A few months after Kyle Rittenhouse shot three men, killing two, in Kenosha, the Washington Post’s “Visual Forensics” investigation was placed at the top of YouTube search results. However, WaPo’s report omits key details, including the identity of the first gunman, several gunshots from the crowd, and the fact that the last man shot by Rittenhouse had a gun in his hand pointed towards Rittenhouse.
Contrary to the disinformation spewed by CNN, Rittenhouse was not “the only person who fired shots that night”. In fact, others fired more gunshots than Rittenhouse, including the very first shot. Although WaPo didn’t lie directly to their viewers like CNN, they misled their audience with major omissions.
Deleted Gunman #1
WaPo says “someone nearby” fired the first shot, leaving open the possibility that one of Rittenhouse’s colleagues fired the first shot, even though none were present. WaPo neglected to identify the first gunman as Joshua Ziminski, even though he had been formally charged for firing the “warning shot” over a month before WaPo published its video investigation.
The fact that Ziminski fired the first shot, and not a random “someone”, is especially significant because other evidence WaPo omits suggests Rittenhouse was ambushed by Ziminski and Joseph Rosenbaum—the first man shot by Rittenhouse. One video shows Ziminski approaching Rittenhouse from the front, while Rosenbaum approaches from behind, lunging towards Rittenhouse before Rittenhouse starts running away. Rather than include that material, WaPo cuts to Rosenbaum and Rittenhouse mid-chase.
As Rittenhouse runs away from Rosenbaum, Ziminski fires his gun into the air. When Rosenbaum is within a few feet of Rittenhouse, Rittenhouse shoots four consecutive shots at Rosenbaum. Then, WaPo says, “three more shots are heard”, leaving open the possibility that Rittenhouse fired the additional shots. We know that’s not true because the original video recorded by Drew Hernandez shows three muzzle flashes behind Rittenhouse. Those muzzle flashes are not visible in WaPo’s video—one of many crucial visual details lost in the Post’s so-called “Visual Forensics” report.
Deleted Gunman #2
After Rittenhouse shoots Rosenbaum, he runs and is pursued by an angry crowd yelling to “get his ass”. He’s hit with a rock in the back of the head and Anthony Huber hits him with a skateboard. Rittenhouse soon falls to the ground. Maurice Freeland jump-kicks Rittenhouse in the face. Rittenhouse fires two shots and misses. Huber hits Rittenhouse a second time with the skateboard and grabs Rittenhouse’s rife. Rittenhouse fires one shot, killing Huber. A third man pursing Rittenhouse, Gaige Grosskereutz, pauses and puts his hands up. Then Grosskreutz lunges towards Rittenhouse with a gun.
In a video published right after the shootings, a gun is seen in Grosskreutz’s right hand, pointed at Rittenhouse, as Grosskreutz is shot in his right bicep by Rittenhouse.
The gun in Grosskreutz’s hand had already been widely reported, including in an NBC video published 3 days after the shooting, three months before WaPo's video.
Nevertheless, WaPo makes literally no mention of the gun.
Deleted Gunshots
Immediately after Rittenhouse shoots Grosskreutz, eight more gunshots ring out from among the protesters/rioters. WaPo cuts away after only two shots, erasing six of them. From Rosenbaum to Grosskreutz, Rittenhouse fired eight shots total. The protesters/rioters fired fifty percent more, twelve shots total; however, after editing out half the gunshots, WaPo gives the false impression that Rittenhouse fired more shots than those among the crowd that pursued him.
Missing Claims
The WaPo video features a clip of an unknown man in yellow pants claiming Rittenhouse told him earlier in the night to “get off the car”, and seems to say Rittenhouse pointed a gun, “he had up the gun”. However, The Post commits journalistic malpractice by ignoring multiple other claims that Rittenhouse was not an aggressor but the victim of unprovoked aggression.
Ryan Balch, who is recorded accompanying Rittenhouse much of the night, said that Rosenbaum threatened to kill them earlier, saying, “If I catch one of you alone, you’re dead”. WaPo made no mention of this. To this day, Yellow Pants has never come forward to support his claim. In contrast, the claim that Rosenbaum made death threats is backed by testimony from Balch, Rittenhouse, and a woman who guarded property with them, Joann Fiedler.
WaPo also ignored Grosskreutz’s roommate’s claim that Grosskreutz told him he was just about to shoot Rittenhouse. According to Grosskreutz’s roommate, Jacob Marshall, Grosskreutz’s told him that his "only regret was not killing the kid and hesitating to pull the gun before emptying the entire mag into him."
At trial this month, Marshall denied his earlier claim: “I lied. He never stated that.”
“Shoot me, nigga!”
Far worse than omitting mere claims of aggression, WaPo edited clips of Rosenbaum’s aggression on full display earlier that night. The Post appropriately shared images of Rosenbaum pushing a flaming dumpster into a gas station but opted to not show their viewers that he then had to be physically held back from fighting armed men, repeatedly calling them the n-word, and literally begging them to, "Shoot me, nigga!"
Unfortunately, when Rosenbaum encountered Rittenhouse later in the night, the only man nearby to hold him back was Ziminski, who instead let Rosenbaum loose and fired a gun.
Why Did YouTube Promote WaPo’s Faulty Video?
At least tens of thousands of people recognized the Washington Post’s serious omissions; consequently, more than half the video’s ratings were negative. So why did YouTube promote it in their search results to over a million viewers? Because since 2016, YouTube has artificially boosted traditional news outlets, like WaPo, as “authoritative sources”; even though, they’re clearly not all that authoritative.
Meanwhile, higher-rated independent sources like myself, are being suppressed by YouTube. For example, my more thorough video covering the same content was recently age-restricted, labeled “inappropriate or offensive”, and now requires a login and multiple confirmations to view. YouTube even removed the video’s share button.
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Another excellent piece of work Matt. Your output on the Rittenhouse saga has been superb. The Shit-Lib Media and it’s brainwashed viewers hate being confronted with those awkward things called ‘facts’. Keep up the good work mate, it’ll all be worth it when the revolution comes and those fuckers are in the Gulags. lol ; )