Last month, Cook County State Attorney’s office dropped sixteen felony charges against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett.
It was one of the most perplexing and shocking moves from a prosecutor’s office in recent memory.
And these newly uncovered text messages from State Attorney Kim Foxx on the Jussie Smollett case will blow your mind.
The amount of evidence against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett that he staged an attack in order to get paid more as an actor, gain sympathy from Hollywood and to demonize President Trump supporters as violent, racist and homophobic was overwhelming.
Suddenly, the prosecutor’s office, headed by State Attorney Kim Foxx, dropped the charges. It made zero sense and Foxx faced blistering criticism from not only the American people, but from inside of her own office as well.
But in a weird twisted contradiction, new text messages were acquired by an FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request, which revealed Foxx called Smollett a “washed up celeb who lied to the cops,” two weeks before she officially dropped all the charges against him.
The text chain started with Foxx writing to a staffer, “Sooo……I’m recused, but when people accuse us of overcharging cases …16 counts on a class 4 (felony) becomes exhibit A.” This was the same day the charges were filed against the “Empire” actor.
Then she wrote, “Pedophile with 4 victims 10 counts. Washed up celeb who lied to cops, 16. On a case eligible for deferred prosecution I think it’s indicative of something we should be looking at generally. Just because we can charge something doesn’t mean we should.”
Foxx is obviously referring to another case here. But comparing the two is not how the Justice system should operate. That’s an absurd notion. If you break the law 16 times then you should be charged with every single count. Foxx should obviously know that. Dropping charges is what occurs in plea deals.
The texts also showed the office struggled to handle the media explosion during that time period.
Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Risa Lanier wrote, “Just wish I could have anticipated the magnitude of this response and planned a bit better.”
In a statement Tuesday, addressing this new scandal, Foxx claimed she contacted First Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Joseph Magats after Smollett’s indictment saying, “[We will] discuss reviewing office policies to assure consistencies in our charging and our use of appropriate charging authority. I was elected to bring criminal justice reform and that includes intentionality, consistency, and discretion. I will continue to uphold these guiding principles.”
That’s when Inspector General Patrick Blanchard launched his own investigation into the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office about how they handled the Smollett case.
Word has it former First lady Michelle Obama’s chief of staff, Tina Tchen, put in a call to Foxx but claimed it had nothing to do with the Smollett case.
That’s far-fetched because the timing is too peculiar, especially when you consider that Michelle Obama and Smollett were friends.
All of this is fishy.