Kyle Rittenhouse became a MAGA celebrity when he shot and killed two men — 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum and 26-year-old Anthony Huber — with an AR-15 style rifle at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2020. He was 17 at the time.
Since his acquittal for the killings, he's been enjoying his status as right-wing folk hero, appearing on MAGA podcasts and speaking at far-right conferences. He even got to meet former President Trump a Mar-a-Lago and got his picture taken with him. Trump called him "really a nice young man."
But his star-status among the red caps hasn't equated to wealth for Rittenhouse.
From Newsweek:
Talking to Court TV, attorney Mark Richards, who represented Rittenhouse, said: "He is working, he is trying to support himself. Everybody thinks that Kyle got so much money from this. Whatever money he did get is gone.
"He's living, I don't want to say paycheck to paycheck, but he's living to support himself. Obviously, as his lawyer and somebody who I want to do well, I hope he does re-engage in his studies. But right now he is working full-time, he is living a law-abiding life and he is doing something that he enjoys."
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Rittenhouse has been open about needing money in the past and previously used an appearance on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show to request donations to his legal fund. He faces lawsuits from the man he shot and injured, as well as from the father of one of the two men he killed.
