The attorney who defended Kyle Rittenhouse at trial has slammed CNN and MSNBC's coverage of the case, accusing the networks of biased and misleading coverage.
Lawyer Mark Richards told "News Nation anchor Ashleigh Banfield on Friday that while he's 'not a big Fox guy,' he was furious with coverage of the case he saw on CNN and MSNBC.
'It makes me angry that they can't take the time to at least get the generic, basic facts correct, because it didn't fit into the story they wanted to tell,' he said.
'Much of the coverage at the beginning was wrong, the trial proved that. But just in the past two weeks -- people might not believe this, but I watch MSNBC, CNN,' he said.
Lawyer Mark Richards (above) said on Sunday that while he's 'not a big Fox guy,' he was furious with coverage of the case he saw on CNN and MSNBC
The attorney who defended Kyle Rittenhouse at trial has slammed CNN and MSNBC's coverage of the case, accusing the networks of biased and misleading coverage
'When I hear Joe Scarborough saying that my client shot his gun 60 times, that's wrong,' said Richards.
Scarborough, the host of MSNBC's Morning Joe, made a series of inaccurate statements about Rittenhouse as the trial wrapped up last week.
'He had his mother drive him across state lines, he appointed himself a militia member. He goes around and he ends up unloading -- what? -- 60 rounds, kills 2 people, wounds a third person...' Scarborough said on-air.
In reality, Rittenhouse fired some eight shots, and he testified that he drove himself the 20 miles from his home in Antioch to Kenosha. He is not accused of being a member of any militia or extremist group.
Scarborough later took to Twitter to say he misspoke.
'This is obviously wrong to anyone following the case for more than a minute. I meant to say he unloaded his rounds in about 60 seconds. Thanks for pointing this out,' he tweeted.
Richards also slammed a 'guest host on Joy Reid' who said Rittenhouse drove four hours to go to a riot with his AR-14 rifle.
'That's wrong, it's false,' remarked Richards.
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MSNBC's Joe Scarborough (left) wrongly claimed that Rittenhouse fired 60 rounds, while CNN anchor Don Lemon (right) characterized the case as an example of white vigilantism
During the interview, Banfield also asked Richards about a guest column that Covington Catholic teen Nick Sandmann wrote for DailyMail.com, advising Rittenhouse to sue media outlets for libel.
Richards explained that as a criminal attorney, he would not normally advise clients on civil actions, and said that no such actions were filed by Rittenhouse during the trial.
'When I got involved in this case and there were a couple of other prominent lawyers who were involved and trying to make some calls and I said, "Look, all of your riches and civil lawsuits are going nowhere if this kid is found guilty of anything,"' he said. 'So let's worry about what's important.'
Rittenhouse, 18, was acquitted of all charges on Friday after the jury accepted that he acted in self-defense in shooting three men, killing two, in confrontations during anti-police
