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Chicago Takes New Legal Action Against Jussie Smollett

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The City of Chicago announced on Thursday that it is filing a civil lawsuit against Jussie Smollett after the actor refused to reimburse the city for costs associated with the investigation of his alleged hate crime hoax.

Chicago sent Smollett a letter in late March demanding that he pay $130,000 to offset costs of attack investigation, saying: “This is a reasonable and legally justifiable amount to collect to help offset the cost of the investigation.” . . .

“Mr. Smollett has refused to reimburse the City of Chicago for the cost of police overtime spent investigating his false police report on January 29, 2019,” Bill McCaffrey, City of Chicago Department of Law, said in a statement. “The Law Department is now drafting a civil complaint that will be filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County. Once it is filed, the Law Department will send a courtesy copy of the complaint to Mr. Smollett’s Los Angeles-based legal team.”

“The Law Department will file the suit in the near future. As part of this legal action, the Law Department will pursue the full measure of damages allowed under the ordinance,” the statement continued. “The City of Chicago and Chicago Law Department will not have any further comment at this time.” . . .

“We cannot create the perception that if you’re rich or famous or both that you got one set of justice and for everybody else, it’s something much harsher. That won’t do, and we need to make sure that we have a criminal justice system that has integrity,” [Chicago Mayor] Lightfoot said in an interview. “The state’s attorney’s office has to provide more information about the rationale for the decision to drop the charges.” (Read more from “Chicago Takes New Legal Action Against Jussie Smollett” HERE)

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Fox Guest: Michelle Obama Got Smollett Charges Dropped, Here’s Why

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A Wednesday Fox Business segment labeled Jussie Smollett’s exoneration a “travesty of justice” and sought to confirm conspiracy theories Michelle Obama called in “favors” to get his charges dropped by Cook County prosecutors.

Fox Business host Stuart Varney opened his Tuesday segment declaring “the influence and power of liberal elites” was on full display in Chicago this week as Illinois prosecutors waived 16 charges against the Empire star. Self-proclaimed libertarian and Sean Hannity correspondent Lawrence Jones III touted unfounded and baseless claims former First Lady Michelle Obama “made some phone calls” to have the charges dropped in order to distract Americans from the disclosure of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation into President Donald Trump.

Although Republican Senate House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was behind the blocking of the full Mueller report, the Fox crew nonetheless accused Democrat politicians — and their wives — of corrupting Cook County prosecutors.

“We know that Michelle Obama’s chief of staff made some phone calls,” Jones said on Fox Business Wednesday. “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.” The frequent Fox News guest cited Chicago Sun-Times, which reported Tina Tchen, a Chicago attorney who formerly worked for Obama, had previously asked Cook County lead prosecutor Kim Foxx to coerce the Chicago Police Department into turning the investigation over to federal authorities.

(Read more from “Fox Guest: Michelle Obama Got Smollett Charges Dropped, Here’s Why” HERE)

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Chicago Sends Bill to Jussie Smollett – Here’s What It’s For

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The city of Chicago sent a letter to Jussie Smollett on Thursday demanding the actor pay $130,000 to the city to offset the costs associated with investigating the alleged hate crime hoax he is accused of concocting. . .

ABC 7 Chicago reports that “the money the city requested in the letter sent Thursday is separate from the $10,000 bond that Smollett forfeited as a condition of the charges against him being dropped.”

“This is a reasonable and legally justifiable amount to collect to help offset the cost of the investigation,” said Bill McCaffrey, a spokesperson for the Department of Buildings.

The Daily Wire reported earlier on Thursday that during an interview with WGN News on Thursday morning, Chicago Democrat Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that the city of Chicago was calculating a bill to send to Smollett.

“The police are assembling the cost [of the investigation],” Emanuel said. “They’ll do that and then the corporation counsel of the city of Chicago will communicate to Jussie Smollett and his legal team about recouping that cost in that effort. And, given that he doesn’t feel any sense of contrition and remorse, my recommendation is when he writes the check, in the memo section he can put the word, ‘I’m accountable’ for the hoax.”

(Read more from “Chicago Sends Bill to Jussie Smollett – Here’s What It’s For” HERE)

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Chicago Police Release Jussie Smollett Investigative Files

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The Chicago Police Department has released 61 pages of investigative case files related to the Jussie Smollett incident, following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from CWB Chicago.

On Tuesday, prosecutors decided to drop charges against Mr. Smollett, causing almost universal outrage, including from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the city’s police commissioner.

“These files were provided by the Chicago Police Department in response to a FOIA request that CWBChicago submitted upon learning that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office had reached a sealed agreement to resolve Smollett’s criminal exposure in the case,” CWB Chicago reports.

The charges included 16 felony counts related to his filing of a false police report and staging a hoax about a fake hate crime.

Smollett may still faces issues at the federal level. It is unclear whether the FBI is still investigating whether Smollett committed mail fraud.

Read through the police reports on Jussie Smollett below:

Part 1 of the investigative file

Part 2 of the investigative file

(For more from the author of “Chicago Police Release Jussie Smollett Investigative Files” please click HERE)

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Here’s the Latest Development of the Jussie Smollett Hoax

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“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett pleaded not guilty in a Chicago courtroom Thursday to 16 charges stemming from an alleged hate crime hoax.

Smollett’s lawyer, Tina Glandian, entered the plea on Smollett’s behalf just hours after Judge Steven Watkins was assigned the case. The next court date was scheduled for April 17.

Smollett was initially charged with one count of lying to the authorities on Feb. 20. Last week, a grand jury indicted Smollett on 16 felony counts of lying to authorities — eight counts for what he told the officer who responded to the report of the Jan. 29 attack in downtown Chicago, and eight counts for what he later told a detective about being the victim of a brutal racist and homophobic beating by two masked men. . .

Adding another plot twist to the Smollett saga is a new USA Today report that claims that, at the urging of a former senior Obama administration official, Chicago’s top prosecutor asked cops to turn over their investigation to the FBI.

Tina Tchen, who worked as former first lady Michelle Obama’s chief of staff and is the co-founder of the Times Up Legal Defense Fund, contacted State’s Attorney Kim Foxx by text on Feb. 1 and said Smollett’s family had “concerns” about the investigation. (Read more from “Here’s the Latest Development of the Jussie Smollett Hoax” HERE)

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Jussie Smollett SLAMMED With 16 Felony Charges

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“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett has been indicted on 16 felony counts following his Chicago attack allegations.

The Cook County grand jury indictment, dated Thursday and made public on Friday, gives details of the disorderly conduct charge against Smollett, according to The Associated Press. It elaborates on the allegation that he falsely reported that he’d been attacked in late January.

The indictment — eight counts from what he told the officer who responded to the report of the attack and eight for what he later told a detective — comes a little more than two weeks after prosecutors announced one felony count of the same charge. . .

“We knew that there is no way they would expose their evidence to a public airing and subject their witnesses to cross-examination,” the statement continued. “What is unexpected, however, is the prosecutorial overkill in charging 16 separate counts against Jussie.

“This redundant and vindictive indictment is nothing more than a desperate attempt to make headlines in order to distract from the internal investigation launched to investigate the outrageous leaking of false information by the Chicago Police Department and the shameless and illegal invasion of Jussie’s privacy in tampering with his medical records. Jussie adamantly maintains his innocence even if law enforcement has robbed him of that presumption.” (Read more from “Jussie Smollett SLAMMED With 16 Felony Charges” HERE)

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Jussie Smollett Releases a Scathing Statement — and He’s Attacking Someone New

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According to a new statement from Empire star Jussie Smollett released Thursday, he is blaming a mayoral race in Chicago for the unfair treatment he says he is receiving from the Chicago police and law enforcement officials. . .

“The presumption of innocence, a bedrock in the search for justice, was trampled upon at the expense of Mr. Smollett and notably, on the eve of a Mayoral election,” the statement continued.

“Mr. Smollett is a young man of impeccable character and integrity who fiercely and solemnly maintains his innocence and feels betrayed by a system that apparently wants to skip due process and proceed directly to sentencing,” it concluded.

Smollett appeared in court Thursday on felony charges that he filed a false police report in a case that has been debated nationwide for weeks. He has denied accusations that he was involved in orchestrating the attack he reported since the beginning.

(Read more from “Jussie Smollett Releases a Scathing Statement — and He’s Attacking Someone New” HERE)

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Charges Against Jussie Smollett in 2007 Included ‘Providing False Information’

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Jussie Smollett pleaded no contest to DUI, driving without a license, and providing false information to law enforcement officials in 2007, according to new reports released on Tuesday.

“Tuesday the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office confirmed that in August of 2007 Smollett pleaded no contest to DUI, driving without a license and providing false information to law enforcement,” CBS Chicago reported. “He was sentenced to two years probation and a choice of a fine or jail. Officials at the office could not confirm which Smollett chose. A spokesman for the Chicago Police Department said the department was already aware of the plea.”

This latest revelation follows several significant developments over the last few days, and could end up impacting how prosecutors handle potential false report charges. . .

“The FBI and the US Postal Inspection Service are currently investigating whether Jussie Smollett played a role in sending a threatening letter addressed to him at ‘Empire’s’ Chicago studio prior to the alleged attack,” ABC News reported, after confirming with two federal officials. “The accusation, made by the two brothers who were persons of interest, has not been confirmed.” . . .

“He had been in New York City for a reading of the play Take Me Out, with sources telling DailyMail.com that Smollett was being considered to appear in a possible revival of the Tony-winning production about a biracial baseball star who comes out as gay,” The Daily Mail reported. “The script for that play finds the lead character being attacked by a new pitcher who joins the team. That character uses the same racial slurs Smollett told police his attackers screamed at him, including ‘f****t’ and ‘n****r.'” (Read more from “Charges Against Jussie Smollett in 2007 Included ‘Providing False Information'” HERE)

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