Ocasio-Cortez says legal system ‘protecting those it was designed for’ after Rittenhouse verdict

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) blasted the American justice system on Friday, saying that it is “protecting those it was designed for” just moments after 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two protesters and injured a third last year in Kenosha, Wis., was acquitted on all charges.

Ocasio-Cortez made her comments in a Twitter post, where she also expressed her sympathies to communities and families impacted by the shooting and the verdict.

“What we are witnessing is a system functioning as designed and protecting those it was designed for,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

“My heart still breaks for the communities and families whose grief now compounds, and the countless others who will be denied and deprived in similar scenes across the country,” she added.

What we are witnessing is a system functioning as designed and protecting those it was designed for.

My heart still breaks for the communities and families whose grief now compounds, and the countless others who will be denied and deprived in similar scenes across the country.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 19, 2021

Rittenhouse was 17 when he brought an AR-15 rifle to protests arising after the police shooting of Jacob Blake. He shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded a third protester, then-26-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz.

Throughout his trial, Rittenhouse maintained that he had acted in self-defense at the time.

President Biden weighed in on the verdict on Friday, saying, “I stand by what the jury has concluded. The jury system works and we have to abide by it.”