Lin Wood, attorney for Kyle Rittenhouse, says he was locked out of Twitter account
"I'm going to take Jack Dorsey's ass down," Wood tells Fox News
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The high-profile attorney for Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old charged with fatally shooting two people in Kenosha, said he was locked out of his Twitter account Tuesday after posting about raising money for Rittenhouse's legal defense.
L. Lin Wood argued the action against his account is the latest example of Twitter censorship of conservative voices and he intends to file a lawsuit against the social media giant and its CEO Jack Dorsey.
"I'm going to take Jack Dorsey's ass down," Wood told Fox News. "He has been abusing the First Amendment of this country for his own agenda."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CNN AIRS NICHOLAS SANDMANN RNC SPEECH MONTHS AFTER SETTLING $250M DEFAMATION LAWSUIT
Wood was blocked from tweeting for several hours on Tuesday for violating Twitter rules. Wood said he's been careful to abide by Twitter's terms of service. But he got a notice that his account was locked for "glorifying violence."
"I knew they were going to censor me because I'm sending a message of hope," Wood, who posts regularly to his nearly 138,000 followers, told Fox News. "I'm sending a message of truth. And I'm sending a message that Kyle Rittenhouse is innocent."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}ATTORNEY FOR KENOSHA GUNMAN KYLE RITTENHOUSE SAYS CLIENT WAS HUNTED 'AS PREY' BEFORE DEADLY SHOOTING
Hours after the account had been suspended, Twitter said it made a mistake in a statement to Fox News.
"This account was incorrectly actioned," a Twitter spokesperson said. "This has been reversed and the account has been reinstated."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The company has taken a more active role of screening posts and made the high-profile decision this year to call out President Trump's tweets for the first time, drawing the ire of many conservatives.
Wood also represents Nicholas Sandmann, Carter Page, St. Louis couple Mark and Patricia McCloskey, Georgia congressional candidate Marjorie Greene and Dr. Simone Gold.
To the outside, Wood's account looked like it was working normally, with no notifications or warnings on his tweets. But a screengrab of Wood's account shared with Fox News shows his account "has been locked for violating the Twitter rules." Specifically, Wood was dinged for "violating our rules against glorifying violence."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Everybody thinks I'm still on it unless they know I've been blocked," Wood said. "That's why we're getting the word out they censored me for nine hours. I have no idea how to get back on. They didn't give me any instructions."
On Monday, Wood revealed on Twitter that more than 11,000 donors have raised $605,550 for the legal defense of Rittenhouse, who claims the shootings in Kenosha were self-defense.
A Twitter user asked if Wood would be selling or disclosing his donor list to other groups. Lin replied "No" and added "#fightback" in reference to the name of the legal fund foundation. That was his last tweet before getting locked out.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CHARGES AGAINST KYLE RITTENHOUSE FORMALLY FILED IN KENOSHA SHOOTINGS
Wood said he now intends to rely on Parler, the social media service that has attracted conservatives fed up with Twitter.
Wood said he's been accumulating "a mountain of evidence" to support a lawsuit against Twitter for discriminating against users based on political speech. Wood previewed a lawsuit he intends to file on behalf Sandmann that could be a class action suit and pointed to Twitter's actions against his account as the latest example of suppression of free speech. He's been vocal on Twitter about his intentions to sue.
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Sandmann, the Covington Catholic High School graduate, filed suit against mainstream media outlets for their coverage of his encounter with a Native American activist at the Lincoln Memorial, which portrayed the teen as the aggressor. He already settled his multi-million dollar defamation lawsuits with CNN and the Washington Post and now Wood says the next frontier will be Twitter and other websites.
CNN AIRS NICHOLAS SANDMANN RNC SPEECH MONTHS AFTER SETTLING $250M DEFAMATION LAWSUIT
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Nicholas Sandmann is going to take down the mainstream media. And then we're going to take down social media," Wood said.
"Nicolas Sandmann is going to never be forgotten."