Jussie Smollett, 37, was indicted Tuesday in Chicago by special prosecutor Dan Webb for allegedly lying about being a victim of a racist and anti-gay attack on him that he claims occurred in January 2019.
This is the second time he was charged for the same offense.
The charges stem from a report Smollett made a year ago when he told police that he was attacked around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29 on his way home from a Subway sandwich shop.
At the time, Smollett played the gay character, Jamal Lyon, on the Fox TV show, Empire. He said two masked men shouted racial and anti-gay slurs, poured bleach on him, beat him and looped a rope around his neck.
He said they shouted, “This is MAGA country” – a reference to President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
He said he thought at least one of the men was white because he could see the skin around his eyes.
When he first reported the attack, it made national news and Chicago police were under pressure to catch the hate crime-committing white men.
Smollett drew a groundswell of support from fans, celebrities, and Democrat politicians. He gave emotional television interviews, telling the story on TV that he told police of how he fought the white men off heroically, telling this to police with the lynching rope still dangling from his neck.
Many Democrats called it another shocking instance of Trump-era racism and hate.
If these two white guys were ever caught, they were going to jail for years for their vicious Trump-motivated hate crime.
An investigation was conducted and the Chicago police soon found the attackers. They had proof they bought the rope and the bleach.
The men were not white, however. They were black and were known to Smollett.
Police said Smollett paid $3,500 to the two men, who are brothers, to stage a phony racist, anti-gay attack on himself, including giving them specific slurs to yell, telling them to shout “MAGA country” and pointing out a surveillance camera that he thought would record the beating.
The camera failed to record the attack.
The men were brothers Abimbola “Abel” and Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo, and one of them had worked with Smollett on his TV show, “Empire.”
An attorney for the brothers, Gloria Schmidt, admitted they participated in a staged attack and agreed to help Smollett because of their friendship with him and that he was helping their careers.
Police concluded that Smollett’s motive in making the false report was that he wanted more money for his work on “Empire”, believed it would promote his career and perhaps make him a household name for bravery and activism in the gay and black community.
On March 7, 2019, the Cook County State Attorney approved a 16-count felony indictment against Smollett based on evidence that Smollett planned and participated in a staged hate crime attack, and, thereafter, made numerous false statements to Chicago Police Department officers on multiple occasions.
Smollett’s attorney, Tina Glandian, however, said Smollett never hired the brothers and had no idea who attacked him until the brothers were identified by police.
Yes, he had hired one brother as a personal trainer, and, yes, they had discussed training and nutrition in the hours before the attack. But the Osundairo brothers must have followed Smollett and, as he was leaving Subway, disguised as Trump supporters, savagely attacked him.
Smollett’s attorney, Patricia Brown Holmes, said the two brothers were lying to get out of their own legal trouble arising from their Trump-induced attack on Smollett, insisting Smollett was “a victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator.”
Smollett said he could not identify the Osundairo brothers, disguised as they were as Trump supporters because they were wearing ski masks. He made, in effect, an honest mistake and because these black men shouted racist slurs at him, he naturally concluded they were white.
On March 26, 2019, three weeks after he was indicted the first time, Cook County State Attorney’s Office made the decision to dismiss the 16-count felony indictment. Smollett’s punishment was to perform 15 hours of community service and forfeit his $10,000 bond as restitution to the City of Chicago.
Smollett was not required to admit wrongdoing.
The dismissal did not sit well with the police and the public.
On August 23, 2019, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Michael Toomin, a Republican, appointed Webb as a special prosecutor and directed him to conduct an independent investigation to determine whether Smollett should be further prosecuted for the alleged false reports he made to Chicago Police Department officers and whether any person or office involved in the Smollett case engaged in wrongdoing, including the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, its elected State Attorney, Kimm Foxx, a Democrat, or any individuals in her office.
Results came this week.
Smollett now faces six new felony counts of disorderly conduct, which can mean a prison sentence of more than five years, as well as a substantial mandatory fine.
Tina Glandian, attorney for Smollett, said the new charges are suspicious and rife with conflict of interest and dirty politics.
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx is running for reelection. Smollett’s case has become an issue in Foxx’s bid for a second term.
Her opponents say the Smollett dismissal shows she has bad judgment and favors the rich and powerful in deciding who will be prosecuted.
Smollett’s attorney, Glandian, said the attempt to re-prosecute Smollett “on the eve of the Cook County State’s Attorney election is clearly all about politics, not justice.”
Glandian said, “This indictment raises serious questions about the integrity of the investigation that led to the renewed charges against Mr. Smollett… After more than five months of investigation, the Office of the Special Prosecutor has not found any evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever related to the dismissal of the charges against Mr. Smollett. Rather, the charges were appropriately dismissed the first time because they were not supported by the evidence.
“The attempt to re-prosecute Mr. Smollett one year later on the eve of the Cook County State’s Attorney election is clearly all about politics, not justice.”
State Attorney Foxx’s campaign committee issued a statement referring to former FBI Director James Comey’s decision to reopen an investigation into Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s email shortly before the presidential election in 2016.
“What’s questionable here is the James Comey-like timing of that charging decision…which can only be interpreted as the further politicization of the justice system, something voters in the era of Donald Trump should consider offensive,” the statement from Friends for Foxx said.
For his part, Smollett consistently maintains his innocence.
He said he has “been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one.”
“I would not be my mother’s son if I was capable of one drop of what I was being accused of,” he told reporters after a court hearing.
The Osundairo brothers, who have been granted immunity from prosecution, are also sticking to their story – that Smollett hired them to stage a fake attack. They will be witnesses for the prosecution.
Regardless of whether Smollett was attacked by two men he knew but were in disguise, who attempted to make it look like a racist, homophobic Trump-inspired attack, or whether he simply staged a fake attack for fame and glory, it has not been a good year for Smollett.
He has become a notorious and much-ridiculed household name. People who had never heard of the actor or his TV show before the alleged attack now know of him and it seems most don’t believe his version of events.
Smollett has not had any film or television roles since his departure from the TV series was made public in April 2019. Producers have the option to bring him back during the sixth and final season of Empire but said they have no plans to do so.
It’s just as well perhaps.
Smollett will be busy defending himself. His defense is that two men he knew quite well dressed up as Trump supporters and tried to beat him up. He did not recognize them and thought they were white men. And somehow, the two men happened to get $3,500 from Smollett and left the country for an overseas trip later that same day.
Smollett may want to take this to trial to vindicate himself and establish he is telling the truth.
But should he want to settle this, his problem will be that Webb will not likely take any plea deal that does not come with Smollett admitting wrongdoing. That means if he takes a plea deal, he will have to admit he lied.
As it stands now, most of the world thinks he is a liar.
He is standing pat on his story. And a special prosecutor, aligned with Republicans, much different from the Democratic Cook County State Attorney who let him off, without admission of wrongdoing, is going to press this to the wall to get a result – which means he either lied or he didn’t.
This may not stop short of a trial.
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Where is Jussie Smollett ( in my best French accent) now? Isn’t he out of the country?
Off topic trivia: Did you know Nancy Pelosi was Gavin Newsom’s (aka Gruesome Newsom) aunt?
You always make me laugh, KC!
Meanwhile another lying sack of shit exposes herself.
Roger Stone Lead Juror Testified She Had No Bias Against Him – But She Attacked Roger Stone on Twitter Shortly After He Was Arrested!
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/02/roger-stone-lead-juror-testified-she-had-no-bias-against-him-but-she-attacked-roger-stone-on-twitter-shortly-after-he-was-arrested/
According to the February 5th order issued by Judge Jackson, Roger Stone cited a problem with a juror, however his motion was denied.
On Wednesday it was revealed the jury foreperson, Tomeka Hart, a former Dem Congressional candidate was a rabid Trump-hating left-wing activist.
It gets worse…
Tomeka Hart testified during the jury selection that she had no biases against Roger Stone and that she ‘hardly paid attention’ to the Russia investigation, but she specifically attacked Stone on Twitter shortly after he was arrested.
The Daily Caller reported:
Hart was interviewed on Nov. 5, 2019 along with a group of other potential jurors. Hart is not identified by name in the transcript (she is referred to as Juror Number 1261), but the description matches her resume. Hart ran for Congress and also served as the foreperson on a grand jury in Tennessee for two years.
“Is there anything about that that affects your ability to judge him fairly and impartially sitting here right now in this courtroom?” Jackson queried.
“Absolutely not,” Hart answered.
“What is it that you have read or heard about him?” asked Jackson.
“So nothing that I can recall specifically,” Hart replied. “I do watch sometimes paying attention but sometimes in the background CNN.”
“So I recall just hearing about him being part of the campaign and some belief or reporting around interaction with the Russian probe and interaction with him and people in the country, but I don’t have a whole lot of details. I don’t pay that close attention or watch C-SPAN,” she continued.
Ms. Hart didn’t just attack President Trump and his supporters as racists, she specifically attacked Roger Stone — and she ended up the lead juror on his case.
But none of this comes up if the so-called juror, just bites her cheek and doesn’t comment about the case. In that circumstance, NO ONE KNOWS NOTHING.
In this case, now … a MISTRIAL is almost guaranteed. Who is gonna REFILE under these conditions? The lawyers QUIT!
Brian Cates explains the reality of the corruption.
Brian Cates // Digital Soldier for Flynn ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
@drawandstrike
I have not seen the answers this jury forewoman gave yet, but I strongly suspect at this point these four prosecutors suddenly bailing on this case might have something to do with this.
Remember, the defense moved to strike this person from the jury; the judge ruled she stayed.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1227952864074620928.html
Let me remind you all what happened since last November around this case:
1) Trump suddenly nominates US Attorney Jessie Liu to a top Treasury Dept. job, she accepts; Trump nominates Timothy O’Shea to replace her. She is the one who has been guiding the Stone case.
2) all 4 prosecutors suddenly agree amongst themselves they will brief the DOJ one sentencing recommendation, but then actually file a far more lengthy recommendation with the court.
There is only one reason these prosecutors would do this.
They expected to get COVER from both the US ATTORNEY overseeing the case and from THE JUDGE presiding over the case in court.
Despite DOJ complaints about the tactic, Liu & Judge Jackson have their backs.
As expected, when the DOJ sees what this prosecution team actually filed in Judge Jackson’s court, there is an objection.
This is when US Attorney Jessie Liu was supposed step in front of them and provide the necessary cover for the prosecutors and the Judge to proceed.
See, here’s the thing about being nominated but not confirmed yet.
Technically, Liu was still the US Attorney for the District of Columbia. O’Shea wasn’t supposed to REALLY REPLACE HER **until** she had been confirmed to the Treasury job.
Then all of these next two things happen in the span of two days:
3) the DOJ suddenly files a COUNTER to the prosecution teams own absurd filing. This was not supposed to happen. DOJ would have informed Liu first they were doing this, then she’d have warned them.
4) when the prosecution team russhes to contact the US Attorney’s Office in DC for an explanation, what they discover so surprises them that ALL FOUR TEAM MEMBERS resign within hours of each other.
What did these prosecutors discover BEFORE anybody else did?
Only this:
5) the Stone prosecution team discovers TWO things:
a) Trump had just WITHDRAWN Lin’s nomination to that cool new Treasury job and…
b) Attorney General William Barr had just told Liu that O’Shea was replacing her IMMEDIATELY.
They don’t have any cover. They’ve been BURNED.
So, what happens the very next day?
Stuff that started to come out more than two months ago but DIDN’T get any really attention suddenly bursts to the surface in a way that cannot be ignored.
A juror so biased any attempt whatsoever at voire dire would have caught her and excluded her instantly not only ended up on the Stone jury in Judge Jackson’s court, this female juror ended up being the FOREWOMAN of the jury that convicted Roger Stone.
I’ll say this clearly:
That could only happen if the JUDGE was either corrupt or incompetent.
Looking into this issue, several facts emerge.
Stone’s defense team moved to strike this juror from the pool; Judge Jackson refused.
This juror filled out a questionnaire about social media/elections.
This juror filled out a questionarre about social media/elections.
The juror has both a social media history of pronounced bias against Trump and his associates and a political history of having run for office as a Democrat that should have INSTANTLY disqualified her from the jury pool
Frank, what about the voices?
I haven’t heard the 2 brothers speak —– but I have heard their older brother speak during an interview and he doesn’t speak like a caucasian/white male, his voice is clearly that of an African american male.
I’m guessing that the 2 brothers likewise have voices which aren’t caucasian sounding either, which kinda makes Jussie’s claim that he heard them say “This is MAGA country” not believable.
Plus he’s known these brothers for years and knows their voice patterns.
How has Jussie tried to explain the voice issue? Has anybody asked him about this?
I realize that Jussie’s a lying sack of shit and that his entire story has already fallen apart.
My point is this… I just don’t see how his lawyers can even attempt to make that “Maga Country” argument in front of a jury unless he can explain how their voices matched those of a white guy. His lawyers aren’t gonna have much to work with here. lol.
Smollet couldn’t believe a “brother” was pro-Trump.
The brothers took acting classes at Second City to sound like whites. So they could get jobs in telemarketing.
I mistake my pajamas for Nigerians all the time. I once mistook my cat for a house. These mistakes are easy to make.
That’s “Goebles” if you recheck the flyer, Frank.
Makes more sense. Coulda happened on Goebals bowling night at Simi Bowl.
Smollet paid them with a check. Blacks as a group don’t like gays (especially Black gays), that’s why Mayor Pete will probably tank in South Carolina, and most whites in South Carolina don’t like guys who kiss their husbands on the lips on stage at political rallies, either. Smollet didn’t even have to act in the show, he played a Black gay guy? How dumb do you have to be to try to get the beatdown captured by a street camera, and then couldn’t do it? Who knew there were actually TWO Trump supporters in Chicago? Chicago was the only city Trump was going to visit, he was literally on the way there, when riots broke out and he canceled the rally. Why would two Trump supporting white guys be up that late at night? We go to bed early. We’re boring, remember? We only beat up people when they protest at Trump rallies when we outnumber them at least 10,000 to 1. LOL
“…Blacks as a group don’t like gays (especially Black gays)”.
If anybody knows a thing or two about black gay culture, it’s Johnson. Scott sure gotta education in New Orleans drag-culture.
Hum-a-nah! Hum-a-nah!
If you were a gay Black, it would be a step up for you! LOL
I suppose Jussie Smolett forgot that the Special Prosecutor Dan Webb has subpoenaed data from Google detailing Smolett’s emails, photos, personal messages and location data for a full year.
Smolett also forgot that he knows the two brothers who happened to “attack ” him and these two brothers are now cooperating with the Special Prosecutor.
Didn’t Jussie Smolett know that prosecutors now routinely subpoena email and data files or is he stupid?
Many African Americans in Chicago resent huckster Jussie playing the race card and the gay card to weasel out of his scam.
A young African American woman who tried this same stunt of filing a false police report was prosecuted.
But she was not a TV star.
She was just a retail cashier.
From the Chicago Tribune
“Jussie Smollett investigation: Judge orders Google to turn over a full year of the actor’s data as part of special prosecutor probe”
“A Cook County judge has ordered Google to turn over Jussie Smollett’s emails, photos, location data and private messages for an entire year as part of the special prosecutor’s investigation into the purported attack on the actor.”
“Two sweeping search warrants, obtained by the Chicago Tribune, provide the first public glimpse at the direction of the probe by special prosecutor Dan Webb more than four months into the investigation.”
“The warrants, filed last month in Circuit Court, sought a trove of documentation from Smollett and his manager’s Google accounts — not just emails but also drafted and deleted messages; any files in their Google Drive cloud storage services; any Google Voice texts, calls and contacts; search and web browsing history; and location data.”
“Investigators sought a full year’s data — from November 2018 to November 2019 — even though the key events in the controversy took place between late January and late March 2019. Authorities could be looking for any incriminating remarks from Smollett or his manager, especially in the months after State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office abruptly dismissed disorderly conduct charges against the then-“Empire” actor just weeks after his indictment. Smollett, who is African American and openly gay, has declared the dismissal a vindication of his claims that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/criminal-justice/ct-jussie-smollett-special-prosecutor-investigation-20200108-j3j3p2dypvf5vbbo5jpxrvcjsq-story.html
From the Chicago Sun-Times
“Lawyer surprises woman, takes her case after judge cited Smollett, slammed deal
Candace Clark met her new attorney on Wednesday morning — and didn’t know he’d offered to help her until he showed up at the Rolling Meadows courthouse.”
“Candace Clark, 21, of Hoffman Estates, is charged with felony disorderly conduct. The judge handling her case recently blasted prosecutors for giving “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett a break on a similar charge, but not Clark. ”
““I read the article, and I said, ‘It’s not fair that Candace is being treated differently just because she’s not connected,’” the lawyer, William E. Conway”
“Conway was referring to an April 25th Chicago Sun-Times story about Clark, 21, a Hoffman Estates Home Depot employee whose felony disorderly conduct case drew the ire of Cook County Judge Marc Martin. The Rolling Meadows judge in early April lashed out at prosecutors, asking why Clark was being treated differently than Smollett, the “Empire” actor.”
“Like Clark, Smollett was charged with disorderly conduct for filing a false police report. She was charged in October 2018. Smollett was charged earlier this year in a case that drew worldwide attention after the actor alleged he’d been the victim of a hate crime downtown, something police and prosecutors later said was a ploy to generate publicity.”
“The case took a bizarre twist when it emerged that Chicago lawyer Tina Tchen reached out to Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx about the Smollett case. Tchen, who was chief of staff to former first lady Michelle Obama, is a friend of the Smollett family and wanted to put them in touch with Foxx.”
“But Martin noted in early April that Clark isn’t a “movie star” and isn’t getting the same treatment from prosecutors. At the time, prosecutors were offering Clark “deferred prosecution,” requiring her to pay back approximately $2,500 — as well as attend periodic court hearings, get a G.E.D. and either show proof of a job or do community service.”
““I’m not (Smollett attorney) Mark Geragos. I’m not Tina Tchen, but nonetheless, Candace deserves as good a defense as Jussie got, even though she’s not a connected person,” Conway said.”
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2019/5/15/18626924/jussie-smollet-candace-clark-kim-foxx-william-conway-false-police-report
Isn’t Mark Geragos one of Clare Bronfman’s eighty-nine attorneys as well as Jussie Smolett’s attorney?
Chicago is the biggest shit-hole in the nation. It makes Cleveland look like a dream come true.
Somebody had to save Cleveland, thanks Sh!tcago.
SHOCKING Nancy Pelosi’s Poop City | Slightly Offens*ve
Let’s visit Nancy Pelosi’s Poop City!
Decorated with Hypodermic Needles and Turds
Bring Your Own Face Masks and Work Gloves
Do what’s right (helping educate others about Amway and other MLM scams) or do what’s easy (complain about Mack and Clyne over and over and over and over and over again)? LOL