I’m not really angry about what happened in the Jussie Smollett case. I’m still sort of shocked at the way everything turned out, honestly. And I find the whole conversation around “a whitewash of justice” to be… hilariously hyperbolic. It’s more than possible that Smollett staged the entire thing, but after leaking tons of bullsh-t from the start of the investigation, the Chicago Police Department really doesn’t have the franchise on justice. If they had a case, they would have taken it to court. Period. The fact that there are all of these involved conspiracies involving the Obamas… well, I’m sure the MAGA types are buying it. Those same MAGA types are the ones who believe that Donald Trump has been completely exonerated and no one needs to read the Mueller Report too. So here’s what they’re trying:
The FBI reportedly launched a probe Wednesday to get to the bottom of Chicago prosecutors’ secret deal to drop all charges against Jussie Smollett even though they insisted they had the evidence for a conviction. The federal investigation kicked off one day after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office abandoned its 16-count felony indictment against the “Empire” star with no warning and little explanation, reported Chicago ABC affiliate WLS-TV, citing law-enforcement sources.
The report came as State’s Attorney Kim Foxx defended the bombshell decision to walk away from the prosecution — even as she maintained her office had an airtight case.
“Based on the facts and the evidence . . . this office believes that they could prove him guilty,” Foxx told WLS. But she added of prosecutors’ decision to let Smollett walk free with no more than the forfeiture of his $10,000 bail and 16 hours of community service, “I believe this is a just outcome based on the circumstances.”
The latest twist in an already whirlwind saga came as Foxx’s office bizarrely insisted that she did not “formally” recuse herself from the case — she only did so “colloquially.” The revelation regarding Foxx’s decision last month adds to the growing mystery behind prosecutors’ surprise decision to drop the case. State’s attorney spokeswoman Keira Ellis said Foxx “informally separated herself from the decision-making over the case” and did so “in an abundance of caution.”
Foxx indicated she was stepping aside because, just days after the Jan. 29 alleged attack, she was put in touch with a member of Smollett’s family through Tina Tchen, a Chicago lawyer and former First Lady Michelle Obama’s chief of staff, and tried to get the FBI to take over the probe. The case was then passed over to First Assistant State’s Attorney Joe Magats, who announced the dismissal of charges Tuesday but made it clear, “I do not believe he is innocent.”
And on and on – Page Six has like ten more twists if you care to read that far. I’m sure it would have made a great multi-episode arc in The Good Wife, which is where I learned everything I know about the Chicago/Cook County legal system (it’s shady AF). But at this point, are prosecutors and police going to throw good money after bad to continue to find a way to “punish” the one black guy who “got away” with something? This, after the Mayor’s office has spent millions of dollars paying settlements to civilians who were brutalized and terrorized by Chicago police officers.
TMZ has had a million updates on Smollett too, most of them garbage. You know why? Because TMZ was one of the outlets paying for all of those leaks from the Chicago PD. Now TMZ is trying to say that Jussie doesn’t even have the full support of the Empire cast and crew (he was already largely written out, so…?) and that he’s a “threat” to the show’s future. To which I say… Terrence Howard created his own mathematical system called Terryology where 1 X 1 = 2, right? And Terrence Howard has abused and assaulted multiple women. Let’s not get all high and mighty about Jussie being terrible for Empire. Also: TMZ says Jussie is looking to repair his image and book some jobs.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Look, when the state’s attorneys office has to circulate a memo asking for examples of folks getting charges dropped with no punishment (felony preferable), it raises some red flags. Big, red flags. If it were common practice to resolve non-violent crimes this way, they would know; they wouldn’t have to go searching for justification after the fact.
Of course The State Attorney’s Office should be investigated. Kim Foxx kept arguing yesterday that the public doesn’t understand the American Judicial System & how everything was above board & this happens all the time. Meanwhile, the National District Attorneys Association issued a press release last night saying uh no, it doesn’t. Here’s the letter putting the Cook County’s State Attorney handling of the situation on full blast, basically confirming that they broke every rule and did everything wrong https://twitter.com/ndaajustice/status/1111018252833095680
Well I have to say this is all abnormal from what I know in the past. I really don’t understand this “we have an airtight case” but decline to file charges bit. Something smells and it should be looked into.
Only in America does it make sense to react to the crime of a fake attack which wasted taxpayer money on an unnecessary investigation….with more wasted taxpayer money on an investigation of the investigation.
Agreed. This is a complete waste of time.
If the country is going to start investigating every time a rich person got off easy we’ll be bankrupt in six months.
She recused herself colloquially? Uhm… look I think he did it but it wasn’t a violent crime. I think the CPD is grossly incompetent but it was the state’s attorney’s decision to drop the charges.
What Obama conspiracies?
get your tin foil hat ready – there will be 50 people up in this thread in about 10 mins trying to tell you that b/c a former staffer of michelle obama wrote a text it is proof the illuminati are behind this
he he he. Every Fox news and Murdoch-related outlet is saying “Michelle Obama” got him off (not some attenuated relationship with some person who worked for someone who worked for Michelle).
Don’t forget that years ago they had their picture taken together. Obviously they were able to control the future based on that one intersecting moment of time.
Lizzie, Kamala Harris was pulled into it by Sandra Rose’s blog this morning. Something about her being a “third cousin” of Smolett’s mother, and there being numerous text messages between Fox, Harris, and a bunch of folks. The texts are apparantly part of the sealed evidence. Yet Epstein is still free after providing teens as sex workers to wealthy, powerful men like (allegedly) Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, and our illustrious president. It makes me want to crawl into a hole, and it makes me fear for my daughter. All of it. Trump is using Rahm’s outrage to waste tax payer money on an actor who thought that he was too smart to get caught. So many men make it about their power rather than being pragmatic about our resources and genuinely protecting the public. So much BS.
I need a shot of tequila now, lol!
He wore a Tan Suit….never forget.
1). I find it terribly funny that this ASA has the last name of “MAGAT”… how…appropriate?
2). TRUE: Empire has no problem with Howard, who has abused MULTIPLE women.
3) Smollett did a TERRIBLE thing making it so much harder for true victims of hate crimes to be believed, and their perpetrators prosecuted.
4) Smollett is going to be a pariah, as opposed to others that do sh!t things and continue to work (see prof. athletes, musicians, etc).
5). Smollett is, I believe, being piled on even more because he is both black and gay, and this alone pisses the hell out of the MAGATS (pun intended/see #1) that want their pound of flesh.
6) With the FBI involved now, and the US Postal Service (for the fake hate mail), Smollett is not out of trouble yet.
This is all I’ve got.
I wonder if Taraji will bend over backwards to defend him the way she did for Terrance.
Honestly it’s SUCH a farce if the cast treats him worse than Terrance. If they’re fine with a violent offender, they should be fine with Jussie.
This whole thing has been such a train wreck, and while I do tend to think Jussie faked the whole thing, I suspect there is more to the story than what has been leaked.
I SO agree, Erinn! I do believe he’s guilty, too. There is a LOT that has gone down that hasn’t come out… yet. It may; scum usually rises to the top, and eventually someone will leak something.
I’d also like to ask why Lee Daniels keeps on Howard and support him. Is it just that his abusive behavior didn’t hang around the national news for long? Or more likely, it’s “okay” as his crime was “just” domestic abuse of women. As for Taraji… there are still too many women who aid and abet abuse.
Agreed. Terrance Howard is a violent man and a gifted artist. Smollett lying doesn’t compare.
Amen!
Is it the FBI or the DOD that has jurisdiction to investigate abuse in local police departments? Is it possible that they are investigating the Chicago PD’s actions?
IIRC, Sessions shut down DoJ cooperation agreements designed to reform the worst police departments. I don’t know if Chicago was on the list.
I think the FBI investigation has more to do with the State Attorneys Office and Foxx, and really how appropriate her actions/influence was in this case. Finding out the evidence in Jussie’s case is more about if Foxx and Co acted appropriately, not about him. Adding- I work in a prosecutors office and I truly think recusing herself was not enough. If we think there’s too much of a connection (her texts with his family/staff), the case should have been conflicted out, another prosecutors office should have handled it. There’s got to be some way for that to happen. The fact that they didn’t, even though she passed it on to an Asst Attorney, its Going to bring up the question if she improperly influenced the outcome. That’s where the FBI is going, I think.
Yeah, I don’t think they’re investigating Jussie on this particular issue. It’s to make sure the prosecutor’s office was above-board in their decision making…and it’s looking more and more like the answer to that is no.
The outcome makes no sense. The SA office surreptitiously dropped charges after pursuing charges with the grand jury and obtaining the indictments, while continuing to state (yesterday) they have the evidence to find him guilty. I can’t see where anything whatsoever was required of Jussie except to just walk away. No probation, no admission of guilt or apology. And the SA office claims this is perfectly normal. Then sends out a memo quickly searching for cases to support that assertion.
Plus Dotard is stirring up the racists via twitter, which is on brand. I guess he is trying to make this situation another ‘Central Park Five’ moment for himself.
So it’s perfectly okay for rich white men to get away with bilking millions and for police officers to get away with murder, but a black man getting the same treatment is cause for concern. Got it.
nailed it.
NO, sorry, it’s NOT okay. Yes, many rich white and some rich black ( OJ ) men get away with horrific things and they NEVER should be able to, but that doesn’t mean that a minority should also.
Two wrongs don’t make it right.
I don’t think Jussie should have gone to jail for a first offence, but should have paid for the full cost of investigating the hoax crime he staged, should have received at least 1 year of REAL community service and apologize for his actions and lies.
I’m mostly concerned for minorities, members of the LGBTQ community that are already in disadvantage and Jussies’s actions certainly didn’t help them.
The two brothers should also have to do community service and apologize for their actions in this whole mess.
SHAME on our judicial system, shame on our celebrity obsessed culture that give some famous people a lot of breaks and shame on JUSSIE and the two brothers for their criminal and awful actions.
WHY WAS THE CASE AGAINST JUSSIE SEALED, WHAT ARE THEY HIDING???
The reason the case is sealed is because it was dismissed. You are innocent until proven guilty in the U.S. If you are “wrongly” prosecuted and the prosecution drops the case, you are entitled to have it sealed.
I said it yesterday; people are trying to figure out how this black man with a net worth of less than a million made it through the rich and whites only justice system!
I hate all of the conversation surrounding this case or lack of; I believe that it was mishandled from the beginning. I will never stop believing or listening to people who say they have been attacked because someone lied, people, lie all the time. The whole purpose of an investigation is to find the responsible parties no matter who’s involved. Someone screwed up big time, and it wasn’t just Jussie!
george zimmerman is out there having multiple violent incidents every year since getting away with murdering a child, the police are actively pushing back against criticism into their policing tactics by indiscriminately killing MORE PEOPLE, white supremacy is on the rise, 500 people a year are murdered in chicago, baltimore is a post apocalyptic wasteland in the aftermath of extreme police brutality, government officials purposely conspired to poison citizens of flint Michigan and still have jobs, the dept of homeland security is running concentration camps full of child rapists and the president is a russian operative but yes…lets have the FBI look into jussie smollett.
Yep, it’s truly upside world when the press and authorities are more up in arms about Smollet than all those things you listed. Anderson Cooper was on last night. He and his guests grilled the prosecutor and Smollet’s attorney more intensely than I’ve ever heard them interrogate any trump administration official in 3 years. Like wtf?!
Couldn’t agree more.
Perfectly stated.
You Nailed It, Lizzie. NAILED IT.
Agreed.
The FBI is probing the prosecutor for contacting the FBI to oversee the investigation and prosecution. Sounds like the prosecutor acted to protect the alleged victim and her office by bringing in the FBI. Look at the leaks. The case was being played out in the press. No way he would have gotten a fair trial. The jury was tainted. There’d either be people who acquitted him based on the black community’s feelings about Chicago PD or he’d be convicted of 16 felonies because he was a star. And deals are made everyday with guilty people, see Mike Flynn.
“ TMZ says Jussie is looking to repair his image and book some jobs.”
Heh. Good luck with that. This has been such whiplash that I don’t think any major project would want to cast him, for fear of yet another shoe dropping. He’d be wise to be VERY quiet for a while….which ironically is a problem career-wise because he’s never been more well known. I think he’s going to have a lot of problems, and given this whole mess it should be interesting to see how he reacts to them. 😒
The CPD also paid for a hotel room for the brothers. True it could be to protect them from the swarming media but that’s still kinda…odd, right? IDK. Can someone weigh in on whether this is typical or not?
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/nation-world/jussie-smollett-case-records-show-police-paid-for-hotel-rooms-for-brothers/507-59c968d2-82fe-4d6e-9b7b-34fea967439c?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5c9ca96900bd4700014ff0b2&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter
Let me start by saying I’m a Chicagoan who voted for Kim Foxx and thought 16 felony charges brought against Jussie was excessive. I’m glad the FBI is looking into this. And they’re not looking into Jussie; they’re looking into Kim Foxx and the state’s attorneys office.
This whole thing is shady as hell. If they “don’t believe he’s innocent,” which is what the state’s attorneys office said yesterday, why drop the charges instead of agreeing to a plea bargain? Why split hairs about whether Kim Foxx had formally recused herself or colloquially recused herself? If they did nothing wrong, why send out an email this week looking for examples of when they had done something like this in the past?
This is about more than Jussie. There are thousands of people in Cook County jail for non-violent offenses who are just as worthy, if not more so, of being shown mercy like Jussie was. But they’re still there because they lack his money, resources, and connections. That’s why I support this investigation.
What a farce.
Ugh, yes, my annoying relatives are already posting FB memes of Jessie with the Obamas and claiming conspiracy.
Yes- his hoax of a MAGA country attack completely backfired. It fed the monster.
Well when you seal the case and aren’t being transparent, conspiracy theories are going to run wild. Expect more memes now that Jussie’s lawyer was just on the Today Show saying the Nigerian Brothers could’ve been wearing Whiteface that night b/c she googled and found a pic of them dressed as the Joker a few years ago. Now I’m understanding why Jussie took the “plea deal” and they avoided a trial. Also when Savannah Guthrie asked his lawyer why Jussie isn’t pressing charges against the brothers, she said “well, he wasn’t beaten up that badly”. Oh geez
The lawyer said they might have been in “whiteface?” And that he doesn’t want to press charges because he wasn’t really hurt. So they jump him in the middle of the street, say that he made them do it and now most people think he’s a liar which may affect future earnings but he doesn’t want to press charges?
That’s pretty funny.
So many questions on both sides, so many overreactions on both sides. Jussie’s performance with Robin Roberts was matched by a pretty incredible performance from CPD Super Eddie Johnson. I wish some of the Mayor’s outrage at injustice had been on display for Laquan McDonald.
Smollett may be guilty but why did the CPD believe the brothers? They have a bit of a reputation for making witnesses say what they want them to say. The check Smollett paid them was always in question as to what it was for.
A big deal made of the grand jury indictments until you remember a grand jury only hears the Prosecutor’s side with some suggesting if a Prosecutor goes to a GJ and doesn’t come out with an indictment, he’s pretty useless as a prosecutor. Sixteen felony counts was always overkill so while the final result here is the reverse in extreme, it’s kind of what was deserved.
And as an aside to Rahm’s outrage that the rich and powerful and politically connected escape justice, let’s talk again to the NYC DA who made likely charges against the Trump “children” go away and then got a nice donation to his campaign fund.
I disagree. Why even present to a grand jury to begin with if the “normal” thing to do is totally drop it with no plea bargain or admission of culpability? Nothing. Walk away. Proclaim your innocence. What’s the point? If I served on that grand jury I’d be pissed. Those citizens said proceed not dismiss. Those indictments were fully expected to be plea bargained way down of course — that is “normal.” Secretly sneakily totally dropping the entire matter is not.
I disagree. Smollett cried crocodile tears and acted his little heart out in his interview, and Johnson was genuinely PO’ed.
Yeah it’s not like Empire showrunners are the “hm we won’t work with problematic people” types. And omg to the reference to terryology 🤣
To everyone whining and complaining about this case, cry me a river. It was a Class D felony case. He would never have served jail time anyway. And if one black dude maybe getting away with a non-violent crime irks you so much perhaps you should ask yourself why.
As for the CPD – they can have a thousand seats. They are the reason why this case would have been hard to win (despite what Kim Foxx said). Their constant leaks to the press, their suspect dealing with the alleged co-conspirators and the completely inappropriate press conferences before ever charging Smollett… they ruined their own case. And frankly all I can do is laugh. Because the CPD has perpetrated hate crimes against minorites in this city for literally decades.
Anyone getting away with a crime irks me- this post just happens to be about the Jussie Smollet case.
Sure it does… Im sure you’ve spoken out a ton about all the corruption in the CPD too.
The city of Illinois has spent literally millions of dollars on this case. They put twelve detectives on it. When most murder cases only get 1 or 2 detectives. They violated their own policy about speaking to the press and poisoned the jury pool by going on national tv talking about an open investigation.
And were you speaking out about how thoroughly the CPD was investigating when the whole nation was watching, appalled by a racist homophobic attack on a man? Or just now that he’s lost credibility?
Yep. That’s what I said. All this energy over an incident that hurt only one person. Never should have overcharged him to begin with. They knew it would be hard to get one guilty verdict, much less 16. And where is this energy for justice and the American Way when black people are being killed by cops on the regular. Spare me and have a thousand seats, Rahm Emmanuel and the CPD chief.
Is the FBI investigating King Weasel Jacob Wohl?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gq.com/story/jacob-wohl-goofus-redux/amp
I’m sure the 2 stars of Empire both of whom slogged their up to the top just love him. Hope John Singleton recasts them both in 4 Bros 2. Yay.
The point with the FBI is the mail issue. It’s that simple and that complicated and can’t just be dropped, especially with the powder inside. It may amount to nothing, or get the two brothers in more trouble. I’m not against this part of the investigation. It makes sense to look into it.
Jussie deserves to fry in the court of public opinion. Stupid stunt and it backfired. I was so horrified and upset about the circumstances of his attack … but to find out he staged it? He needs mental health help. He should go away for the next 40 years and look for it.