FACT CHECK: Did The Prosecutor In The Kyle Rittenhouse Case Wear A Black Lives Matter Pin?

An image shared on Twitter claims to show Thomas Binger, the lead prosecutor in the criminal case against Kyle Rittenhouse, wearing a Black Lives Matter pin on the lapel of his suit coat.

POS pic.twitter.com/hcb9BIhpKQ

— 🇺🇸Cheryl🇺🇸 (@Pittsburgbitch) November 19, 2021

Verdict: False

The Black Lives Matter pin and the heart-shaped pin displaying what appears to be the transgender pride flag have been photoshopped into the picture.

Fact Check:

Rittenhouse, an 18-year-old who shot and killed two men and wounded another during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020, was acquitted of all charges related to the incident on Friday, according to The Washington Post. Prior to the acquittal, some social media users began sharing an image of Binger wearing a Black Lives Matter pin and another heart-shaped pin displaying what looks like the transgender pride flag.

The picture, however, is doctored, a reverse image search by Check Your Fact found. In the original photo, which was published by Kenosha News on Oct. 6, Binger has only one black-and-white pin that displays the silhouette of a man smoking a pipe and wearing a deerstalker hat. That imagery is sometimes linked to British writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s well-known character Sherlock Holmes.

“Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger listens during Kyle Rittenhouse’s motion hearing on Tuesday,” reads the image’s description. (RELATED: Have All Charges Against Kyle Rittenhouse Been Dropped?)

The photo shared on Twitter has been altered to include the other two pins. Binger did wear different pins throughout the trial, including an American flag pin, according to pictures of him found on Getty Images, but there is no evidence to suggest that he ever wore a Black Lives Matter pin or a pin bearing the colors of the transgender pride flag during the trial.

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases