CNN’s Toobin: ‘Good news’ for Rittenhouse is he’s ‘not on trial for being an idiot’

CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen standing trial for multiple felonies following a shooting in Kenosha, Wis., last year, is fortunate it is not crime in America to “be an idiot.” 

“What kind of idiot 17-year-old gets a giant gun and goes to a riot? He has no license, he has no training, he thinks he’s going to scrub graffiti off with his AR-15? I mean, the stupidity of this. What could possibly go wrong? Well a lot went wrong,” Toobin said Wednesday during CNN’s coverage of the Rittenhouse murder trial, which is taking place this week. “The good news for Kyle Rittenhouse is that he’s not on trial for being an idiot, he’s on trial for homicide.” 

Rittenhouse is on trial for multiple felonies for killing two people and wounding another during protests that broke out after the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by police in Kenosha. He took the stand on Wednesday, speaking publicly for the first time since the incident and sobbing while arguing he was defending himself when he fired his weapon.

Judge Bruce Schroeder erupted multiple times at the prosecution during Wednesday’s proceedings, after the prosecution questioned Rittenhouse on why he chose to remain silent about the shooting until the trial.

“This is a tough case for the prosecution because it does seem like he has a plausible case of self defense,” Toobin said during his analysis. “If it were illegal to be an idiot the idiots would be even more crowded than they are now.

Homicide “is a different matter,” Toobin said, and Rittenhouse “may have a case.” 

Toobin returned to CNN over the summer after being placed on leave since late the year prior after he exposed himself on a Zoom call with fellow staffers at The New Yorker, which fired him over the incident.