Jussie Smollett, former star of the TV show “Empire” and supposed friend of Michelle Obama, has just found out that he is back in major legal trouble.
Reportedly, Michelle Obama played a large part in getting Smollett out of trouble the first time around, but it’s unlikely she’ll be able to help him this time.
The MAGA Attack Hoax
In January of 2019, Jussie Smollett called the police, claiming that he had been attacked while walking home from Subway in the midst of a “polar vortex” with temperatures well below zero. According to Smollett, two white men jumped him when he was walking home past midnight, screaming racial and homophobic slurs. He claimed they threw a ‘noose’ around his neck, beat him, yelled “This is MAGA country,” and threw an unidentified liquid, which Smollett claimed was bleach, on him.
The media immediately ran with the story, with several news anchors, celebrity guests, and Democrats crying about how horrific the attack was, and trying to claim it was the new normal in “Trump’s America.”
After a two-week long investigation, Chicago police announced that they suspected Smollett had orchestrated the attack with the help of twin brothers that had been extras on his show “Empire.” The brothers were black, which disputes Smollett’s claim that white men had attacked him. Police claimed that the attack was planned by the three men, and had evidence that the brothers bought all of the necessary items and carried out the “assault.”
After the announcement, Smollett was arrested and charged with 16 counts of lying to police. Later, the charges were dropped under suspicious circumstances, with the Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx giving Smollett a deal to escape trial. The actor simply had to do a few hours of community service, and pay $10,000 out of the $130,000 in costs from the investigation.
Lawrence Jones III, a Fox News contributor, claimed that former First Lady Michelle Obama’s chief of staff made a few phone calls to try and help Smollett get out of trouble.
At the time, Jones stated, “We know that Michelle Obama’s chief of staff made some phone calls. I would also note that the reason why they released this now is because after the Trump investigation was concluded they knew during the news cycle this was the perfect time to release this.”
“[Michelle Obama] has the best approval rating out of any first lady or presidential candidate right now. Everybody thinks flowers about Michelle Obama. This will be sweeped [sic] under the rug. This is why it was the chief of staff that did it, so she wouldn’t take the hit. I think people are still going to love her,” Jones later added.
New Charges
After Foxx’s deal was made, she was hammered by conservatives, and even some Democrats. The presiding judge decided to assign a special prosecutor, Daniel Webb, to the case.
Webb stated that the charges should never have been dropped, and has since filed six new charges of disorderly conduct against Smollett.
Smollett and his attorney are claiming that the new charges are purely political, stating, “This indictment raises serious questions about the integrity of the investigation that led to the renewed charges against Mr. Smollett, not the least of which is the use of the same CPD detectives who were part of the original investigation into the attack on Mr. Smollett to conduct the current investigation, despite Mr. Smollett’s pending civil claims against the City of Chicago and CPD officers for malicious prosecution.”
“And one of the two witnesses who testified before the grand jury is the very same detective Mr. Smollett is currently suing for his role in the initial prosecution of him,” the attorney continued.
“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,” Smollett’s attorney added.
The evidence against Smollett appears to be overwhelming, and the time and money that his actions caused the Chicago PD to waste need to be accounted for. In a city constantly overwhelmed with corruption and crime, a hoax such as this takes away resources from victims of actual crime.
Many on the right hope that the judge makes an example of Jussie Smollett to deter future hate crime hoaxes, and also that he is forced to pay restitution for wasting the city’s time.