future.
Many expected Rittenhouse to sue the media for defamation after his acquittal for characterizing him as a white supremacist when the trial was still going on.
During the televised conversation, Beck asked Rittenhouse if he was āgonna sue the pants off the media.ā
In response to Beckās question, Rittenhouse said, āWeāre gonna focus on our one fight weāre dealing with right now, the guy whoās been lying, Lin Wood and John Pierce. Weāre gonna focus on them right now, but maybe down the line in the future ā we donāt know yet ā but weāre gonna focus on those liars.ā
Beck then asked Rittenhouse why was he seeking to go after Lin Wood first.
āI donāt want to talk much about , other than heās a liar, and heās putting my family in jeopardy,ā Rittenhouse replied. āWeāre getting death threats because of the lies heās saying. Itās just disturbing.ā
According to TheBlaze, Rittenhouse did not want to elaborate more on his dispute with the former lawyers.
The dispute between the Rittenhouse family and the attorneys stems from the question of who should receive the $2 million bond money that Wood and Pierce helped raise to get Rittenhouse out of jail, according to the New York Post.
Local outlet Kenosha News speculated that this conflict would eventually lead to a lawsuit in a November report.
Pierce, of the law firm Pierce Bainbridge, posted the bond for Rittenhouseās release from prison last year with a check from the firm, according to Kenosha News.
Wood argued that his FightBack Foundation gave the money for the bond, and therefore the money posted should go to him.
According to state law in Wisconsin, bonds after a trialās culmination are to be returned to the individual who formally posted it, which in this case seems to be Pierce, the Post reported.
After Rittenhouseās family dismissed Pierce in February and replaced him with Rittenhouseās present attorney Mark Richards, the family, according to the Post, has complained that Pierce and Wood ādiverted money meant to help Rittenhouse.ā
āI suspect there will be a fight over that,ā Richards said in November.
āJohn 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.ā
āThere was half a million dollars I think that came directly from Wendy Rittenhouse from money she raised,ā Richards added. āSo thereās going to be a fight over that, and Iām just thankful there will be a fight over it.ā
For his part, Wood has defended himself against accusations of bad faith, telling The Daily Beast in November that Rittenhouse had been given āmisinformation.ā He has also publicly threatened to sue Richards for defamation.
Pierce has also disputed the accusations, according to Insider.
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The Western Journal reached out to both Lin Wood and John Pierce for comment regarding the Rittenhouse accusation and received a lengthy reply from Wood.
In summary, Wood posits FightBack did everything it could to get Rittenhouse out in a timely manner and that, if they could give the funds to Rittenhouse, they would. However, legally, under the 501(c)(4) section of the federal income tax code, they cannot do so, according to Wood.
Also, Wood stressed that Pierce posted the bail on FightBackās behalf, meaning the money belongs to FightBack.
āThe law is clear that whoever posted the bail gets it back. FightBack posted the bail. We found out later that John Pierce, when he paid the bail, had listed that the money should be returned to him at his home address,ā Wood told The Western Journal.
āThatās not the law and it wasnāt the intent. He knew that it was coming to him as the agent to transfer to the clerk of court.ā
Furthermore, Wood claimed the team at FightBack tried to āraise the $2 million bail as quickly as could.ā
When it comes to returning the funds to Rittenhouse, Wood said he wanted to do so, but was told āwe cannot do that. It would violate 501(c)(4) rules.ā
The Western Journal has not yet received a comment from Pierce. This story will be updated if and when one is provided.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
