Doesn't this sound like it should be illegal?
Unseen footage taken by the FBI from the night of the shootings in Kenosha, Wisconsin, surfaced on Tuesday during day one of Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial. According to Jack Posobiec of Human Events, the FBI allegedly had an HD version of the video but never told the Rittenhouse defense it existed.
In footage obtained by Human Events, the FBI appears to have taken aerial footage of Rittenhouse and the other participants involved in the shooting. Some of the footage, which is black-and-white and grainy, was shot from an FBI surveillance drone.
The FBI footage was shown to the jury during the testimony of one of the agents who captured the footage with the drone, FBI agent Brandon Craimin. However, the FBI allegedly testified, in private, that they were in possession of another version of the video in HD that they did not supply the members of the defense, according to Human Events. When asked for a copy of the tape, the FBI allegedly denied the defense’s request, saying that the video no longer existed, according to the report.
Something very suspicious is happening here. Why does it seem like the FBI is trying to help the prosecution?
After prosecutors questioned Craimin about the aerial footage, the defense cross-examined the witness and asked for the tail number of the FBI plane. However, prosecutors objected. Judge Bruce Schroeder then asked to sidebar the issue and discuss the aerial footage, and jurors left the courtroom.
The lead lawyer representing Rittenhouse, Mark Richards, then said he believed that there was other video footage, captured by the FBI, that was no longer available. Richards reportedly said it is “preposterous” that the FBI allegedly lost the footage.
Thomas Binger, the lead prosecutor, then told Schroeder in regard to the FBI’s plane footage, that “the federal government is not under our control.” Schroeder reportedly balked and said, “I beg your pardon,” interrupting Binger.
“I don’t get this,” Schroeder reportedly went on to say. “This is a criminal prosecution … if there is going to be cloak and dagger stuff. What’s going on?”
Schroeder later told prosecutors to call a different witness, and that they would come back to the issue of the plane.
There were three men shot, with two fatally wounded, during the night of the shooting: Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber, and Gaige Grosskreutz. The now 18-year-old Rittenhouse has been charged with six felonies and one misdemeanor, including first-degree intentional homicide. He has pleaded not guilty by self-defense.
Photo: Getty Images North America
KENOSHA, WISCONSIN - NOVEMBER 05: Kenosha Police officer ERICH WEIDNER testifies during the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse on November 5, 2021 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse is accused of shooting three demonstrators, killing two of them, during a night of unrest that erupted in Kenosha after a police officer shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back while being arrested in August 2020. Rittenhouse, from Antioch, Illinois, was 17 at the time of the shooting and armed with an assault rifle. He faces counts of felony homicide and felony attempted homicide. (Photo by Mark Hertzberg-Pool/Getty Images)