Journalist ejected from Turning Point USA for asking Kyle Rittenhouse questions ‘too aggressively’

Elad Eliahu repeatedly questions acquitted shooter on his claims of supporting Black Lives Matter

File: Kyle Rittenhouse reacts as he is found not guilty on all counts at the Kenosha County Courthouse (Getty Images)

Journalist Elad Eliahu was manhandled and thrown out of Turning Point USA conference America Fest for asking Kyle Rittenhouse a question “too aggressively”.

The independent journalist had on Monday approached the acquitted Kenosha shooter in the premises of the conference to ask him a question.

In a video shared by Mr Eliahu on Twitter, he can be seen repeatedly asking Mr Rittenhouse about his claims of supporting the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

“Excuse me, Mr Rittenhouse, can you tell me why you support BLM?” Mr Eliahu can be heard asking Mr Rittenhouse while following him at the conservative event.

One of the security guards around Mr Rittenhouse then pushes the journalist away after which he said: “Why are you pushing me, I am allowed to be here.”

One of the guards can then be seen revoking his press credentials and threatening him with “criminal trespassing”.

A Turning Point USA spokesperson told The Daily Beast that Mr Eliahu “rushed Kyle a little too aggressively” even though he was asked to stand down twice. “He is for sure not coming back to America Fest,” the spokesperson said.

Mr Rittenhouse, 18, was given a standing ovation at the conservative group’s conference in Phoenix where panelists discussed the deadly shootings in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a month after his acquittal.

In November, he was cleared of all charges relating to the deaths of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and the wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz.

The shooting took place during a night of protests over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer.

After his acquittal, Mr Rittenhouse said he was “not a racist person” and extended his support to the Black Lives Matter movement, which ensued in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.

Several right-wing politicians have embraced Mr Rittenhouse ever since he was cleared of the shooting charges. Mr Rittenhouse has already met with former president Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

He also made an appearance on Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s podcast, which led to the invite.

Meanwhile, congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene used a racial slur to refer to Asian people at the event.

“[W]hen I walked in yesterday, I was like, ‘What kind of people come here?’ So I’m walking around and seeing some good people and I see white people, Black people, brown people, yellow people,” the congresswoman said.

Donald Trump Jr, the former president’s son, started a chant of “let’s go, Brandon” at the conference on Sunday.

The phrase “let's go, Brandon” became a euphemism for “F*** Joe Biden” after a sports reporter at an event at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway in early October misreported that a crowd shouting “F*** Joe Biden” was saying “Let’s go, Brandon”.

Event organisers claimed it to be the “greatest freedom party ever,” with almost exclusively right-wing politicians and media personalities having been invited to the conference.