The Curious Case of Jussie Smollett

The Curious Case of Jussie Smollett

Friends and enemies in high places

By Mark Luedtke

Dayton’s Conspiracy Theorist

Jussie Smollett is on a roller coaster. Until a few months ago, few had heard of him. He had a small part on the TV show Empire, but unless you watched that show, you probably had never heard of him either. Then the gay, black actor reported he had been attacked and threatened by two white Trump supporters, and that made him famous. Leftist pundits tripped over each other putting him on TV to publicize his story.

But his story wasn’t credible. Smollett claimed he was attacked after a late-night run to Subway for a sandwich, but when he got home, despite claiming his attackers drenched him with bleach, he still had the sandwich. A noose still draped from his neck nearly an hour after the alleged attack.

Police originally believed Smollett, but they changed their minds after arresting two men spotted in a surveillance video. Two black brothers from Nigeria who worked on Empire with Smollett and worked out at his gym, stated Smollett hired them to stage a hate crime. The hoax would raise Smollett’s profile and boost his career.

That seemed to be working until the hoax was discovered. A grand jury indicted Smollett on 16 felony counts related to making false statements. Smollett had gone from a celebrated victim to the guy who played Chicago PD for fools, and he was in big trouble.

But the roller coaster was just getting started. Out of the blue last week, prosecutors dropped the charges against Smollett, but MSN reports, “The Cook County state’s attorney who dropped felony charges against Jussie Smollett said Tuesday that he does not believe the move vindicates or exonerates the Empire actor, who police say staged a racial and homophobic attack against himself in late January.”

You might think Smollett must have received a stiff punishment in return for prosecutors dropping 16 felony counts, but you’d be wrong. MSN continues, “CBS Chicago also confirmed that Smollett put in 16 hours of community service over the weekend at Rainbow PUSH Coalition, which the state’s attorney’s office previously cited along with the actor forfeiting his $10,000 bond.”

The community service was helping race agitator Jesse Jackson.

That’s hardly a slap on the wrist for trying to instigate race riots in Chicago. Somehow this guy got off scot free. Maybe this is how:

From InfoWars.

That’s Smollett on the right with Chicago’s most famous couple. But this story stinks even more. The AP reports, “Chicago’s top prosecutor, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, recused herself from the investigation before Smollett was charged, citing conversations she had with a Smollett family member.”

But that’s not the full story. Fox News exposes, “Tina Tchen, the attorney and former chief of staff to first lady Michelle Obama, has garnered scrutiny after messages traded with Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx -- about the alleged hoax linked to actor Jussie Smollett -- emerged shortly before prosecutors dropped all charges against Smollett on Tuesday.”

But it gets stinkier. Fox News discovered, “Cook County (Ill.) State’s Attorney Kim Foxx did not ‘formally’ recuse herself from the Jussie Smollett case, her office said in a statement Thursday, explaining that Foxx used the term ‘recuse’ in a ‘colloquial’ sense rather than a legal sense when she left the case in February.”

Had Foxx formally recused herself, as she should have, she would have been required to recuse her entire office, as she should have. An outside prosecutor would then have taken over the case. But that would have reduced the Obamas’ influence to absolve their comrade.

But this case isn’t over. It turns out the Smollett case actually began a few weeks before the alleged attack when the actor claimed he received a threatening letter. Police believe he sent the letter, written in magazine cutout letters, to himself, but when he received no publicity boost from it, he staged the attack. The FBI is investigating the letter for mail fraud, and the entire Chicago PD and outgoing mayor Rahm Emanuel, another Obama administration official, is assisting to nab Smollett.

Smollett has friends in high places, but he’s made powerful, dangerous enemies as well. I’m going to get some more popcorn and enjoy watching the ending of this.

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